For this contest, I want everyone to go to www.oldpoetry.com and pick a poet that you like. It must be a poet who uses meter! I know some of you are more into the postmodern poets- but your poetry can only be enhanced by studying the old poets who laid the foundation for good poetry in the first place.
Once you have selected a poet, I want you to not only read their poetry, but study it! Study everything you can about their style. Every word, line, and pause, punctuation, and space is used very deliberately in each poem you read, and so each poem you read can be 'mastered' in terms of being fully understood. So while I encourage you to read as much of their poetry as you can, I think it is best to select one poem(with meter in it) of theirs, and study it ad nauseum.
Once you have done that, then try to emulate their style. But you must be able to explain your poem. That is, I must be able to 'study it' myself!
Here are some of the elements you MUST have in your poem. Your poem will be judged on these elements:
word choice
meter
rhyme
I know that some(even many) of you have not studied meter- but that's okay- here is your chance to learn it, and it must be in the poem. If you have any trouble, just contact me, and I will help you!
I will be judging this contest on a very specific scale! So highest score wins- though I will tell each of you your scores.
I know this sounds like a tough and maybe boring or stifling contest- but trust me, once you have these elements understood and integrated you will be amazed at how much they will enhance your own voice and style. Future contests will be about incorporating these elements into your own style and voice.
Please put in your authors comments which poet you have studied.
I am hoping that all 17 of you will participate in this contest. I am going to keep it open for quite awhile in order for you to do your very best job on this.
Good luck to all! The gold will receive 500 points, silver: 300, and bronze 200! So please make this worth it. If only a few enter, and I do not find effort worthy of the points, I will not give them out. (Not to be negative or anything lol.)
Once you have selected a poet, I want you to not only read their poetry, but study it! Study everything you can about their style. Every word, line, and pause, punctuation, and space is used very deliberately in each poem you read, and so each poem you read can be 'mastered' in terms of being fully understood. So while I encourage you to read as much of their poetry as you can, I think it is best to select one poem(with meter in it) of theirs, and study it ad nauseum.
Once you have done that, then try to emulate their style. But you must be able to explain your poem. That is, I must be able to 'study it' myself!
Here are some of the elements you MUST have in your poem. Your poem will be judged on these elements:
word choice
meter
rhyme
I know that some(even many) of you have not studied meter- but that's okay- here is your chance to learn it, and it must be in the poem. If you have any trouble, just contact me, and I will help you!
I will be judging this contest on a very specific scale! So highest score wins- though I will tell each of you your scores.
I know this sounds like a tough and maybe boring or stifling contest- but trust me, once you have these elements understood and integrated you will be amazed at how much they will enhance your own voice and style. Future contests will be about incorporating these elements into your own style and voice.
Please put in your authors comments which poet you have studied.
I am hoping that all 17 of you will participate in this contest. I am going to keep it open for quite awhile in order for you to do your very best job on this.
Good luck to all! The gold will receive 500 points, silver: 300, and bronze 200! So please make this worth it. If only a few enter, and I do not find effort worthy of the points, I will not give them out. (Not to be negative or anything lol.)
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on August 9, 2005
- Rewards: Gold: 500
- Final notes: Hi everyone. Thank you all for your patience with me in judging this. This was not easy to judge. First of all, no one really foollowed the strict meter I was looking for, and hoping you all would try hard to develop. But there was more to judging than that. The main points went to those who I thought emulated the chosen poet the best. I looked at rhyme, and word choice, and other things like metaphor, alliteration, or whatever techniques that particular poet was known for.
Here are a few of the Master Poets you all tried to emulate, and some of the things I was looking for in the poem you wrote after studying your chosen author. I am in no way an expert of these poets, so my judgement is definitely as would be any of yours, but I do have a sense of the poets and this is what I went on in judging.
Edgar Allen Poe: When I think of Poe, I think of flawless literary construction with haunting themes, and meters, and extraordinary manipulation of rhythem and sound. Tones of sarcasm, and a hater of pretension.
Sylvia Plath: meticuously crafted and intensly personal poetry with obsessions of death.
Longfellow: I think of ballads. I am surprised that the person who chose him did not attempt a ballad. That would have made me extremely happy. But in terms of general poetry I think of clear simple language with easily grasped ideas, and common themes- all done with technical expertise.
Emily Dickenson: unique, amazing mixture of unconventional style with conventional form, personal(but usually always universal themes), astute, compressed, simple use of of language but with complex syntax, and extremely rich use of the connotations of common words.
