Entry #556958, added on 12-24-07 @ 5:21 pm EST
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| Inversion - flipflopping the natural sentence order | Entry #556958 |
INVERSION
In A Poetry Handbook, noted and honored American poet Mary Oliver states that it is not possible, or wise, to set absolutely firm rules for poetry. In the same paragraph, she adds, in almost any poem certain practices are appropriate, certain practices are not inappropriate.
In a section of her book entitled "Inappropriate Language," Mary Oliver discusses a topic that I struggled with when I began writing poetry a few years ago. I did not know what to 'name' this thing, but I did know that each time I utilized it in a poem, the wording sounded quite awkward. After reading Mary Oliver's book, I now have a name for this nemesis - inversion.
Inversion is changing the normal word order of a sentence. While it is found in non-rhyming poetry, it is most often discovered in rhyming, metrical poetry. As Mary Oliver states, it becomes instantly apparent why the sentence has been shifted about - so that the poet could employ the only rhyme he could think of. In my mind, this makes inversion a form of forced rhyming.
Inversion is not always wrong. When used in a proper manner, it enhances the reading of a poem. But when used improperly, to use Mary Oliver's words, it feels "out of whack," contorted, and we want things put back into their usual order. Improperly used inversion always stands out to the reader.
Something else that gets forced is inversion of the normal word order. That is something like "Jack run, now see." Some people do it because they think it's somehow "more poetic" but usually it is a sign of someone who has fallen in love with one particular word, and is dead-set on making another line rhyme with it. Or should that be: "On making another line rhyme, the poet is dead-set." If used in moderation, inversion is not bad. But when it's all over the place, it makes reading the poem more difficult, it scrambles the meaning, and it's a sign of lack of creativity and skill.
http://www.winterhome.net/personal/nexus/poetry/judging.htm
An example of inversion for the sake of rhyming may be something like:
On a warm summer day
In the oak tree's shade
I wiled the time away
For you, I stayed.
Here, the order of the last line is inverted merely to rhyme 'stayed' with 'shade.' When inversion causes a line to read awkwardly, we may need to consider the reason for the inversion.
Many poets have employed inversion, and employed it well. When we use inversion, we should always ask, "does it work here or do I need to revise and consider another rhyme?"
As Mary Oliver states in her book, Good inversion is wonderful. Good inversion is difficult to achieve. Bad inversion is never wonderful and rarely difficult to achieve.
In my personal experience, I have found, at times, I need to "change my mind" about making a certain rhyme. When we change the flow of a poem for the sake of a rhyme or lose meaning for the sake of a rhyme, we are forcing a rhyme. Forced rhyming is a great sacrifice to creativity and the quality of the poem. We will often need to refocus to avoid forced rhyming. With practice and patience, we can alleviate our poetry of inappropriate inversion and forced rhyming.
A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver is a handy and resourceful tool for those who enjoy reading and writing poetry. I highly recommend it and it is available at www.amazon.com - it is a small book and reasonably priced.
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© Copyright 2007 Brenpoet - Happy Valentine' (UN: brenmaple at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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