While images supply poetic lines with pictures, imagery brings picturesque language or figures of speech into a poem, but this need not be pretty little pictures or precious thoughts. In the following poem, for example, notice the visuals in the unfolding scene.
The Night You Taught Me Anarchy
by John DelCroix
Your drunk guitar teacher
on stage begged me
to watch over you
in this jam-packed bolgia.
Tobacco fog permeated the air.
The fiends around us,
in black shirts and tattered jeans,
raised their pitchfork fingers
as thunder broke out
from their beer-reeked mouths.
Your attention fixed on stage,
listening to the noise of guitars
screeching through the amplifiers,
and cymbals crashing
like shattered bottles on concrete.
You were barely 16
sipping your can of soda,
exclaiming to me
your view of anarchy,
“Can you see it now?
Amidst the chaos sprouts a rose!”
Yet, all I saw
was you.
As we consider the picturesque in poetry, this poem itself has a touch of anarchy or rebellion against the classical romantic attempt to immortalize the beautiful and the perfect in a poem.
From the drunk teacher in the first line to the smoky environment reeking of beer and discordance, the poem pans its lines like a camera across tattered jeans and the metaphoric “pitchfork fingers” then turns up the volume, metaphorically speaking, “as thunder broke out/ from their beer-reeked mouths.” Since thunder did not literally come out of those reeking mouths, the language can be considered picturesque even though void of pretty little pictures or idyllic sounds.
Ironically, this chaos unfolds into an oddly touching tender touch at the end. I wish, though, that the poem provided a clue into the relationship between “I” and “you” since so much depends on this. Is, for instance, the poem an account of “how I met your mother?” Or is this a moment when one musician notices the student of another or when the owner of a bar worries about having a teen on the premises or when a predator, in the spontaneous role of a babysitter, begins to stalk a young girl?
Do you see, John, how keeping readers in the dark about an important aspect of the story gives us permission to fill in the blanks and, in essence, devise characters you might not have intended. To change this, clarify as you revise, perhaps with a hint in the title, which I personally like as is. I’d be more apt to define their relationship in a brief phrase in the last verse after “sipping your can of soda.”
Regarding other changes, the word “bolgia” may mean nothing to many readers or something from Dante Alighieri's Inferno to others, which probably gives the disco-like impression you intended. So you might leave that as is, making punctuation and syntax the only real changes suggested.
In the second verse, no comma is needed at the ends of lines 2 and 3 or after “amplifiers” in the next verse, which consists of an incomplete sentence. To complete the sentence, recast the first line, for example, as, “You kept your attention on stage.”
With fine use of pictures and picturesque language, John, you certainly kept our attention in this well-staged poem. Good job!
The Poetry Editor
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Poets Helping Poets Helping Poetry
Although we only have one more day of National Poetry Month, poets and poetry lovers can keep the love going by working toward a more poetry-friendly world. How?
Subscribe to poetry journals.
Buy poetry books and anthologies of poetry.
Regularly read poetry, preferably out loud.
Analyze poetic techniques. See what works and why.
Revise any of your poems that seem unfinished or have not placed.
Submit a batch of 3 to 5 finished poems to a respected journal or e-zine.
Submit another batch to another publication that has the good sense to publish poetry.
If a batch of poems keeps coming back or you’re not sure how to improve your work, get professional feedback from The Poetry Editor http://www.thepoetryeditor.com. ]
Give poetry readings of your published poems or of well-written poetry by others, such as the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning poets or classical poems in the public domain.
When you have a good understanding of poetic techniques and have placed your poems with traditional print or online publishers, consider reviewing your favorite books of poems by other poets.
Begin with brief reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or other Internet bookshops. As you gain confidence in writing poetry reviews, notice which journals publish reviews you like. Approach journal editors with a sample review. Let them know you’re interested in reviewing books of poetry they most likely have on hand.
If you have not yet studied poetry, begin! You'll not only learn the names of poetic techniques you've been using instinctively, you'll then be able to put those techniques into practice on purpose as you revise.
