For those of you who write or have written poetry. I'm thinking of writing some poetry occasionally for fun. I began work on a sci-fi novel last year and finished 10 chapters before I got bogged down. I've put off writing since because I'm a cowardly weenie, and I think poetry would be an enjoyable creative exercise. I've written some in the past, but I don't know if it's any good. My creative writing teacher in college liked it, but you know how that can go.
So, for those of you who write? Why do you? What do you enjoy about it? I love putting words together and coming up with creative images, but I have a real problem with meter. I've never been able to "hear" it very easily at all. How important is meter? Thanks!
space opera
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I have nothing else better to do I have a lot on my mind I feel like Dumbledore in HP4 when he'd pick thoughts out of his head and put it in a sieve.
Meter to my doesn't matter, I am not good at structured poetry that rhymes and has meter and rules. I just like writing any old thing that just sounds... COOL and filled with metaphors.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
If you're writing rhyming poetry, the short answer is that you'll look like an amateur if your meter doesn't work. But if you're just doing free verse, images and "feel" are more important than strict meter. But Dante is our resident poet; he'll have more to say than I do.
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
It will most likely be free verse to begin with. I was under the impression that meter mattered even then, though.
space opera
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Like most artistic endeavors, you have complete license to do what you like and call it poetry.
If you want to write in a specific format, however, you are now bound by existing stricture. Haiku, for example, has very set guidelines in structure and form and usually topic.
-Trevor
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
Ok, so it looks like I have my meter question answered. What about the other ones I asked????
space opera
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I answered!
ee cummings is my Idol And Rumi
Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
I write a fair amount of poetry off and on...sometimes all I do is a form of free association, just writing what comes to mind, line by line. It is really relaxing to write as though you are painting an image. Other times I will feel out a meter and/or rhyme scheme for each stanza, which is a mix between carefully crafting something and just doing whatever. But when I'm doing it with the main intention of an excersize, with less emphasis on the feeling, I enjoy writing petrarchian sonnets, it's like a puzzle, trying to keep within the standards, and still have it flow and say what I want it to say (or describe, or whatever my intention is) by the final revision.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
There is no way I can write a sonnet.
Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
they aren't that hard to write, I mean, it's hard to write a good one, but like anything, it takes practice...
Posted by larisse (Member # 2221) on :
I tried writing a sonnet once. Once. It wasn't very good.
I mostly write in free verse. On occasion, I write haikus. Writing in general is a compulsion of mine. It usually builds and builds until I have to sit down and put pen to paper... or fingers to keyboard.
Posted by Zevlag (Member # 1405) on :
I find I am most creative, and actually have time to write when something in my life is troubling me, when I am under lots of stress, or trying to make decisions. It is a real tenion release for me. My topics vary, not often do they reflect what is bothering me at the time.
I write because I love it.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
When I write poetry, it is to express what I'm feeling, not to conform to someones rules on how many words or syllables there have to be (so, no haiku ), or whether or not the lines rhyme. So I generally write free verse.
However, I find that after I've gotten what I'm feeling out onto the page, I have to play around with it until the lines feel right, feel balanced to me. That essentially means reading it aloud over and over, until the words lose meaning and just become sounds, then moving words around until the sounds feel appropriate to the subject being written about. It usually turns into a matter of balancing long and short lines, or making sure that each line has about the same number of beats, that kind of thing. It really is a very subjective thing.
All this probably means I'm not a very good poet, but since I'm not interested in publishing my poetry that isn't something I really worry about a lot, because my poetry really is more therapeutic than anything. Kind of like really cheap analysis.
[ September 19, 2004, 03:50 AM: Message edited by: littlemissattitude ]
Posted by ae (Member # 3291) on :
Meter isn't important, but rhythm is. Go with what sounds right, not what breaks down nicely into ordered units.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Check out the Poetry Free-for-all. It's got great help for beginners, as long as you follow their rules (about the forum, not poetry). Some of the critiques can be harsh, but they are very helpful to focusing on the important aspects of poetry.
Meter is a particularly useful form of sonics. It is a great way to create a mood, and to control the reader's emotions. It is also mandatory for effective comic verse.
Sometimes its useful to try to follow one of the particular forms (sonnet, limerick, etc.). This allows you to focus on other aspects of the poem than selecting appropriate meter.
Good luck.
Dagonee
Posted by ae (Member # 3291) on :
quote:It is also mandatory for effective comic verse.
I disagree. Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
First, in it's most common usages, verse implies meter.
Second, the linked poem doesn't make me change my assessment.
Dagonee
Posted by ae (Member # 3291) on :
quote:First, in it's most common usages, verse implies meter.
If you were using it in that sense, to say that meter is "mandatory for effective comic verse" would be redundant.
quote:Second, the linked poem doesn't make me change my assessment.
