Poetry- Writing and Reading

“It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.” -William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

Poetry does have a place in our world, a necessary place. Less and less do we find poetry taught in schools, and many people say poetry doesn’t belong in our lives. That idea is wrong, sadly wrong. However, a resurgence of teaching literature and poetry has occurred, even to teaching literature to medical students and others in the health-care fields, according to Dr. Pereira.

The study and writing of poetry brings much to our lives. The Rev. H. C. Beeching agrees in “An Address on the Teaching of Poetry” Ambleside Online because the study of poetry sharpens powers of observation and helps one store memories. He states, “…the purpose of poetry is to communicate or extend the joy of life by quickening our emotions.”

Peter Pereira, MD, writes in “The healing power of poetry,” The Writer March 2007, that “the reading and writing of poems can help us (physicians) develop empathy and thus become better doctors.” Empathy is defined as an emotional connection and understanding. Therefore, Beeching and Pereira agree on that point: the purpose of poetry helps with emotional understanding.

Pereira goes on to say that since physicians have less time with their patients than ever, they need to develop listening and interpretive skills. The study of poetry, especially the lyric poem, may be an way for students to learn needed skills.

Empathy is using one’s imagination to be in another’s position. Poetry exercises one’s powers of imagination as well as helping to gain skill in the use of language. Doctors, nurses, aides, as well as family members, friends, and business people need those skills.

Two other things Pereira believes to be true about the purpose and need for poetry are that reading and writing poetry can help patients facing life-threatening or life-altering illness. I addressed this in my article “Writing through Troublesome Times.” Poetry helps a person to “vent” and to pour emotions onto paper or computer screen, and then to manage the emotions and pain involved.

Pereira’s third idea is that the reading and writing of poetry can help heal the world. The quote I used to start this article addresses that thought to some extent. The doctor states, “Poetry of witness has long been a way that cultures and civilizations all over the world remember things - their war stories, the cultural milestones - and give voice to the oppressed or the disappeared.”

A way to bring some healing not only to individuals, but to the world, gives poetry a purpose and a need that can’t be ignored.

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I adore writing poetry. I’ll arm myself, with pen and paper at the ready, and accept any challenge of conquering a new poetry form.

Last year was the first time I questioned whether or not I could meet the challenge and bury it on the battlefield. Sure, I’m a perfectionist, but what could make a person who’s played with poetry for almost thirty-five years hesitate before charging? It was the narrative form.

I’m not talking about the ballad or epic - which are types of narrative poetry - or other rhyming narratives. I’m referring to the more modern, freer, narrative poetry. It was different than anything I’d ever done before. To me, it seemed more like a story than a poem. I even remember wondering how they could get away with calling it poetry.

EXAMPLES TO READ: (both easy to find on Google if you aren’t familiar with them)

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
The Wood-pile by Robert Frost

I write stories and poetry, but when I write a poem - I’m in poetry mode, and I felt stuck in neutral. How could the Poet-in-Me mix the two?

Stephen Minot said, in Three Genres - The Writing of Poetry, Fiction, and Drama, “Narrative is as natural a structure for poetry as it is for prose.”

Poet-in-Me then rationalizes that Story-Writer-in-Me borrows stuff from the “Poet’s Toolbox” to write more effective stories, so why not knock on her door and borrow a couple of things?

Narrative Poetry Basics in Brief

BRIEF HISTORY

Narrative Poetry is poetry that tells a tale and can be traced back to Homer’s Iliad and possibly beyond.

MUST HAVES

*Tell a story.

*Pay particular attention to rhythm and sound.

COULD HAVES or What’s The Poet’s Choice In All This?

*YOU choose the form or whether or not to even use a particular form (aka ballad, etc.)

*Imagery - depth of imagery up to the author - but keep in mind that a primary part of poetry is imagery, and you are writing a poem that tells a story, not a short story.

*Rhyme - use it or not - internal, external or none.

Since I’ve tried using narratives in my poetry, I feel as if I’ve written some of the best work I ever have in my life. It has opened a door I never knew was locked and I crossed a threshold into a land I never knew existed.

Simply, It has helped me grow as a writer.

WRITING EXERCISE: If you are a writer that really considers yourself more of a poet, try out narrative poetry as a way to build a bridge to story writing. If you consider yourself mainly a storywriter, use the narrative form to ease your way into poetry

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Poetry is made up of so many specific patters and language. There are as many forms of poetry as there are writers who pen it. Here I have gather some resources to specific patterns of poetry and I have attempted to describe for you the figurative language found in poetry.