Order the poet-friendly book, Poetry: Taking Its Course, from The Poetry Editor website. With the book as your text and a one-on-one critique for each assignment, you can have a private class in poetry.
Subscribe to poetry journals.
Buy poetry books and anthologies of poetry.
Regularly read poetry, preferably out loud.
Analyze poetic techniques. See what works and why.
Revise any of your poems that seem unfinished or have not placed.
Submit a batch of 3 to 5 finished poems to a respected journal or e-zine.
Submit another batch to another publication that has the good sense to publish poetry.
If a batch of poems keeps coming back or you’re not sure how to improve your work, get professional feedback from The Poetry Editor http://www.thepoetryeditor.com. ]
Give poetry readings of your published poems or of well-written poetry by others, such as the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning poets or classical poems in the public domain.
When you have a good understanding of poetic techniques and have placed your poems with traditional print or online publishers, consider reviewing your favorite books of poems by other poets.
Begin with brief reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or other Internet bookshops. As you gain confidence in writing poetry reviews, notice which journals publish reviews you like. Approach journal editors with a sample review. Let them know you’re interested in reviewing books of poetry they most likely have on hand.
If you have not yet studied poetry, begin! You'll not only learn the names of poetic techniques you've been using instinctively, you'll then be able to put those techniques into practice on purpose as you revise.
Order the poet-friendly book, Poetry: Taking Its Course, from The Poetry Editor website. With the book as your text and a one-on-one critique for each assignment, you can have a private class in poetry.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Finding The Poem Within A Poem
As you write a poem, let your words flow onto the paper without censoring yourself. Later, after the lines have had a chance to sit and rest a while, go back and read your work aloud.
Pretend that someone else wrote the poem, then briefly summarize. Describe what you see, hear, and feel with each line. Does the poem express what you intended? Or does it directly state your thoughts or feelings without “visual aids” to help readers get into the experience?
A lack of “visuals” often occurs in a first draft, so don’t be surprised if the lines of your verse freely turn on flat statements that may sound like prose, rather than poetry. No problem! Once you know what to look for and how to assess your work, you can change the lines however you want.
One way to handle a poem is to look for an image, symbol, metaphor, or phrase that relates to your subject. To do this, list each picture, cliché, or object that comes to mind -- preferably something with an obvious connection to your main thought or theme. Then play with those words or phrases until you find a fresh way of showing what you want to say.
Another way to handle a poem with direct statements is to get radical! Cut. Slash. Rearrange lines, and find the poem within a poem.
To give you an example, let’s first consider the original draft written by Tapeshwar then a revision, which, in the life of any poem, could be one of many possible versions:
Death is layered
by Tapeshwar
Haiti, Tsunami, Terrorism...
Death, death... everywhere!
We all are affected by this,
And the death of the people i.e. near and dear ones.
The echo effect of death is just for a moment,
And it vanishes when the next death sounds the bell.
Many a cry, many the sympathizers…
And the story goes on as ever before.
Diagnosis is pre-emptied and the cure is semi-transparent.
The cure for the affected families is for the moment only.
The whole disaster evaporates in oblivion,
Nothing is kept for the conscious!
It is just a moment truth,
And the trust is burdened upon the past.
Lots of speeches provoked, laden with untold miseries…
But the affect is self-made by the speaker.
Does anybody think that i.e. that was my mother, father, sister, brother etc.?
Proclamation is distant and the affect is near.
Killing is substitute for the over-burdened mind.
Death is normal for the Death itself!
Death is layered by the onlooker by the previous death.
The meaning of death is partaken by the un-dead!
As you can see, the poem addresses the subject of death in a very direct manner. While this shows an honest, authoritative, concerned voice, readers may feel excluded from the poem, which has the unfortunate effect of removing them from the experience rather than evoking empathy or providing new insight.
The following version plays with lines and experiments with some rather drastic cuts, which may make the poem more accessible to readers:
Revising Death
by Tapeshwar
Death, death…everywhere!
Earthquake, tsunami, terrorism,
and the death of people near….
