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 Poetry: October 21, 2009 Issue [#3344] |
  Poetry This issue's editor: northernwrites More Newsletters By This Editor   1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions  Greetings from northernwrites, your editor for today's Poetry newsletter. Meter, rhyme, and form are not the only tools available for creating structure in poetry. Everyday things that you have been learning since you were a toddler and ideas cross-pollinated among the arts and sciences can enrich the creative experience and expand the possibilities for discovery. The best thing about them is that it doesn't matter whether you're writing free verse or traditional poetry. Today's newsletter will discuss a cross-pollination between telling classic stories and poetry.    Narrative Poetry Many of the poems we all remember are stories. Nursery rhymes often tell stories, and bedtime story books often rhyme. But we break out some of the classic favorites in these coming months, making this the prime story-telling season. For Halloween, parties can involve telling scary stories like Poe's "The Raven." For Thanksgiving as we count our blessings, the stories are usually about family and friends, or the first Thanksgiving. For December, people focus more on stories of the holidays, such as for Christmas, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," or any of the narrative Christmas carols. Perhaps you have a story-telling project that feels like it could be a poem. These poems are usually long - not something to leave until the last minute, especially if they are to be a gift. Creating a Narrative Poem A narrative means something happens, so a narrative poem should focus on "what happens." The narrative needs to have a beginning, middle, and end, just like a prose story. An effective narrative poem focuses primarily on the line of the actions, the story arc. It includes enough setting and character development that the poem makes sense to the reader and feels balanced. It shows information using the five+ senses, particularly when the focus is close-up. A historical piece needs to have all the essential "historical" facts straight. If you are creating from imagination, you need to include enough of the essential "facts" that the reader can follow along without getting confused. Overall Structural Concerns For a narrative poem, meter is the most important structure. Rough meter can be a big problem with a long poem. If the meter's not smooth, the reader can't concentrate on the content -- which is the main point of a long narrative poem. It takes energy to make it through reading a long poem, and rhythm can provide that drive. The secondary focus is that the reader should be able to enjoy the poetic "journey" through the words -- but not in a way that distracts from the tale. Using vivid showing can also contribute to the energy needed for such a poem. Alliteration that moves can add pleasure to the reading -- as long as it doesn't make the reader stumble. Some people read out loud faster than others. If you read out loud slower than average, check this with someone who reads faster. Having rhyme is perhaps the third most important issue with a narrative poem. It's good to have if it can be managed well, but not critical to have if it becomes a problem. Don't go for the rhyme at the expense of the more important issues. A rhyme pattern of xaxa xbxb may be plenty reasonable, depending on what the subject of the narrative is. Other common quatrain patterns (from easier to use to difficult to use) are: abab cdcd, abba cddc, aabb ccdd, aaba bbcb, and aaaa bbbb. Another decision to be made is whether you will repeat any of the rhyme sounds, and if you do, how you will handle the repetition. The -or rhyme sound, which is repeated four times in each of Poe's eighteen stanzas, becomes a major part of the structure of his poem. If your poem is active and moves around its setting more than his, and if it uses masculine rhyme, you may be able to keep the rhyme sound(s) for each stanza unique. Feminine rhyme tends to use more words with suffixes, so repetition becomes more likely. Using blank verse (iambic pentameter - / - / - / - / - / , but no rhyme) with alliterative effects and imagery/etc. could be more effective than focusing on rhyme to make it poetic. While rhyme is nice if it works, if the rhyme words aren't important to the tale, or if they distort the grammar or break up the rhythm, they are a liability rather than an asset. Choosing an appropriate line length for the material is important. Consider what the purpose is. Pentameter is fairly multipurpose. Tetrameter works well for journey/action poems. Hexameter works well for thinking. If the piece will be read aloud, test the line length against your lung capacity. If there is a problem, you can use punctuation in mid line to allow the reader to breathe, as Poe did, or choose a shorter line length and compensate with more lines per stanza. Choose a number of lines per stanza that will fit the material and provide enough room so a stanza contains a complete thought, possibly two. Four lines is common, but if you need more lines per stanza, use whatever it takes. Poe's stanzas are six lines long, most of them in octometer, which is like having eleven lines of tetrameter. The narrative voice of the speaker should be consistent. Avoid using big, abstract words. They usually make weak poetry. The wording should be consistent. Don't simplify too much in some places, either. Use a consistent vocabulary. If you are telling a historical narrative, you may want to consider using words from that period. They might be preferable to modern terms and phrasings, especially if the narrative is done in first person. You can use footnotes for the definitions for a printed version, or here on-site you can use popnotes, which make the definition available