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Forms, forms, everywhere
Shrouded in sacred mist
Forms, forms, I think it fair
To give my own small twist!
This newsletter deals with taking an established poetry form, and adding a different dimension to it. |
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It is often said in comic theatre that to truly sing off key you must be able to sing beautifully. It is the same with playing with various forms of poetry. In order to add your own "twist" to a form you have to understand the form throughly, Simply disregarding the rules due to laziness or ignorance does not make the poem "your twist" because you escaped the beauty of the form. Obversely, to disregard a poem because it dared to step outside the rules of form, if well written, is worse than ignorance. It is literary snobbery and it stifles the creative process. The idea of creating a new form, or hybrid form, can be very exciting because you are stretching your literary knowledge by allowing figurative knowledge to emerge. It isn't easy and oft times frustrating but the end product can be extremely rewarding.
One way to explore this type of poetic writing is to read the works of one classic poet; of course, choose one you like. Look at the physical construction, rhyme, meter, literary form, subject, etc. Next, find one poem you enjoyed more than the others and take it apart; mark it up, make notes. Then write a poem exactly as if the poet wrote it. At this point, it doesn't have to be good, just master that poet's form. Now, look at the form from a different angle and ask yourself: "Self, what would you change?" No, more than change, what twist would you add to elevate the poem to another level? It may be adding alliteration, or metaphor, or a different point of view.
Below you will find my humble attempt at stretching a sestina. No, no, silly poets! It is not a fancy umbrella drink! It is a poetry form. The traditional sestina is a poem consisting of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoi. It makes no use of a refrain. This form is unrhymed, the effect of rhyme being taken over by a fixed pattern of end-words which demands that these end-words in each stanza be the same (no gerunds, change of tense, plurals, slant rhymes), though arranged in a different sequence each time. If we take 1-2-3-5-6 to represent the end-words of the first stanza, then the first line of the second stanza must end with 6 (the last end-word used in the preceding stanza), the second with 1, the third with 5, the fourth with 2, the fifth with 4, the sixth with 3--and so to the next stanza. The pattern for this one is: 1-2-3-4-5-6; 6-1-5-2-4-3; 3-6-4-1-2-5, 532614, 451362, 246531. The envoi, or conclusion, of three lines must use as end-words 5-3-1, these being the final end-words, in the same sequence, of the sixth stanza; however, you must exercise even greater ingenuity than all this, since buried in each line of the envoy must appear the other three end-words, 2-4-6.
In my humble offering I didn't prank with the poem's scaffolding, I went in another direction. I decided to have the subject change as the poem fell. In this case, from love to indifference; the first two stanzas deal with the first emotion, the second two show a change in feeling, and the final two the second (opposite) emotion with the envoi tying it all up nicely. The trick, of course, was choosing the correct six words that would travel through the piece seamlessly.
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Breaking over her like the waves of the ocean --------------------1
Rising in her breast like an undulating hill. --------------------------2
Though it had no form, only mist and shadow ---------------------3
Her heart knew its certainty like granite stone ---------------------4
With this knowledge she felt her soul free --------------------------5
There was no denying her love for this man. -----------------------6
Her body called out to this man -----------------------------------------6
Making love to the rhythm of the ocean ------------------------------1
Together they became one, floating free. ----------------------------5
Making love nestled in sweet grasses on the hill, -------------------2
Like children they carved initials on a stone, ------------------------4
Holding each other tenderly as day became shadow. -------------3
From somewhere into her heart came a shadow. -----------------3
There were misty questions concerning this man. -----------------6
Her heart felt the uncertainty like a stone, --------------------------4
Her feelings as turbulent as the ocean, ------------------------------1
As she stood in the wildflowers on the hill, -------------------------2
A coldness she could not shake free. -------------------------------5
She loved to watch the birds fly free ----------------------------------5
Thinking of herself in their shadow. -----------------------------------3
Arms outstretched standing alone on top the hill -----------------------2
Her heart told her she needed no man. -------------------------------6
Confusion crashed like waves on the ocean, -----------------------1
Her finger traced their names on the stone. -------------------------4
A promise had not been written in stone. ---------------------------4
They both agreed that they were free. -------------------------------5
Much like the ebbing tide of the ocean, -------------------------------1
Not unlike a cloud's passing shadow. --------------------------------3
He was a man like any other man, -----------------------------------6
Changing like the seasons on the hill ---------------------------------2
She enjoyed watching the sunrise on the hill. ----------------------2
It was not that her heart was cold as a stone ---------------------4
Or that she bore ill feelings toward any man, -----------------------6
Only that she loved the feeling of being free. ------------------------5
Love was no more than a vaporous shadow, ----------------------3
Ebbing like the waves on the ocean. ----------------------------------1
A hill stands firm and unmoving even though a river flows through it free.
And no matter how large the stone it can not hold down a shadow
And as is true with fish, this man was one of many in the ocean.
I hope you will step out of your comfort zone. Free form poetry has it's place, I know I have quite a few in my port, but there is something exquisitely beautiful and powerful about a poem that has a set pattern to help focus the emotion.
Don't fear the poetry! Enter a contest and walk towards the rhyme!
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Here are great examples of various traditional poetry forms. Choose one and see how you can make it your own, or just enjoy the beauty found in form.
SESTINA:
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#1206541 by Not Available. |
SAMISEN:
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TERZA RIMA:
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SONNET:
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#441921 by Not Available. |
VILLANELLE:
| | | Telling Time (13+)
Time!!! -a villanelle from the word prompts of para/poem challenge
#715325 by Joy  |
Here's a nicely constructed little book of forms that might help you better navigate those waters:
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Poetry: May 02, 2007 Issue [#1686]
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