A bell sounds, echoing
the next death.
Many cry. Many sympathize,
but the story goes on.
The cure is for the moment.
Nothing is kept.
Truth
and trust burden the past.
Speeches provoke, laden
with untold miseries.
Was that my mother, my father,
my home?
In the distance, the effect
comes near.
Death lies down
in layers. The un-
dead partake.
Tapesh, if this version omits a deep insight that came to you, keep working with the lines until they say what you want but so readers can grasp your meaning. For example, the revision omits, “Killing is substitute for the over-burdened mind,” which presents an interesting thought that you might want to reword to clarify then re-insert into the poem.
Read both versions aloud and think about any images or phrases that could assist you in showing thoughts about death. Select the freshest ideas to work into the poem. Experiment. Revise, and continue to read aloud each revision.
This revision cuts to the essence of your poem, removing repeated thoughts, a cliché (near and dear) and statements that might be considered unsubstantiated rather than factual. From this skeleton, however, you can flesh out the poem as you like, Tapesh. Or you can let the bare bones of the poem rattle like this – like death.
[For resources to help you revise your poems, visit The Poetry Editor website – http://www.thepoetryeditor.com. ]
Pretend that someone else wrote the poem, then briefly summarize. Describe what you see, hear, and feel with each line. Does the poem express what you intended? Or does it directly state your thoughts or feelings without “visual aids” to help readers get into the experience?
A lack of “visuals” often occurs in a first draft, so don’t be surprised if the lines of your verse freely turn on flat statements that may sound like prose, rather than poetry. No problem! Once you know what to look for and how to assess your work, you can change the lines however you want.
One way to handle a poem is to look for an image, symbol, metaphor, or phrase that relates to your subject. To do this, list each picture, cliché, or object that comes to mind -- preferably something with an obvious connection to your main thought or theme. Then play with those words or phrases until you find a fresh way of showing what you want to say.
Another way to handle a poem with direct statements is to get radical! Cut. Slash. Rearrange lines, and find the poem within a poem.
To give you an example, let’s first consider the original draft written by Tapeshwar then a revision, which, in the life of any poem, could be one of many possible versions:
Death is layered
by Tapeshwar
Haiti, Tsunami, Terrorism...
Death, death... everywhere!
We all are affected by this,
And the death of the people i.e. near and dear ones.
The echo effect of death is just for a moment,
And it vanishes when the next death sounds the bell.
Many a cry, many the sympathizers…
And the story goes on as ever before.
Diagnosis is pre-emptied and the cure is semi-transparent.
The cure for the affected families is for the moment only.
The whole disaster evaporates in oblivion,
Nothing is kept for the conscious!
It is just a moment truth,
And the trust is burdened upon the past.
Lots of speeches provoked, laden with untold miseries…
But the affect is self-made by the speaker.
Does anybody think that i.e. that was my mother, father, sister, brother etc.?
Proclamation is distant and the affect is near.
Killing is substitute for the over-burdened mind.
Death is normal for the Death itself!
Death is layered by the onlooker by the previous death.
The meaning of death is partaken by the un-dead!
As you can see, the poem addresses the subject of death in a very direct manner. While this shows an honest, authoritative, concerned voice, readers may feel excluded from the poem, which has the unfortunate effect of removing them from the experience rather than evoking empathy or providing new insight.
The following version plays with lines and experiments with some rather drastic cuts, which may make the poem more accessible to readers:
Revising Death
by Tapeshwar
Death, death…everywhere!
Earthquake, tsunami, terrorism,
and the death of people near….
A bell sounds, echoing
the next death.
Many cry. Many sympathize,
but the story goes on.
The cure is for the moment.
Nothing is kept.
Truth
and trust burden the past.
Speeches provoke, laden
with untold miseries.
Was that my mother, my father,
my home?
In the distance, the effect
comes near.
Death lies down
in layers. The un-
dead partake.
