| Author | Message | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 31175 Registered: 11-1998 |
. Dearest Membership -- Here is the twelfth in The Poet's Note Card series. These Note Cards come from a book entitled The Mind's Eye: A Guide to Writing Poetry, by Kevin Clark. Mr. Clark is a winner of the Distinguished Teaching Award, is a university professor at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, and a widely published poet. This book on the teaching of poetry writing is concise, practical, and has been designed specifically for a college-level term. It includes a progression of lessons, example poems, and stimulating exercises. While most advanced poets already know these things, it doesn't hurt to review them. Or to learn them if you are a beginner to the craft of poetry making. I'll try to bring you a Poet's Note Card every so often. While you might not agree with every point Mr. Clark makes, I do hope these note cards serve to help those who are new to poetry by providing some basic foundation of information on which to build. Oh, and I do recommend that you acquire the book. It's an excellent textbook, especially if you would like to attend a college-level poetry writing course, but cannot for whatever reason. The link above (click on the book's title) will take you to the WPF BookShop and the Amazon description of the book. Thanks for reading! Love, M (Administrator) ------------------------------------------------- The Poet's Note Card -- #12 from The Mind's Eye: A Guide to Writing Poetry by Kevin Clark How Sadness Feels Good 1. Elegies are among the most popular genres of poems to write. 2. Elegies mourn the loss of a person or state of being. 3. Generally elegies express grief while offering some kind of consolation. 4. Elegies are primarily lyric poems, conveying the sad interior life. 5. Many elegists write in longer lines (eight to twelve syllables). 6. Most elegies are characterized by a quiet kind of verse musicality. 7. When writing an elegy, it’s best to try to invest the poem with powerful feeling while employing great restraint. 8. Intense emotion, never sentimentality, is what’s needed. 9. Elegies can render many different types of emotion, not just sorrow. 10. Elegies can include many forms of expression, from reverential speech to street talk. . | ||
| Rania S. Watts
Advanced Member Username: cementcoveredcherries Post Number: 1602 Registered: 04-2008 |
Thank you M, have a safe trip.  Cheers, Ran "I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again." ~ Oscar Wilde "You will hardly know who I am or what I mean" ~ Walt Whitman Cement Covered Cherries |