Crane: naturalistic free verse(sorry I have more knowledge of him as a novelist than I do of him as a poet- but I did read up more on him to judge this).
Hopkins: innovative use of internal rhyme, aliteration, and with rhythm that aproximates speech.
I share this information so you all will rush out and read all these poets! You all did a great job, and there were more than these, but these are the ones that ended up at the top of the pile to choose between the medals.
So the winners are:
GOLD: WishintreeUK for Peace and Solitude. Your language and rhyme were great, as well as the subject matter. I encourage you to learn more about meter, and practice it, since I know you were trying to put it in your poem. But I think you did a great job, and it is obvious that you had Longfellow in mind when you wrote this.
Silver: Death of a Farmer by Fallen Seraph. This was extremely straightforward, and simple, and yet you used language in a wonderful way. I think Hopkins would have been proud of your poem. I missed the internal rhyme, but I you did great with word choice, aliteration, and choice of subject.
Bronze: Sleeping Dogs by EE Hal. I can see you put a lot of work in what seems to be a simple poem. If you are laughing because it only took you five minutes to write, than you have me duped. I can see that you worked hard to really get down Dickonsens style in every aspect of her writing. I like that you chose a personal subject matter, but I think you could have made clear metaphor with it, to bring in a universal application and meaning. I also missed some of Dickenson's 'signature' points that really make her distinctive, like using simple words, but that have layers of meaning, and in technique, being a bit more unconventional. But overall I see that you really studied her, and I want to encourage you to keep learning from her.
Honorable mention:
Daffodil Lament: I was amazed that you chose Sylvia Plath, as her style is extremely difficult to emulate. I think you did a marvelous job. I really loved the last stanza, and you would have won had you used more rich metaphor like that throughout the poem. Your language was fairly straightforward. If you read Slyvia Plath though, in every line, she never states or describes her emotions, but always describes a particular aspect of some sort of symbol that makes you go 'aha' I understand this emotion- it's her way of making you really feel, and understand, and it also gives it a universal application vs just speaking straightforwardly about these intense feelinsg she is having. You really captured her style perfectly in the last stanza. Just keep doing more of that, and you will make your own writing very powerful.
I also wanted to mention Saknika who wrote a sonnet. I want to encourage you to study the technical aspects of sonnets, because they are very strict, and there are some things, like meter(usually iambic meter) that you must adhere to, or you really can't call what you write a sonnet. For those of you who chose a 'form' and not just a poet, you had a harder job ahead of you.
I hope you enjoyed this exercise.
Regarding Next Contest: I would like to host another contest for the group with an idea you all can agree on, so start thinking about it and we'll discuss it in the group.
Entries [6]
1 - 6 of 6
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• Commented on by judge.
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Wonder of the Universe,
Each Life is blessed by God,• Commented on by judge. -
Attempt to emulate Gerard Manley Hopkinsby Paragon Belial 17 lines, 15 comments, on Jul 9 3:17 PM 2005. In Spiritual, Nature, Hope
Silver trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. -
Observe the moments, hear your thoughts,
whence inspirations would avail,• Commented on by judge. -
I took a journey
to find the purpose of life• Commented on by judge. -
My Destination
Can take me about one thousand miles• Commented on by judge.
Gold trophy winner
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Comments
1 - 23 of 23
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This is a great exercise.I have actually done this a couple times so my real faves would be redundant.lol.I will try and find the time for this.Great contest.Let me know if you need contributions to encourage entrants,
Peace,Rob -
This looks a challenge for me personally as meter is not my forte, however, there is only one way to learn, study something and ponder over it! I shall attempt to do this.
~Katie~
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This is a positive contest
I have the complete works of all the poets and did study them from the eighth grade on but still like the origionality of people going into them. Right now I am reading Ideals which has old, new and some not as well known. I will read this to see how others handle it. Meter well that is still something that I think is not particularly my forte as I do prefer freestyle and prose. I write a lot especially more or less novel type stories but dearly love poetry. I do however commend you for wording this one in a manner that it does not totally tick off the poets within the community so yes I will be reading these perhaps to just get a feel of what you are teaching in a positive way. -
Fantastic, this sounds great. It's going to take me a while though, I'm really busy right now, so don't be alarmed if my entry is much delayed.
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I will be entering this contest, but like Mike, it might take a bit of time!
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I would enter, however, I am not a big fan of going and looking at other works, and then writing off of them. Plus, I'm not very good at finding meter and such. So I'll just sit back and see what everyone else has to put into this. Best of luck with this contest, and if for some reason you get stuck on the judging, I guess I can be that neutral party that you come to for help. Lol
Best of luck to all who enter!