Tapesh, if this version omits a deep insight that came to you, keep working with the lines until they say what you want but so readers can grasp your meaning. For example, the revision omits, “Killing is substitute for the over-burdened mind,” which presents an interesting thought that you might want to reword to clarify then re-insert into the poem.
Read both versions aloud and think about any images or phrases that could assist you in showing thoughts about death. Select the freshest ideas to work into the poem. Experiment. Revise, and continue to read aloud each revision.
This revision cuts to the essence of your poem, removing repeated thoughts, a cliché (near and dear) and statements that might be considered unsubstantiated rather than factual. From this skeleton, however, you can flesh out the poem as you like, Tapesh. Or you can let the bare bones of the poem rattle like this – like death.
[For resources to help you revise your poems, visit The Poetry Editor website – http://www.thepoetryeditor.com. ]
Saturday, April 17, 2010
National Poetry Month & Beyond
Since 1996 the National Poetry Month, often dubbed by tweeters as NaPoMo, has showered us with April reminders of the importance and pleasures of poetry. The Academy of American Poets, who established the month-long event, posted “30 Ways To Celebrate” on their website http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/94 , listing ideas such as memorizing a poem, revisiting poems, or organizing a poetry reading.
So why am I just now mentioning this? Because NaPoMo started on Passover week followed by April Fool’s Day, Good Friday, our small town’s annual catfish festival, Easter Sunday, and a week of family visitors. Entries for the international poetry competition I judge each year arrived about this time too, along with manuscripts to critique, spring cleaning to do, and pitiful plants to prune after our exceptionally harsh winter.
By now you may be thinking I digress, but no. This purposely highlights the problems of seriously writing, seriously revising, and seriously marketing our poetry. Families need tending. Jobs need doing. Things intervene, and almost everything else has a louder voice than that tiny phrase, that itsy image, that whispered music which first begins a poem.
So, not just in April, but for the coming seasons, I propose we change NaPoMo to NoMoPa: No More Pauses. No More Paltry excuses. No More Pacing ourselves too fast to listen to the poems inside our heads. No More Padding lines because we didn’t give the rhythm more time to develop. No More Pairing tiny parts of speech as end-line rhymes because we didn't want to bother getting out the dictionary. No More Pages crumpled on the floor because we censored our work before the poem had finished speaking. This list could go on, but let’s have No More Parting with the little time we have for writing poems and reading poems by other poets every day of the year.
[For resources and services to help you help your poems, visit The Poetry Editor website - http://www.thepoetryeditor.com .]
So why am I just now mentioning this? Because NaPoMo started on Passover week followed by April Fool’s Day, Good Friday, our small town’s annual catfish festival, Easter Sunday, and a week of family visitors. Entries for the international poetry competition I judge each year arrived about this time too, along with manuscripts to critique, spring cleaning to do, and pitiful plants to prune after our exceptionally harsh winter.
By now you may be thinking I digress, but no. This purposely highlights the problems of seriously writing, seriously revising, and seriously marketing our poetry. Families need tending. Jobs need doing. Things intervene, and almost everything else has a louder voice than that tiny phrase, that itsy image, that whispered music which first begins a poem.
So, not just in April, but for the coming seasons, I propose we change NaPoMo to NoMoPa: No More Pauses. No More Paltry excuses. No More Pacing ourselves too fast to listen to the poems inside our heads. No More Padding lines because we didn’t give the rhythm more time to develop. No More Pairing tiny parts of speech as end-line rhymes because we didn't want to bother getting out the dictionary. No More Pages crumpled on the floor because we censored our work before the poem had finished speaking. This list could go on, but let’s have No More Parting with the little time we have for writing poems and reading poems by other poets every day of the year.
[For resources and services to help you help your poems, visit The Poetry Editor website - http://www.thepoetryeditor.com .]
Poetry Critique & Line Breaks
For centuries, poets didn't worry about where to break the lines. Used today, traditional forms still let you know where each line must end, so the pattern itself will make those decisions for you. For example, the ever-popular iambic pentameter requires each line to have five feet of iambs (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one - taDA.)