with a mouse-hover - no scrolling necessary. When you use first person narration, the reader expects some access to the inner life of the character who is the poem's speaker. Accessing this information is easier if you're telling something autobiographical, or about someone you know, or are making it up. However, this can be difficult to do in a historical piece. The character development with a historical piece would most likely be carried out in objective third person unless historical documents provide access to the thoughts, feelings, and intentions of the participants. If you're writing a "historical fiction" narrative, then making up something reasonable is allowed. Also, a third person narrative can suggest an inner life through speculation or questions. Having more than one speaker is more difficult to do in a poem than in prose because a poem is so short, and because something must be done to orient the reader whenever the speaker changes. It's probably not a good idea to use alternating stanzas from each of two speakers and expect the reader to keep them straight without anything extra to help. I have yet to read one that tries this, without having to go back to the beginning and count stanzas. Sometimes it has been so bad that I have marked initials by each stanza in an effort to keep them straight. Even if it seems okay to you, the reader can have trouble. Do something to help the reader keep track. Be careful of the differences in voice that can be created with showing vs telling. Description should be integrated with the action rather than separate. If it doesn't relate to somebody doing something, consider leaving it out. When using transitions or summaries, be careful that the narration doesn't suddenly get vague. Keep the summary or transition as specific as possible with concrete nouns and action verbs. Outline the story arc in scenes first. The prose debate between pantsers and plotsers usually runs up against a wall when it comes to narrative poetry. In this kind of poetry, plotsers take it, hands down. Pantsers can do their thing if they create a prose outline first and then adapt that to the poem.  Budget how many stanzas or lines for each event or scene -- So the details don't take over and bog it down. So the narrative stays balanced and consistent all the way through. So no steps get left out. For each scene, include: The purpose of each scene - the speaker's objective. How things changed and what changed. The usual story parts: plot/action, characterization, setting. The narrative has to move -- a cause-effect chain. Decide where transitions and summary are better than action. Double-check that everything is there. If it's not "on" the page somehow, it won't happen for the reader.The details of imagery and metaphor, etc. that bring the tale to life need to be tied to the chain of cause and effect that is the action -- to help the reader visualize pictures of what happened. They can also suggest information that doesn't actually appear on the page, such as a character's primary motivation. It's important to make sure that everything happens in the right sequence. The reader is trying to put together the story in his head. Anything extra the poem does should help the reader keep everything necessary in mind. The main thing is to "grow" everything from what's already on the page, rather than jumping off to construct something that will later be "bolted" onto what's already there. Connect everything as you go along, like a plant grows, instead. The same concerns and similar principles that work for prose fiction come into play with how the tale is presented as a poem. For example, can you start stanza 1 with the main plot problem (or an introductory problem that leads to the main plot problem) to draw the reader in? Think in terms of scenes - the character has a problem to solve. If the poem presents a problem, the reader will be interested to know what happened to solve that problem -- what happened next? Define the poem's story arc(s), and then shape the stanzas to the story arc by outlining what needs to go in each stanza -- particularly what happens in each stanza. What happens in each stanza needs to connect in some way to what happens in the next. What changes between the stanzas -- setting, character, actions, and/or solving one problem creates another? The way something is worded can do multiple jobs here, especially if the wording shows instead of tells, using active verbs. In some ways, each stanza can be thought of as comparable to blocking out a shot in a movie, with decisions to be made about how close to the action the narrator is standing, and what the narrator's perspective on the action is. Next decide where details can add to the action. If something doesn't make sense with the action that defines a stanza, it doesn't belong in that stanza. Backstory information needs to be integrated into the action to keep it from being dry. Why and how-used information can take in the dry facts and make them interesting. Put this kind of details in stanzas where they help move the action along. Again, if it doesn't make sense with the action that defines a stanza, it doesn't belong in that stanza. Some information might not fit anywhere and may have to be left out. Wherever possible, describe objects in use or in motion or in some interaction with a character or another object. When you have an overall plan in place, then write the rough draft of the stanzas. After that, look at what's available to work with and fine-tune the imagery and alliteration, perhaps finish some structural repetition to emphasize a main point, and complete anything else that can subtly enrich and strengthen the poem without being a distraction to the narrative. Troubleshooting Tips See if clear imagery can be used where "the dry facts" wording has words that won't fit into the chosen meter. If possible, stuff necessary, metrically awkward information into the title so it doesn't have to be in the poem. Examples of this could be the name of a person or location, or the name of an object that's important to the plot. How Could You Use This Principle?  