(Please scroll to the bottom before you run away)
So someone told me recently that they didn't know anything about poetry, they just wrote. This, to me, was shocking and I feel like we need to use this group to create better poets out of all of us. Some of us have been writing for years, some of us specialize in different things, like haikus, or rhyming. We should share our knowledge and our discoveries here for each other to learn from. I mean, what else are we going to do with a poetry club?
Here it goes, this is what I know about poetry.
Allusions are used to draw other writings and literature to mind through just a single word or phrase, such as references to religious idols.
Alliteration is used to create a rhyme-like feel to a poem without actually rhyming, and also to get things stuck in people's heads. There is soft alliteration (s, a, etc) and hard alliteration (g, r, etc).
Metaphors are used when the writer is willing to suspend their disbelief and create something as something else.
Similes are used when the writer really doesn't want to make such a harsh relationship between the two objects
There is a thing I forget the name of that gets really confusing for people where you create a metaphor and then you add to the metaphor and create another metaphor off of it. This is a no-no if you want 'accessible' poetry
Rhyming: Use this liberally and make sure you do it to create interest in things instead of just to make a 'poem.' Not all poems have to rhyme. Also if it is forced, then people will know and there's really no point to put it in, just make the poem one that doesn't rhyme until you get the hang of hiding the rhymes, or making it so easy to read that the words just fall out and you can only really hear the rhyme, you don't notice them right off the bat and go Ha. Ha. very funny. It rhymes. Poetry. bah
Some people think poetry is only poetry when it has symbolism in it. This isn't always the case.
Poetry can have creative shapes, visual poetry, and this really makes line breaks more important when you're looking at a poem without really reading it, but the line breaks have their own job, and they shouldn't be sacrificed just to make a pretty poem unless your goal is visual interest.
Line breaks are used to create interest in just one line. For instance if you read a sentence and it means one thing, but you read a line individually out of that sentence and the interpretation changes, or really stands out as exactly what that sentence meant.
Capitalization is something I prefer at the beginning of every sentence, not line, and I feel that it really helps break things up and make a poem easier to read. Some people aren't like that and won't include any punctuation at all relying on a readers inflection to create punctuation, but this really creates a lot of different poems.
Poetry is an auditory experience, so translating poems can be messy. Also, this means that we should always read our poems out loud and hear them while we're writing them, otherwise something is missing in the experience.
Reading a poem twice or more is the best way to really get the whole experience of a poem.
Titles are useful for creating an expectation of the poem, but the poem should be able to make sense without the title. The goal is for the title to add a layer of depth that may be lost without it. Also adding the title last is probably the best way to go due to how poems can change midway through writing it.
A foot in poetry is one stressed and unstressed syllable combined. If you have iambic pentameter, penta means five, so you have five feet. Typically things like I, you, etc are stressed, and things like A, oh, the, are unstressed. I'm not an expert on this topic, this is just my rough understanding and I really need to do more research on it.
Sonnets are partially known because they change half way through and create a new idea in the poem.
Villanelles are hard to write, but totally worth it.
(Scroll to here, read this, and then you are free to run away and not participate in this discussion if you so choose.)
What can you add? Do you see anything I've completely botched? I'd love to hear from all of you so we can compile a list of advice, knowledge and talk about poetry.
Poetry Knowledge
13 posts in this topic.
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Oh, Aley, lol... I know all of the things you mentioned up ^there^.(Yet, for some reason, I feel like it's not enough) e.e
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My turn to add:
Flow is something that a poem can rarely ignore and still be good. Your words should just slip into place in the mind and on the tongue. If they seem forced then the flow is broken. For a more visual analogy, broken flow is like having a beautiful picture of a sunset with a random, ugly black streak down the middle.
Also, free verse can still have very good flow; i.e. rhyme is not always needed to make a great poem.
Also, when in doubt, write a Senryu! xD (Actually, I think I might just add that self-quote to my signature.
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Why poets may choose to NOT punctuate or capitalize in poetry. (For those who've ever wondered about this)
- Aesthetic appeal or if an experimental quality
Sometimes it's all about aesthetic appeal and writing experimental poems. When you are trying something totally new and "out there" in terms of diction or syntax, using proper caps/punc (c&P) might expose the more experimental parts of the poem in a negative light, because it might seem too different, forced, or arbitrary. By choosing to forgo C&p, it will immediately signal to the reader: Hey! This is an experimental piece! And so create that expectation immediately.