Conversely, free verse breaks free of all predetermined factors, giving you more freedom and more choices. With no rules to guide you though, you'll need to experiment to discover what works well.
As you play with the lines, you will find various ways to break them. Some will add drama and interest to your free verse. Some will not. To find out, read your poem aloud, and let your ear determine whether each line has the effect you want.
The following poem provides an excellent example of the effective use of line breaks. As you read the poem aloud, pause ever so slightly at the end of each unpunctuated line, then come to a full stop with each period and verse ending.
He Knew That I Cut Snowflakes
by Patricia A. Hawkenson
He is thirteen
seen forever
by sensitive souls
who pass his hillside,
who hear his muffled
cry.
Scissors.
Duck tape
wrapped around
his mouth
his nose,
his eyes alone
cry.
Scissors.
I drive on,
no scissors
in my car,
my radio,
just a little louder.
Can you see and hear how the line breaks help to direct your reading and also heighten the emotional impact of the poem? Without those remarkable choices, the poem might not make sense to readers who have no prior knowledge regarding the background or setting of the poem.
Anytime any poem seems unclear to you, read the lines aloud. Feel the musicality and mood. Then read the poem again. Highly compressed poems such as this might take three or four readings to become fully accessible to you, but quality work of any kind is almost always worth the wait.
When I first read this well-crafted poem, which arrived from a Follower, I didn’t follow everything at first, mainly because of the title. Intriguing though it is, Patricia, I got the impression of another story, perhaps even a humorous one.
For this piece, I assume you used “Knew” to indicate the past tense, which was the first clue that led me to realize the boy lies dead on the hillside, thirteen forever, perpetually reminding sensitive passersby of the terrible cause of his death. Your use of “Knew” in the title also lets me know the “I” of the poem (whether you personally or a persona) had a relationship of some kind with this young teen.
In addition, the poem’s ending suggests an ongoing sense of guilt each time “I” drives by the place where the child was either found or buried, thereby giving the impression of a caring adult, such as a teacher or social worker, who now feels haunted by the thought, “I should have done something to help this child.” No one can fully protect anyone all of the time, of course, but that does not keep one from wondering.
Perhaps I’m reading more into this than you intended, Patricia, but, if so, I wanted you to know how the poem comes across at least to this reader. If I’ve gotten close to your intent then great! That means you have done an exceptional job of presenting a complex issue and a tragic story with the exquisite use of brevity and effective line breaks.
Oh. I just realized that young children cut snowflakes out of construction paper (if it’s called that now) in kindergarten or elementary school.
I’d still like to see a title that makes the poem more immediately accessible, but it’s entirely possible that the poem has enough impact to get readers to continue reading until they sort it out as I eventually did. My problem with “snowflakes” came in taking the word literally, which other readers will be likely to do too. And yet there’s a rightness about the kindergarten image since it brings those scissors to the table – scissors needed years later to cut the duct tape and free the child. If you can think of an image other than cutting snowflakes that would help readers to make the connection more readily, that could be the perfect choice for your title.
Otherwise, my suggestions have to do with spelling (“Duct” not “Duck”) and a comma! I would remove the one after “radio” since it breaks the thought and adds a smidge of confusion. And, because of a comma, I’d consider changing “his eyes alone/ cry” to a separate sentence: “Only his eyes/ cry.”
Your original version offers the connotation of his being all alone during a horrendous event and lets me know that his eyes were uncovered while his mouth and nose were taped. The reason I even suggest that you consider a change at all is that a comma would normally go between “his mouth,/ his nose,” which then necessitates a period or the next comma just gets confusing. I’m sure that’s why you left it out, and the verse can be left as is too, although you actually have two separate sentences in the verse the way it now reads.
Oh. There’s a “with” implied, which brings up a syntactical problem. One possibility is: “Duct tape/ wrapping/ his mouth/ his nose,/ his eyes alone/ cry.” Okay. That works since it’s clear even without the comma. Another possibility is, “Duct tape/ wrap/ his mouth,/ his nose./ Only his eyes/ cry.” (Hmmm. I really like that, especially when I inserted that version and read the whole poem aloud.) To hear it both ways, read the lines as you have them, then read your other options to hear what sounds best to you.