Specific Patterns of Poetry

• What is Traditional Poetry?
“Traditional” poetry is the kind of poetry we hear most often. Traditional poetry has a certain form

ex: Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall;

• What is Free Verse Poetry?
Free verse is poetry that is written without proper rules about form, rhyme, rhythm, meter, etc.

The greatest American writer of free verse is probably Walt Whitman

With free verse the poem can tell a story, describe a person, animal, feeling or object. They can serious, sad, funny or educational. There are no limits

• What is a tongue twister?
An expression that is difficult to articulate clearly; “`Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.’ is a tongue twister”

•What is ode poetry?
An Ode is a poem praising and glorifying a person, place or thing.

• What is Monorhyme Poetry?
A poem in which all the lines have the same end rhyme.

Ex:
Late for school
I’m looking like a big fool
My brother thinks he rules
While I’m loosing my cool

• What is monody Poetry?
A monody is a poem in which one person laments another’s death, as in Tennyson’s Break, Break, Break, or Wordsworth’s She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways.

• What is Concrete Poetry?
Poetry in which the poet’s intent is conveyed by the shape formed by the letters, words, or symbols that make up the poem rather than by the conventional arrangement of words

Here is a good example of a concrete poem:
http://webbschool.com/rhood/creativewriting/concrete_poem.htm

• What is Quatrain Poetry?
A Quatrain is a poem consisting of four lines of verse with a specific rhyming scheme.

A few examples of a quatrain rhyming scheme’s are as follows:

#1) abab
#2) abba — envelope rhyme
#3) aabb
#4) aaba, bbcb, ccdc, dddd — chain rhyme
http://volweb.utk.edu/Schools/bedford/harrisms/quatrain.htm

• How to write Pantoum poetry
http://anitraweb.org/kalliope/pantoum.html

•What is Palindrome Poetry?
http://www.fun-with-words.com/palin_explain.html

• Forms of Poetry for Children
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/poeform.htm

• Diamonte Poetry
http://www.chasesc.com/CHASEDiamontePoetry.htm

• What is an acrostic poem?
http://www.teachnet-lab.org/miami/2003/sampedro/what_is_an_acrostic_poem.htm

• Acrostic Poetry
http://www.teachnet-lab.org/miami/2003/sampedro/what_is_an_acrostic_poem.htm

• How to Write a Clerihew Poem
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclass/clerihew.htm

• The Art of Haiku Poetry
http://www.lsi.usp.br/usp/rod/poet/haiku.html

• How to Write Limerick Poetry
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclass/limerickcontesthelp.html

• How to write Cinquain Poetry
http://www.edu.pe.ca/stjean/playing%20with%20poetry/Hickey/coleres.htm

What is a metaphor?
A figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity

Understanding metaphors
http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/gallery/rhetoric/terms/metaphor.html

What is a simile?
A figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds (usually formed with `like’ or `as’)

• The Simile Satellite Activities
This site explores the function, form and effect of simile in poetry.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/listenandwrite/teachers/simact.htm

What is alliteration?
the repetition of consonant sounds - usually at the beginning of words

What is onomatopoeia?
a word that sounds like the thing it describes

Example:
splash, wow, gush, kerplunk

What is a trope?
The intentional use of a word or expression figuratively, i.e., used in a different sense from its original significance in order to give vividness or emphasis to an idea. Some important types of trope are: antonomasia, irony, metaphor, metonymy and synecdoche. Sidelight: Strictly speaking, a trope is the figurative use of a word or expression, while figure of speech refers to a phrase or sentence used in a figurative sense. The two terms, however, are often confused and used interchangeably

Examples: Metaphor, simile, oxymoron, and hyperbole are all kinds of figurative language.

What is personification?
A person who represents an abstract quality; “she is the personification of optimism”

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/personification.html

What is Synonyms?
Words or phrases which have similar meaning.
http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/synonyms.htm

What is a stanza?
A fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem

What is imagery?
Image is language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.

