| Author | Message | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 8940 Registered: 11-1998 |
Multiple choice -- choose all that apply: 1. People write poetry because: a) they want others to love them b) they want to be rich c) they want to be famous d) they're unhappy e) they feel something that can't be expressed in any other way f) they love words. 2. You know you have written a poem when: a) reading what you have written brings tears to your eyes b) what you have written sound like poems you have read in literature books c) other people look at you with strange, guarded expressions d) you would feel nervous about showing it to your relatives e) it's published f) it feels right. 3. Poetry is about: a) language b) wanting to live forever c) the world being a terrible and beautiful place d) elevated subjects e) everything. 4. If you want to write poetry, you should: a) read a lot of poetry b) read theories of poetry, including ancient works in dead languages c) not read any poetry because it might change the way you write d) fall in love e) get a really crummy but interesting job in order to have something to write about f) think about it constantly g) write every day. 5. Poetry is made of: a) words b) sounds c) meanings d) pauses, breaks, spaces, quiet places, and unsaid things e) symbols f) rhyme and meter. 6. Poetry is like: a) music b) a cereal box -- disposable after you've dealt with the contents c) a riddle d) therapy. 7. The best poetry: a) has a moral center and makes us better human beings b) has no lesson to teach c) is really strange and hard to figure out but is probably good for us d) was written by people who are all dead now. 8. Form is to poetry what: a) a harness is to a horse b) a straitjacket is to a mental patient c) a flowerpot is to a geranium d) the law is to society e) salt is to soup f) a smorgasbord is to a diner. 9. You can tell it's a poem by looking at it because: a) it's short and leaves a lot of white space on the paper b) it doesn't use punctuation or capital letters c) the different sections all have the same number of lines d) it's long and narrow like a grocery list e) none of the above. 10. Poets use rhyme and meter: a) to intensify poetry b) because poets are basically conservative people c) because rhyme and meter are beautiful d) because they don't know any better e) only if they were born before the invention of free verse f) occasionally. 11. Poetry is: a) elitist, written and read by only a few b) popular, written and read by everyone sooner or later c) a form of communication d) a form of personal expression written mainly for the writer. 12. When you discuss a poem in a writing workshop, the point is: a) to tear it to pieces b) to be careful not to hurt the writer's feelings c) to figure out the meaning d) to describe what you see happening in the poem e) to help the writer improve the poem f) to get ideas for your own poems. What is poetry? The question is difficult because it involves not only matters of form and content, but values as well. What makes poetry good? What makes it great? Does writing a poem for love or attention or a good grade serve a higher or lower purpose than writing a poem for self-satisfaction or love of language? Can we identify a poem simply by the way it looks on the page? We could compile a long list of contradictory statements about poetry: poetry says things no one has ever said before or poetry keeps saying the same things over and over in different ways; poetry reflects the time and society in which it was written or poetry transcends time and place; poetry is a bridge to emotion -- it comes from emotion and recreates emotion or poetry is an artifact -- an object, a thing in itself; poetry is spiritual and uplifting or poetry deals with sensory experience and is earthly; you need to read a poem many times and analyze it extensively before you can really appreciate it or it doesn't matter if you understand or study a poem -- you can still enjoy it. The list could go on and on. Poetry dates to our prehistoric ancestors and comes with a mixed bag of associations and assumptions. The advantage of this is that you have both a rich tradition to learn from and a great freedom to make poetry what you will. The only mistake you can make in learning to write poetry is to be lukewarm about it. Passion, curiosity, love of language, willingness to give time and attention, an open mind -- these are the elements that will nurture your study of reading and writing poetry. Use the questions and your answers as a basis for a discussion of poetry and don't be afraid to argue your point. If you think of some other aspect of poetry that isn't covered by the questions, make up your own questions and answers and add them to the list. from "Writing Poetry: Second Edition" by Barbara Drake | ||
| Fred Longworth
Intermediate Member Username: sandiegopoet Post Number: 627 Registered: 05-2006 |
I admit it. I write poetry out of a desire for wealth and power. That said, when I write a truly terrific poem, I drive downtown to a high-rise building under construction. A small bribe gets me a trip on the elevator to the 127th floor. Then I crawl out on the end of a girder, and do handstands. I almost always fall, and -- since I'm here to write this -- I hope you realize this proves that poetry imparts to its creators the power of flight. People ask me: "Fred, what is poetry about?" I usually give them the all-purpose answer I used in gradeschool: "Stuff." Sometimes people want to know: "What should a poet be doing to enrich his or her life, with the intent of writing better poems?" That's an easy one. Many poets have sex with chickens. I'm not one of them, of course, but I will confess that I often disguise myself as an essayist and wander the street pontificating about bad religion. This is off the subject, but in a post-modern world nearly everything is off the subject, since the concept of a subject presupposes some sort of foundation or origin. So . . . I will tell you that poems are made up of things that existed before the poem was written. Take that, Derrida! As to what poetry is like, the younger generation doesn't require an object to the preposition in order to generate a comparison. It's just like. Ah! The best poetry. That's an easy one. The books with the highest price tags have the best poetry. (See my recent poem "Consumer" for corroboration.) The Miller Analogies test creeps into every discussion. So I will assert that form is to poetry what Pamela Anderson is to lust. If you disagree with me, let me remind you that disagreement is to stupidity what concurrence is to intelligence. Once, a woman came up to me and said, "Fred, can you tell it's a poem, just by what it looks like on the page." I thought about this for eleven years, and finally got back to her: "Sometimes." I use rhyme and meter only for light verse, like my poem celebrating the poor little octopus, who was kicked out of the traveling circus. Poetry is not the thing with feathers. More the thing with a skin rash. Think of the lines of the poem as the verbal equivalent of scratching. As for forums like this one, I alway try to tear the poem to pieces. We live in a violent society, and humans are aggressive creatures. I'm just going along with sociobiology. Derf | ||
| Andrew Dufresne
Intermediate Member Username: beachdreamer Post Number: 631 Registered: 01-2006 |
Because I can. Apply old "why does a dog do that?" joke as necessary. ad __________________________________________________ Heed me my ghost, my heir. To-morrow, Or soon, my body to ash must fall... Heed me, ghost, and I shall not sorrow -- Learn this beauty, O learn it all. --John Drinkwater 1920 | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Senior Member Username: garyb Post Number: 9670 Registered: 07-2001 |
Why did Col. Sanders cross the road? We can, we must, we shall. Smiles. Gary A River Transformed The Dawg House July FireWeed more War/Peace |