You obviously have a finely tuned ear and the markings of a fine poet, Patricia, so I appreciate your sharing your work with us. Keep us posted when you can. Meanwhile, I’ll be looking for your name in poetry journals.
[For a private critique of a poetry book, chapbook, or batch of poems, see information on The Poetry Editor website – http://www.thepoetryeditor.com. ]
Conversely, free verse breaks free of all predetermined factors, giving you more freedom and more choices. With no rules to guide you though, you'll need to experiment to discover what works well.
As you play with the lines, you will find various ways to break them. Some will add drama and interest to your free verse. Some will not. To find out, read your poem aloud, and let your ear determine whether each line has the effect you want.
The following poem provides an excellent example of the effective use of line breaks. As you read the poem aloud, pause ever so slightly at the end of each unpunctuated line, then come to a full stop with each period and verse ending.
He Knew That I Cut Snowflakes
by Patricia A. Hawkenson
He is thirteen
seen forever
by sensitive souls
who pass his hillside,
who hear his muffled
cry.
Scissors.
Duck tape
wrapped around
his mouth
his nose,
his eyes alone
cry.
Scissors.
I drive on,
no scissors
in my car,
my radio,
just a little louder.
Can you see and hear how the line breaks help to direct your reading and also heighten the emotional impact of the poem? Without those remarkable choices, the poem might not make sense to readers who have no prior knowledge regarding the background or setting of the poem.
Anytime any poem seems unclear to you, read the lines aloud. Feel the musicality and mood. Then read the poem again. Highly compressed poems such as this might take three or four readings to become fully accessible to you, but quality work of any kind is almost always worth the wait.
When I first read this well-crafted poem, which arrived from a Follower, I didn’t follow everything at first, mainly because of the title. Intriguing though it is, Patricia, I got the impression of another story, perhaps even a humorous one.
For this piece, I assume you used “Knew” to indicate the past tense, which was the first clue that led me to realize the boy lies dead on the hillside, thirteen forever, perpetually reminding sensitive passersby of the terrible cause of his death. Your use of “Knew” in the title also lets me know the “I” of the poem (whether you personally or a persona) had a relationship of some kind with this young teen.
In addition, the poem’s ending suggests an ongoing sense of guilt each time “I” drives by the place where the child was either found or buried, thereby giving the impression of a caring adult, such as a teacher or social worker, who now feels haunted by the thought, “I should have done something to help this child.” No one can fully protect anyone all of the time, of course, but that does not keep one from wondering.
Perhaps I’m reading more into this than you intended, Patricia, but, if so, I wanted you to know how the poem comes across at least to this reader. If I’ve gotten close to your intent then great! That means you have done an exceptional job of presenting a complex issue and a tragic story with the exquisite use of brevity and effective line breaks.
Oh. I just realized that young children cut snowflakes out of construction paper (if it’s called that now) in kindergarten or elementary school.
I’d still like to see a title that makes the poem more immediately accessible, but it’s entirely possible that the poem has enough impact to get readers to continue reading until they sort it out as I eventually did. My problem with “snowflakes” came in taking the word literally, which other readers will be likely to do too. And yet there’s a rightness about the kindergarten image since it brings those scissors to the table – scissors needed years later to cut the duct tape and free the child. If you can think of an image other than cutting snowflakes that would help readers to make the connection more readily, that could be the perfect choice for your title.
Otherwise, my suggestions have to do with spelling (“Duct” not “Duck”) and a comma! I would remove the one after “radio” since it breaks the thought and adds a smidge of confusion. And, because of a comma, I’d consider changing “his eyes alone/ cry” to a separate sentence: “Only his eyes/ cry.”