In reading poetry, you could pause to consider how the poem works as a narrative; for example: Did the poem keep your interest? Did the poem confuse you or lose you at any point? Did the poem give you information you didn't need to know to understand the story? Did any of the poetics in the poem distract you from the narrative? Did the poem seem balanced and consistent in the level of detail? Was the narrative voice consistent?[With good poetry, there is usually more to the poem than a first reading will reveal. Whether you're reading traditional poetry or free verse, pausing to observe structural details and to think about what they imply can reveal more of the meaning.]  In writing poetry, you could plan to use it from the beginning. See detailed directions above.  In rewriting poetry, if you already have a first draft or freewrite version on the page, you could create an outline to check for places where adjustments are needed. With a long form, it's easier to visualize structures while you're looking at a condensed version, such as an outline, than while you're looking at the actual text. Once a balanced draft is created, judicious use of poetic tools could help make your poem stronger; for example: Does the first draft of your poem already have any partially constructed structural patterns? Would completing the structure make the poem stronger? What does it need to complete the structure? Does the first draft of your poem have awkward places where something distracts the reader from the narrative? Can it be adjusted or replaced to smooth it out? Does the first draft of your poem have places with hints of imagery or places where the possibilities for alliterative effects suggest themselves? Can they be completed to enrich the poem? In reviewing poetry, you could use the same considerations in analyzing someone else's poetry that you would use for analyzing your own first drafts (see the sections on reading and rewriting, above). When you write the review, point out what you notice and make suggestions of any possibilities that you see.
Each of today's thirteen poems is a narrative:
Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form  Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form Don't forget to support our sponsor! InstantPublisher.Com: Self publishing made easy and affordable. All file types accepted with many options. Starting at $100 for 25 copies in 7-10 days! Visit us today!  These comments were submitted in response to my previous editorial in "Poetry Newsletter (September 23, 2009)" on The Blind Poets and the Elephant, on the principle of making your imagery accessible to the reader. I appreciate all those who took the time to write in:troubadour Submitted Comment: An absolutely delightful newsletter. I like your light tone, and even your humor. The various versions of the poem were very well constructed to make your points. Thank you publicly here for your continued excellence with the Poetry Newsletter. NW: Thank you, and you're welcome. dougrainbow Submitted Comment: When a poem makes no sense to me I re-read it literally and carefully. If it still makes no sense, I look for direction to imagery, much as stated in your newletter.If that doesn't work I try to find meaning in literary or poetic conventions (a good subject). If still no luck, I tell the poet it made no sense. Often they respond, "It doesn't have to make sense." Sometimes they think they are the functional equivalence of Jackson Pollock. Question: is a poem flawed if it makes no sense? NW: Another variation on that is the reply, "It means whatever the reader wants it to mean." That would be the amorphous blob under the bed, I think. Poetry is a complex art involving many variables, which gives it quite a bit of flexibility. If a poem can ignore the existence of one variable, and still be a poem, then logically, it can also ignore the existence of all but one variable, and still be a poem. Abstract means having only intrinsic form with little or no [verbal] representation, so an abstract poem can indeed be a verbal experience that lacks an inherent meaning to communicate, and reflects only whatever meaning the reader brings to the experience (if any), just like abstract art. Such a poem may be classified by each reader as to its value to him. However, what looks like nonsense to one person might communicate a meaning to another person who shares the pertinent experience with the poet. It doesn't take much to communicate a meaning to the right audience. Ultimately, each poet has to choose his audience - whether just himself, a small group, or a larger segment of the population. As a reader, if you don't value abstraction, your opinion that "it's flawed" is valid, just as another reader may decide that "it's not flawed." This opinion merely puts you into or out of the intended audience for the poem. redridinghoo Submitted Comment: Always enjoy your newsletters, Northernwrites  NW: Thank you! I'm pleased that you do. ajaxriley Submitted Comment: Very good. This is the first week I've had time to read the newsletters so I'm choosing which to keep up. The poetry one's definitely on my list (so far, along with For Authors). You've taught me a lot already. NW: Thanks! I'm pleased the newsletter was useful for you. monty31802 Submitted Comment: A very well written informative newsletter. NW: Thank you! Until our paths cross again, keep writing! northernwrites  To stop receiving this newsletter, go into your account and remove the check from the box beside the specific topic. Be sure to click "Complete Edit" or it will not save your changes. |
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