Well you may ask and be prepared for many answers. I believe that poetry is the writer's personal expression of emotions, feelings, how beauty is seen, how much pain can be suffered by one person, political opinions and so on and on. It is the writer's expression and therefore very much subjective. It relates to the writer.
From the reader's point of view the apparent quality, understanding and enjoyment of the poetry will be weighted by the reader's education level, personal taste, and personal opinion.
Any one poem will create different feelings, emotions and comments from its readers.A really good poem will stir similar feelings in the reader that the writer had about the subject of the poem. Herein lies the poet's skill.
POETRY
1. Music and rhythm
Much of the structured 'Old' poetry has music and rhythm written into it. The music becomes obvious when you remember Mum or Dad reading nursery rhymes out loud. They probably learned by 'Rote' , that is repetition, read over and over until you get it right. It does not detract from the enjoyment of the nursery rhyme.
The rhythm is the beat of the music, also taught by 'rote' in bygone times. the skill of the writer in word choice ensures that the rhythm is constant, or varies as required by the story being told.
mary had a little lamb ---- Words
dada da da dada da ---- Beat
x / x / x / x ----- Syllable stress -x non stress -/ { Also Meter - see later}
An Australian author, Henry Kendall, has music in the very first line of "Bellbirds"
{See Oldpoetry - Henry Kendall for complete poem}
" By chanels of coolness the echoes are calling"
By reading aloud you can hear the music generated by the authors choice of words and the structure of the line
Here is a poem of another writer; James Cuthbertson, called:
The Australian Sunrise
The morning star paled slowly, the Cross hung low to the sea,
And down the shadowy reaches the tide came swirling free,
The lustrous purple blackness of the soft Australian night
Waned in the gray awakening that heralded the light;
Out of the dying darkness over the forest dim
The pearly dew of the dawning clung to each giant limb,
"Till the sun came up from the ocean, red with the cold sea mist,
And smote the limestone ridges, and the shining treetops kissed;
Then the fiery scorpion vanished, the magpie's note was heard,
And the wind in the she-oak wavered, and the honeysuckles stirred,
The airy golden vapour rose from the river breast,
The kingfisher came darting out of his crannied nest,
And the bullrushes and reed-beds put off their sallow gray
And burnt with cloudy crimson at dawning of the day.
In a list
Comments please
Comments
1 - 8 of 8
-
Thanks for the first entro into writing poetry!
thanks for the first into. into writing poetry. By the way I'm getting all these points accumulated for which I have no use. If you are planning a contest I could donate some of them. Is this possible? I'm becoming afraid that are going to plug up the gears and pulleys inside this plastic contraption. It might interfere with it's wild gyrations, palpations, and obulations.
-
-
Hi Bob. Enjoy your trip down poetry lane my friend. Thank you for your support.
As for points: I use mine in two or three ways; Feature someone else's poem when i find something really good ( anonymously), run your own contest, or donate to someone elses contest. My stash of points is rising all the time too. Both on SW and AP.
-
-
I'll be back for part II
Thanks for directing me to Henry Kendall's very charming "Bellbirds"!
-
-
I believe we can all learn from the old poets work. There is such a wide variety of authors and poetry types to choose from in Oldpoetry's library. Thanks for your comments on my efforts to make rhyming poetry easier to understand.
-
-
You are a surprise! This is a great article, and I'll have to go read the rest - what a good idea.
-
-
I was asked to put something easy to understand for beginners to read. this is what I came up with. I hope it is of some help to others.
-
-
ob
Boy do I have so much to learn. Maybe I better get a book on writing. Thanks for the info.
-
-
Bob, my dear friend, I was asked by someone on the site to write something that was easily understood about writing poetry. The five parts of this List are the result. Over the last two years I have read a lot, looked a lot of places, and studied a bit. Most of the learning material available is too technical for me, so I made something I think is easy to understand. Mind you there are a great many poets who make their own rules, don't know much, and still write beautiful poetry. I hope my little foray makes it easier for some.
-
Adding your comment:
1 - 8 of 8
