| Author | Message | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 30723 Registered: 11-1998 |
. Dearest Membership -- Here is the sixth 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 -- #6 from The Mind's Eye: A Guide to Writing Poetry by Kevin Clark The Surprise of Story, the Story of Surprise 1. Though we don’t often think of poems as stories, virtually all poems have plots. 2. Good narrative poems compress events for immediate response. 3. Even narrative poems typically have “lyric” moments, i.e., rendering the interior life by depicting intense personal emotions. 4. It’s often more dramatic to weave two (or more) stories into one. 5. Transitions between plot lines should be as seamless as possible. 6. It’s a good idea to privilege dramatic situations and make your reader eager to know about the situation. 7. It’s important to remember that idiosyncratic situations intrigue readers. Often, the weirder, the better. 8. Childhood stories are best told by adult narrators looking back on their pasts. 9. Good poets tell a good story in verse; they don’t worry about profound metaphors. 10. Open closure often renders uncertainty or ambivalence. Closed endings usually suggest finality. . | ||
| Rania S. Watts
Advanced Member Username: cementcoveredcherries Post Number: 1037 Registered: 04-2008 |
Thank you M, I am really enjoying this series! Rania S. Watts "You will hardly know who I am or what I mean" ~ Walt Whitman Cement Covered Cherries | ||
| Emusing
Senior Member Username: emusing Post Number: 6006 Registered: 08-2003 |
This is one of the the best note cards yet. Very helpful. I don't write much in the way of narrative work and these tips can help point me in the right direction. I've sometimes asked myself this question and found the answer here: It’s often more dramatic to weave two (or more) stories into one. Worrying about mixing too many seemingly disparate ideas in one poem. Thanks M! xo e Word Walker Press; Moonday Poetry; Kyoto Journal Education should be the process of helping everyone to discover his uniqueness. --Leo Buscaglia | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 30725 Registered: 11-1998 |
You're welcome, Rania. I'm so glad to hear you are finding enjoyment in the cards. I like them very much myself. I think you have experienced and understand the difference, dearest E, between mixing too many disparate ideas in one poem and interweaving stories. When a poet sets a poem down by the sea, for instance, and then you find metaphors and other images related to a kitchen, this is normally confusing and there is just a whole lot of mix-up going on. This is OK if you're trying to be surreal, but it doesn't often work if you're trying to present a story with realism. However, when a poet takes two different stories, finds the common thread(s) that makes them relate to one another, and then intricately interweaves them together with imagery, metaphor, etc., that ties/binds them together, you have magic. I think if you keep the words "common thread" in your mind when you are writing, you will find that you can mix together very disparate ideas and stories. Keep asking yourself, "Why are these thing alike?" If the poem holds to and/or answers that, you're there. Love, M | ||
| GA Sunshine
Moderator Username: ga_sunshine Post Number: 1530 Registered: 06-2006 |
Dearest ~M~, That reminds me a challenge you did for us, 'Was it random or fate'. The one where we chose two lines and tried to find a common thread. *Hugs* Susan |
