If you write poetry, read it too!
I hope you and your family are getting through these pandemic days safely. This month we take a look at poetry, reading it, and learning more about it.
If you write poetry, read it
If you write poetry, you need to take time to read it, too. Both the well-known and the not-so-well-known poets. To see how it’s done. To see what’s current and what’s traditional. And to hear the language and feel its rhythm.
Reading poetry aloud helps you feel it. “The Song My Paddle Sings” by E. Pauline Johnson, and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost are wonderful examples of rhythm. William Wilfred Campbell’s “Indian Summer” includes senses as well. Master poets make it look simple, even if it’s not. “In Flanders Fields,” by Guelph native Colonel John McCrae, is a good example of a rondeau poem. Finally, notice the longing in the singing lines of Maya Angelou’s “Caged Bird.”
Poetry shows mood too; not all of it is serious; some poems are quite humorous, such as Casey at the Bat and anything by comedian Pam Ayres.
Think of song lyrics or verses for children such as “My Shadow” by Robert Louis Stevenson, and let’s not forget Mother Goose and Dr. Seuss, for rhyme and rhythm. As an adult, you’ve grown beyond those books, but if you write poetry for children, study them too.
Free verse, such as those written by Billy Collins, Jane Kenyon and Luci Shaw, use various devices, rather than end rhyme, creating pictures or playing with possibilities as one does in a fictional story.
Two devices often used in poetry are assonance, “the repetition of the vowel sound across words within the lines of the poem creating internal rhymes,” and metaphor, “where an object in, or the subject of, a poem is described as being the same as another otherwise unrelated object.”
In Prep Scholar, Melissa Brinks describes poetic device as a “deliberate use of words, phrases, sounds, and even shapes to convey meaning.” She adds “that literary devices, like spices, are great in moderation, but overpowering if overused.”
As in any other kind of writing, it’s important to read in a similar genre. Review poetic devices; be a student of poetry and you’ll learn from those who do it well. Then have some fun and experiment.
Resources:
https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/poetry-prompts
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/
https://poetryarchive.org/
https://poets.org/
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Carolyn R. Wilker is a writer, editor, writing instructor and storyteller from Kitchener, Ontario, with publication credits in articles, op-eds, devotionals, poetry, and her books, Once Upon a Sandbox, Harry’s Trees, Les arbres de Harry, Piece by Piece and the most recent Travelling Light. She is also a contributor to anthologies including Grandmothers’ Necklace, Wisdom of Old Souls, Hot Apple Cider with Cinnamon, and Good Grief People. She blogs at storygal.ca
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