~Saknika -
I am very sad that you won't be entering. I hope you change your mind, and I hope I can convince you too- and I am not ever into 'convincing' anyone of anything! It's just that this exercise is so crucial to your future development as a poet, and there is no way you will be able to see it's value unless you follow through with it til the end seriously. If then you still don't see it's value, then discared it, and never listen to me again. But I really hope you will accept the challenges this contest is offering. I would make it madetory for all the group if I could, but I didn't. I hope you will try it even though you feel like it goes against your grain. Even if you have the same opinion after you do it, that there is valuable in itself.
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I must research this.
To discover the meter, or succession of feet, in whic a poem is writte, read it aloud and note the syllables that recieve the stress. Mark these stresses with an accent. The accents may not come with perfect regularity, but the prevailing grouping of syllables will determine the meter of the verse. your ear is your guide, just as it was the guide of the poet. Okay let me see if I have this right. This I took from Robert Frost to be exact. The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. Perhaps I may have something but I do have to search my documents because I did a different adaptation of that one and others from the old school. -
You got it! It is often best for the beginner to stick to strick metered lines until they get the hang of it, and then you can do the natural stuff that Frost is speaking of. But go with your gut, and let your creative juices flow.
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fine.
Give me a chance with this contest with studying these poets and I want to read Frost or William Shakespeare or somebody in that way. -
Thanks for this contest. I've always thought that, in order to improve, I was going to have to study the old poets. But I could never make myself. So this will push me to get over there and at least try. I will be entering, so bookmarking.
-tiffi -
Duana, not only do I really not enjoy these sorts of contests, I am a very busy person when it comes to the computer. I do not have the time to study a poet for a contest. When I am on here I have at a minimum, four browsers open, AIM is on with about 7 screens there, and I am also working with graphics and coding. I have to maintain a couple sites of my own, and I help other people maintain theres. That's why when I enter a contest, it's normally one with minimum work becuase I am doing so much. Even when writing the poem, by the time I am able to finish becuase I am going back and forth so much, it says at the top 'Welcome back Saknika'. Judging my contests can take me a while as well for these same reasons. That's why I have to use little index cards to keep track of my thoughts on all the poems so that I can read them as they're entered. So you see, unless I can get days on end where I have nothing to do on here because my work has slowed down, and people don't kick me off, I won't have the time to enter.
~Saknika -
Okay well you joined the group- that's all this is about. This group takes comitment, and those who want to work together on growing- I am giving a choice. If you want to grow as a poet you have to take this step sometime. But you may have your own ideas- and that's okay. It's just a contest you are free to be a part of or not. I was only trying to encourage you. Sorry it didn't come across that way.
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I started to scratch the surface of Sylvia Plath's work and even wrote a poem (Spider on the Kitchen Wall) inspired by her work and entered it in a contest. It didn't win, but I think I will continue on with her work, she is very intruiging. I will hopefully get this entry submitted soon!
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Well Duana, I guess you're going to get your wish after all. I guess I will be entering. My regents are over, I have AIM turned off, and I'm sicker than hell. So, I decided this might take my mind off things. My poem probably won't be any good since I can barely think straight, but I'll try my best.
~Saknika -
I might be an aspiring poet, but I don't have the time - and am not a fan of meter poetry.
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I'm working on it. I finally got the poet study done and part of the subject that I'm going to write about has to be studied as well (half-way done with that) then it's a simple matter of putting the subject into the metrical style of my chosen author. AHHHHHH! (deep breath) I'm going to do it. Can you extend contest a few more days? If not, it's okay, I'll try to get my entry in on time.
Maab -
Well I been a working on this, but the thought just occured to me;
I doing Gerard Manley Hopkins, and so in emulating his style I thought that I should go for sprung rhythm as the meter, just wondering will this be frowned upon in this contest? -
no problem.
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There have been some interesting enteries so far, it's amazing how people differ in some particular style of poetry they enjoy reading, we all have different tastes and being able to come here and see the different styles we try to emulate is exciting.
|Katie|
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Hi, who won this contest? I would love to know. -Darmok
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Thank you for the trophy, Duana!
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Thank you Duana for the Gold! I am so determined to master meter, I honestly had great satisfaction writing this particular poem for this contest. I think everyone did really well, the efforts posted show this.
They say practice makes perfect, I am going away for one weeks holiday from this weekend, so whilse I am away, I am going to try and tackle some meter!
Thank you again, ~Katie~
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