Your original version offers the connotation of his being all alone during a horrendous event and lets me know that his eyes were uncovered while his mouth and nose were taped. The reason I even suggest that you consider a change at all is that a comma would normally go between “his mouth,/ his nose,” which then necessitates a period or the next comma just gets confusing. I’m sure that’s why you left it out, and the verse can be left as is too, although you actually have two separate sentences in the verse the way it now reads.
Oh. There’s a “with” implied, which brings up a syntactical problem. One possibility is: “Duct tape/ wrapping/ his mouth/ his nose,/ his eyes alone/ cry.” Okay. That works since it’s clear even without the comma. Another possibility is, “Duct tape/ wrap/ his mouth,/ his nose./ Only his eyes/ cry.” (Hmmm. I really like that, especially when I inserted that version and read the whole poem aloud.) To hear it both ways, read the lines as you have them, then read your other options to hear what sounds best to you.
You obviously have a finely tuned ear and the markings of a fine poet, Patricia, so I appreciate your sharing your work with us. Keep us posted when you can. Meanwhile, I’ll be looking for your name in poetry journals.
[For a private critique of a poetry book, chapbook, or batch of poems, see information on The Poetry Editor website – http://www.thepoetryeditor.com. ]
Thursday, April 8, 2010
How To Read A Poem
Laze back and enjoy the first reading, preferably out loud. Listen to the musicality. Feel the rhythm. Relax into the experience without trying to analyze anything.
As you read the poem a second time, notice the sound echoes and images. Especially notice any poetic devices that make the poem unique. Now analyze. Ask, for instance, what grabbed your interest and why.
If the poem includes heightened vocabulary or literary references with which you’re not familiar, look up each one in a dictionary or on the Internet. Why do you think the poet thought that particular word or reference needed to be part of the poem?
Ask other questions of the poem too. For instance, why does an image work or not? Can you see any pattern of thought or form? In what way does a device add to or subtract from the poem’s meaning or impact?
Does the poem make more sense to you than it did on first reading? If not, keep reading aloud, noticing each word, phrase, comparison, or sound that gets your attention.
Consider, too, the connotations for each unusual word. Do the implied meanings add meaning to the poem? If so, how? For instance, a word that suggests more than one meaning might add a sense of mystery or just confusion. Whatever the effect, is it effective?
As the poem reveals itself to you, you begin to own the experience. As you notice and consider each poetic aspect, those techniques become available to you too. You now own the poetic choices that went into the making of this poem – choices that you, too, have the option to utilize as you revise your own poetry for someone else to read, analyze, and enjoy.
[If you’d like a free online critique of a short poem, Follow then post 3 to 25 lines on The Poetry Editor Blog. For a private poetry consult, critique, or edit of your poems, see information on The Poetry Editor website – http://www.thepoetryeditor.com. ]
As you read the poem a second time, notice the sound echoes and images. Especially notice any poetic devices that make the poem unique. Now analyze. Ask, for instance, what grabbed your interest and why.
If the poem includes heightened vocabulary or literary references with which you’re not familiar, look up each one in a dictionary or on the Internet. Why do you think the poet thought that particular word or reference needed to be part of the poem?
Ask other questions of the poem too. For instance, why does an image work or not? Can you see any pattern of thought or form? In what way does a device add to or subtract from the poem’s meaning or impact?
Does the poem make more sense to you than it did on first reading? If not, keep reading aloud, noticing each word, phrase, comparison, or sound that gets your attention.
Consider, too, the connotations for each unusual word. Do the implied meanings add meaning to the poem? If so, how? For instance, a word that suggests more than one meaning might add a sense of mystery or just confusion. Whatever the effect, is it effective?
As the poem reveals itself to you, you begin to own the experience. As you notice and consider each poetic aspect, those techniques become available to you too. You now own the poetic choices that went into the making of this poem – choices that you, too, have the option to utilize as you revise your own poetry for someone else to read, analyze, and enjoy.
[If you’d like a free online critique of a short poem, Follow then post 3 to 25 lines on The Poetry Editor Blog. For a private poetry consult, critique, or edit of your poems, see information on The Poetry Editor website – http://www.thepoetryeditor.com. ]
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