Young Writers Society


Oh How They Do Lie

3 posts
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Points 890
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If the line not to cross is already behind me,
Then which way shall I turn my back?
“Continue and do not look back”

I shall cliché till the end of my days
If that will pardon my ways.

"Merit the triumphs,
Those of which you are proud,
Never be afraid to stand out from the crowd."

But that has already been said,
Can I believe what is not from your head?

If I were to read you all the books had been read
And until forever were to sit by your bed,

You would not be a person.
You could not be real.

You would not feel
The pain
From yesterday’s rain
Nor the gain from tomorrow’s sun.
What’s done is done
And that has certainly been said.
Last edited by mer on Thu Sep 28, 2006 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.




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Points 1726
Reviews 266
Hello there.

Firstly, rhythm! Where is it? Your line lengths go 13, 7, 7, 10, 7, 5, 6, 11, etc. sybllables long. Problem is, that just isn't conducive to poetry that flows - try reading some professional poetry, note a lot of the common rhythms - all 10 syllables, pentameter; eight syllables followed by six, the "ballad meter", think of Amazing Grace. Basically put, you need your lines to be more regular if it's to flow nicely off the tongue.

Then there's the rhyme. Contrary to popular opinion, rhyme does not automatically make a poem better - the fact is, it's one of the most difficult aspects of poetry to utilise effectively, and so it often ends up making poetry worse: that's what has happened here.
The problem is that all of your rhymes are in the same pattern, and all of them are very basic. For example:
--------- proud
--------- crowd
Here you have the lines one after the other, and it's an absolute rhyme.

--------- said
--------- head
Once again, the same pattern, with an absolute rhyme. Very basic, like children's poetry.
There are other examples - the point is, it's both repetitive and technically simple. You need to vary it - try half-rhymes and discreet rhymes, couplets like "bed/defend" or "read/defeat"; without being so glaringly obvious that they detract from the poem, they still hold the rhyming structure together. Also, don't feel the need to work in couplets all the time; ABAB or ABCB rhyme schemes are just as good if not better.
And, uh, try not to rhyme words with the same word. Such as, y'know, "back". And "back".

Now onto the content of your poem. Bit of a different problem there - it just doesn't hold the interest. By the point at which you say "stand out from the crowd", I'm thinking 'great, remember that cliche you mentioned?' Lines like 'stand out in the crowd' really aren't going to do you any favours - they've been used a million times before, and they're not exactly great to begin with. The same goes for "what's done is done".
Now, I understand that you're kind of attempting to write a poem about cliches, or certainly with that as a sub-theme. My advice? Don't do it with cliches! Or if you must, at least be clever about it - change them around, mix them up, make them seem out of the ordinary, but for goodness sake don't just write them down and then say "well, I was writing about them." People will just look at the poem and say 'unoriginal and boring', because they've heard it all before.

So, yeah; get that rhythm and rhyme sorted out on the technique front, and try to be a little more creative and innovative with the way you use language and ideas.

Keep at it, I hope we'll see you around some more.
The Oneday Cafe
though we do not speak, we are by no means silent.




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Reviews 7
Umm what backgroundbob said..GOSH!! always writting so much, my hand would hurt...anyway back to the point.
i wasnt sure i understood it. maybe thats just me but i got confused. Other than that i like it. and i think BB said the rest



Man is by nature a political animal.
— Aristotle