De gustibus etc.
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
Dante's Three Easy Steps for a Beginning Poet
Step One
I think the single most important question to ask yourself is this: why do I want to write poetry? Am I writing to be published? To get girls? To be a cool angsty kinda person? To create literature? To express myself for my friends and family? Because therapy is too expensive?
Figure out the answer to this before you do anything else, because your purpose in writing poetry will have the largest impact of any single factor on your writing and your poems.
Step Two
After that, READ. Read poetry constantly. You can't know if you like or dislike a poet or sub-genre unless you're familiar with it. You should probably read at least five poems for every one you write. And read not only voraciously but also omnivorously. If you're a hard-core free verse post-modernist, great--but read some Shakespeare and Tennyson and Donne, too. If you're a staunch formalist/classicist, fine--but read some cummings and Hughes and Pinksy as well.
Step Three
Finally, once you know what you like, make sure you understand the conventions of your favorite sub-genre. Free verse is NOT just "deep thoughts" jotted down with random spacing. Formalist poetry is NOT just making things keep to the meter or rhyme scheme.
And for goodness' sake, try different things. If you think anything that rhymes is doggerel, try writing a sonnet. If you hate anything that doesn't rhyme, spend a half-hour trying to write a good haiku or free-verse or prose poem. You might find more value in other types of poetry than you had anticipated.
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
<bump>
Because I hate killing threads.
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
You didn't kill the thread. Actually, I was going to bump it anyway by thanking you for your advice, so ..... thanks for the advice!
space opera
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
I'm not skilled at writing or reading poetry, but some people may or may not feel OSC is good at it. At a book signing a couple weeks ago (at which he plugged An Open Book), he expressed thankfulness to a professor who required that he write 100 sonnets before attempting any free verse. I guess I would liken it to playing bridge (or playing at bridge, for the competitive types), in that one is best served by first learning all the rules before deciding which ones to break.
--Pop
[Edit -- typo/spelling error, depending on whether or not I admit to the latter.]
[ September 20, 2004, 01:26 PM: Message edited by: Papa Moose ]
Posted by AvidReader (Member # 6007) on :
On a side note, haiku does not translate to five-seven-five in English. Sorry, this is a pet peeve of mine.
In Japanese, there's some kind of almost syllable distinction. It's made up of one consonant and one vowel. That is the five-seven-five count. It doesn't work in English because our syllables can be enormous. Like the word through. One syllable, four sounds. In English, try to use short lines that can be said in one breath.
Haiku should be an observance of nature in one moment. Haiku do not move in time. They are now. The hardest part of haiku is finding the "ahh" moment without telling the reader what it was. It's almost Victorian in that you don't tell the reader what you felt, you show them what you saw in a way that lets them feel for themselves.
Haiku is not easy. But it's a beautiful form. Haiku isn't written, it's inspired.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I second everything Dante said. Most important of all is to read lots and lots of poetry. Read 20 or 50 poems for every one you write. Five is not nearly enough. Read anthologies and notice the poems you like. Notice who they are by. Then buy the books full of just their poetry. Read your favorites over and over so many times that you memorize them. Poetry is like music, to be savored again and again. A poem, like a song, doesn't yield up its full awesomeness on the first time through, either. You have to get familiar with it before you can see how cool it is.
Also study poetry, all the figures of speech and the tricks and cool poetic devices. I mean, you need to know all the reasons why something is so good (all the defineable ones) to really appreciate it. Then your familiarity with zillions of poems through reading will show you the indefineable reasons as well. The best book I've ever seen about poetry is Sound and Sense which has been through a bunch of editions. It explains pretty much everything that can be explained.
Like most art, lots about poetry CAN'T be explained. So just dig it, too. I find that all the best stuff I come up with just comes out of nowhere, without conscious design. Follow your gut instinct about what's good. Feed the passion, fathom the power, witness the beauty, bathe in the fountain, and all that. Posted by ae (Member # 3291) on :
Papa Moose:
quote:I guess I would liken it to playing bridge (or playing at bridge, for the competitive types), in that one is best served by first learning all the rules before deciding which ones to break.
I agree with the principle but not the expression. Thinking in terms of rules is counter-productive. I would put it, less catchily but more accurate, as "Be aware of the effect of all your poetic decisions, whether they conform to or rebel against accepted convention."
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
Yeah, but I was talking about bridge. *smile* Even so, I'll grant that it's conventions rather than rules I'm really referencing. The rules alone make bridge sound simple (unless we're talking duplicate). Of course, the rules alone for chess are pretty straightforward as well, but the play is far from it.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
), or whether or not the lines rhyme. So I generally write free verse.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)