Poetry

Exercise:

A good first step is deciding what you want to do. Do you want to write about something that makes sense or do you want to write about a scene, an object, a memory, how you feel about something...? It truly depends on where you want to start and what you want to do. Step two would be to decide how you want to present the writing. What do you want the words to do? You could use a haiku, make a shape out of the words, etc. Completing steps one and two, you could do free writes, think, meditate for a while, and once you feel like you have a good idea, put it on paper. And about the form: what would best represent these thoughts and feelings? If you think the thoughts could be completed in a short, artistic poem, maybe a haiku would be a good idea. A good next step is to think about what do you want the poem to mean. Don't make it glaringly obvious; if you have to do that, that's like explaining a joke; it's just not funny anymore. You can show this through subtle signals, such as revisiting a memory that makes you feel like things are right when they are wrong if the poem takes in a stressful, depressed time. By doing so, you show contradiction, and that can show how you want things to be. Or, you can forget about meaning entirely, and if your poem is supposed to just be fun, light, or purely visual (such as "The Apple"), then it doesn't need one. After you've written this down, look over your work; does it say what you want it to say? If it's in traditional form, are all of the syllables, rhyming, etc. in the right place? And most importantly, do you like it?

Genre Definition In its most basic form, word art of any kind. It can or can't make sense (see the in the Examples, "The Apple," under clccharter.org, for one that makes little sense read out loud, but it's still poetry), be long, short, tell a story, describe a scene, be purely free verse, be limited such as haiku's and Shakespearean epics, and so on.

Important Terms and Strategies
Cadence- The balanced rhythmic flow as of poetry. Meter- The general recurring rhythm in a line of poetry, often by the number of syllables, number of words, and/or the rhythm of accented or stressed syllables. A single section of a meter is called a foot. What I'm about to discuss is meter that focuses on stressed and unstressed syllables. Iambic meter (the most common) consists of a pairing of stressed and unstressed syllables. However, the pattern may be different (other examples include, but are not limited to,trochee (stressed+unstressed), spondee (stressed+stressed), and anapest (unstressed+unstressed+stressed)).

You can see what makes a syllable stressed here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081019112606AAo01f6

So, ultimately, stress is placed on a syllable that sounds emphasized in the word or sentence. Sometimes, the same sentence can have different emphasized syllables, like with "you like cake." If "YOU" is emphasized, then they're trying to specify who likes the cake. If it's "LIKE," then the sentence is trying to specify your opinion, and if it's "CAKE," then it's showing what food you like. It can also have something to do with how long the syllable sounds. Think about the word "summer." Which syllable sounds longer, "sum" or "mer?" Unless you're deliberately trying to accent one, then the second one should sound stressed. More letters doesn't necessarily lead to longer syllables; compare "talk" and "day." Again, unless you're trying to favor one as opposed to the other, "day" should sound stressed. Also note: stress can sometimes change, depending on how it's being used. Sometimes, in the words "summer," maybe the 'sum' will be accented instead. See also top in "**__Examples__**." Stanzas- In arrangement of a certain number of lines usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length meter or rhyme scheme in a division of a poem. Punctuation- The marks, such as periods, comma, and parentheses, used in writing to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning. In poetry, it's not necessary, but it can help clarify things. Free Verse- Poetry composed of either rhymed or un-rhymed lines that aren't restricted by syllables, meters, etc.; this is truly the most free of all poetry. A poet can use this to express ideas without having to be concerned with limits, such as syllable count or rhyming. Traditional Forms- Forms that use time-honored theatrical practices. Examples: haiku, quatrain, limerick. Poets who want to create a poem that's a bit more classical or have more of a poetic "ring" may want to use one of these forms. Rhyme- Correspondence of terminal sounds of words or of lines of verse. This often can be pleasing to the ear, and is one of the most common poetry tools. Syntax- The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. Imagery- The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas. Figurative Language- A word or phrase that departs fro everyday literal for the sake of comparison, emphasis, clarity, or freshness.


 * Process and Strategies for Writing**

Examples
http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xmeter.html

[] The above is a really great site for searching American Poets. You can find them by name, by era, and by type of poetry.

http://listverse.com/2008/07/06/top-10-greatest-epic-poems/

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/glossaryItem.do?id=8061

Amiri Baraka - []\

http://www.clccharter.org/andrea/reading/dog_poems.html http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/life/

Bibliography and Links

http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/types.html