What is a muse?
Muse: the source of an artist’s inspiration; “Euterpe was his muse”

To get a list of other Poetic Glossary terms Please see Todays-Woman list

http://www.todays-woman.net/dll.php?name=Dictionary or Robert Shubinski has assembled an excellent on-line resource

http://www.poeticbyway.com/glossary.html

This link also gives the term, definition and example of literary terms.

http://www.kidskonnect.com/FigurativeLanguage/FigurativeLanguageHome.html

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Poetry is the mastery of words in all their variations and subtleies to express in an eloquent manner that which cannot be expressed in silence. Emotions of the heart, a looking glass into the soul, a way to make amends, and a way to build vistas exploring humanity and all it’s relationships. Poetry is all this an much more. Poetry is also much less, and in a more simplified manner, it is only words. Just words. But used in such a way, as to make us think and feel about others, events and things in a way we could never have imagined. Poetry cleanses, fortifies and inspiries the reader, while at the same time fuels the creative passions and allows for cathartic emotional release on the part of the writer. Poetry is powerful, poetry is petty, poetry is loving, and poetry is hateful. But above all, poetry is human, it is a reflection of of the human experience in all it’s glory and all it’s shame. But, it’s something else as well. It’s words.

It’s Only Words

Words are what define the internet. It’s not technology, it’s not servers, it’s not protocols, it’s not browser wars. The internet is made up of words. And words are poetry. So, is the internet poetry? In a sense yes. Sure it’s pictures to, but words were there long before there were pictures. An internet of pictures would be pretty, but it wouldn’t be poetry. It would be thousands of words yes, but what would it say? Words are a business now online. We bid on words, we sell words and information. We sell poetry. Entire industries have sprung up based solely on words. Google is in the word business, as is Yahoo, and MSN. But, these guys are no poets, and long before them their were others in the business of words.

Words Are All I Have

For generations, authors and poets have been in the business of words. For that matter musicians were to. Music is really just poetry with a beat. And these guys and girls have never really prospered from a financial perspective. Oh sure, a few like Shakespeare and Stephen King did pretty well. But just being the tip of the ice cube, there were countless thousands of creative literary genuises languashing in poverty. Starving artists include poets, writters, and musicians. But hey, it’s a new day, and all that can change. The internet has open the door for artists of all inkling to support themselves with their passions of calling. Few have taken up the guantlet though. Perhaps, for poets and the like, suffering for their art is core to their being. A cruel but inspiritional muse. Dosen’t have to be that way though. It’s time for the poets to embrace the world wide web, and voice their words to the masses. The internet is about words, and words are about poetry. Arise poets, your time has come. Write you poetic fools, write.

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Poetry is more than just rhyming and prose that is in meters and verse. It is an art form. It is something that can not be judged by its cover and can not be critisized to the point where it just “sucks.” Poetry is about expression. Poetry expresses the way we feel on a certain subject through imagery and other senses. It helps us deal with our daily problems, be it good or bad.

The emotion which is put within the poem brings it life. A poem without emotion is not a poem at all but simply prose. Poetry is what makes us feel happy or sad, mad or gleeful, loving or broken hearted. Poetry is life on paper. It does not need to be of a certain subject or even rhyme.

Poetry is poetry. It has its own mind. If it flows good if not… it needs work. The rules can be bent but not broken. Our life is our life and no one can tell us what we have been through but ourselves. We know best not some stranger reading our poems. Our poetry is our life, not what someone says.

Rhyming in poetry is not always the best way to express yourself. Rhyming actually takes away many words that could have been used. If you try to rhyme it cuts your dictionary into little pieces. It doesn’t need to be this way, choose flow over rhyme.

As a result of this, poetry is defined as a way of putting flowing words together in meter and verse to show emotion or tell a story.

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Before You Begin

Before you begin writing, there are a few simple ways to get your creative juices flowing. Poetry is not just about finding a word that rhymes to end a line with. It is about the connotations of words, the connections between them, and the images and feelings they conjure up.

Exercise 1: Word Association

This is a very basic exercise that involves thinking of any word, writing it down, and then thinking of a word you associate with it, and so on, forming a chain of associations. For example, I could think of the word pig. My chain might go like this;

Pig, pink, fat, round, balloon, party, cake, birthday, present…

Or, say, shirt;

Shirt, check, chess, board, boring, ironing, clothes, shopping, Saturday, holidays, sunshine, yellow, banana, andy warhol…

Its simply an exercise like practicing scales in music, and is good to use even if youve already begun writing, to limber up and break writers block.

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