- If you want to explore the different layers or meanings of using different syntax. This kind of goes with the above, except it's being done often enough that it's almost an expected thing rather than an experimental thing, but when you're using alternate syntax: "anyone lived in a pretty how town / with up so many floating bells down...", it's best not to use c&P.
- If you're using frequent enjambments
So, if you're
breaking in between nouns+
verb lines, then capitalizing in this case will bring the emphasis to the wrong words and will be too distracting. It might be best to not capitalize, but punctuation here can help guide the reader!
- Less structured free verse style
If you're writing free-verse, going for that stylistic raw quality - or going for a less formal, more independent rule or ideology. Think of it this way, poetry is an art -- and like all art, it is about the artist and the artist perception of things. Just like how there are differences (and different meanings) between people who choose to capitalize God or not and leave it as: god; so a poet may see that a poem of theirs may suit them better without any capitals. C&P creates order and structure where the poem may not need it, and a poem can be simply about the words that are used and how they are fit together, rather than what the poem means, and so capitalizing/punctuating might work contrary to this purpose in that sense.
As with all things -- it's important to know the rules before you choose to break them, and it's important to pay a great deal of consideration of each choice before we arbitrarily make them. -
I'd like to change your definition of metaphor and simile. They are both variations on the same thing - making an abstract concept into a tangible concept (metaphor), or comparing an abstract concept to a tangible concept (simile).
Contemporary poetry is almost exclusively free-verse, so rhyme should not be considered. If it happens incidentally, fine. But don't try to do it on purpose. -
I still reckon rhyme can be considered as it is a very useful tool for building flow in a poem. I also find that's it good for setting a pace and feel for a poem.
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I don't agree with you Karzkin. I have always been taught that metaphors are when two things are related as the same thing. This could be that the truck is a mountain of a beast, or that the age dragged on like long lost love, just trying to work through it's phases. It's not necessary to have an abstract with a concrete idea. It might be a little more confusing, but it is possible.
I've also learned that the difference between the two is that a simile contains like and as and metaphors are saying something is something else.
Could you explain further what you mean about concrete and abstract ideas and whether you picked this up somewhere or if it was something you've discovered through reading? I'd like to explore the idea further.
I disagree that free-verse should be void of rhyme too. Sometimes it can be nicely done and free-verse has always been something I've seen as lacking restraint in structure. If you restrain it to a structure of ABCDEF... then you are making a structure from free-verse. -
Ok, I think you might be confusing what a metaphor is, and what the function of a metaphor is. That's probably my fault, I wasn't very clear up there. You're right about the definition of metaphors and similes. What I'm talking about is function - why they are used. Like I said, they are used to turn abstract concepts (for example, love) into more concrete concepts (for example, cigarette smoke, to use one of my recent ones). 'Love' is a pretty abstract concept, and hard to accurately pin down the meaning of in one's mind. But a reader can imagine the smell and colour and maybe taste of cigarette smoke much more easily. So the poet uses a metaphor to make it easier for the reader to understand something that would otherwise be difficult to understand. As for where I learned this, it was in a poetry lecture at university.
Free-verse, by definition, has no structure. If you start thinking about structure you're not writing free verse. -
Free-verse has a free structure. But a structure it does have. Unless your poetry looks like: aasdiofha osdbfaisdbf iausdbf, which K actually does have a poem like that, then it has no structure...
but decisions= structure. -
I have three like that, actually. But ok, I can dig that. I guess what I meant is 'formal' structure - the ability to classify it as anything but free verse (sonnet, ballad, blank verse, etc.)
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I have an internal and regular dislike of rhyme. While it can be very effective when done very well, when it is done even slightly poorly, it is devastating to my reading of a poem. Rhymes which are too obvious -when I think immediately "This is a rhyme!" - usually fail to hold my attention and create a jarring effect while I read.
Poetry, for me, is all about expression. You can write poetry without knowing anything about it. Lord knows I know almost nothing about poetry, but I write it all the time. Even when I don't want to write it I end up writing it. Knowing about rhythm should be the god of learning poetry.
Rhythm is enhanced by rhyme, alliteration, assonance and any other technique which impacts on the line. Rhythm is given place when you slide your words and lines together so they seem effortless and accidental. Discarding rhythm is a technique as well, it says a completely different thing to a poem with a solid rhythm. But I find that above all, if you have good rhythm you'll eventually be writing good poetry, it's natural. -
So how do you guys identify rhythm in poetry?
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Rhythm has to do with how 'fast' a reader reads the poem, also called the pace. Making the reader read at different speeds has a variety of affects on how they perceive the poem. There are many things that the poet can do to change the rhythm, for example changing up line breaks or punctuation.
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