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Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Poetry Points - How (not) to write Poems



the poet 



I have noticed that I am always ready to preach, but not to practise. Especially when it comes to writing. It could be that I am pretending to myself that  that is the reason I am not a great writer, or a famous writer. I prefer to overlook the highly possible fact that I just do not have what it takes to be one.
Anyway here goes, - now that I know for sure that I am never going to amount to much, and that I never did, I can dole out advice freely. Time to grow up.

To  budding poets/writers, especially those whose mother tongue is not English :

We all know good poetry is sincere. That it is authentic, and arises out of the heart and mind of the poet, his/her experience/knowledge - from a variety of sources.

Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions, Wordsworth did write that. Coleridge took it a bit further. And we in India read the 19th century English Romantic poets more than anybody else, at least that was how it was in my time. Of course we did read others. But somehow for us back then the Romantics embodied greatness. They were the role models. That perspective could backfire sometimes. Great, original poetry was written by them, or so we think, rightly or not.. Colonialism did affect our thinking.  Still, what they wrote then still manage to amaze us. Times have changed. For us now, we can be inspired by them, however, unless we have some new way of talking of those same themes, we have to find different subjects.That of our time. There are some ideals  that will always be the same, such as love. But even that has changed. New versions or rather supposedly new versions have appeared  However old or new these versions are, we will have to find new ways to describe it. To write poems about it. So let the emotions and ideas fester in the mind. Take the time to make it your own. Turn it over and around, think how to enrich it using the knowledge you have gained. Which process you already do, I know. Do more of that. Read more, live more. Books from all lands, from our own land, from the present, the past, movies, music, science, philosophy, the internet, and art, and travel are some ways to gain more knowledge, expand our perceptions.

Talking of the Romantics, be very careful when writing nature poems generally. That's because many of  those descriptions and imagery  have been overused down the line, and nowadays they are everywhere, from old romantic poems, from  new and old love songs to Hallmark cards.  Thus, sadly, the golden orbs of the sky, the transient dewdrops, "beaded bubbles winking at the brim", darkling anything and unquenched desires have all become trite. Let's say that those Romantics have among themselves pretty much exhausted all the yearning sighs of lovers, the arching azureness of the heavens, and the writhing demons of desire for the forbidden. You can still write about Nature, and desire, and love, and death - in refreshing new ways. Using unexpected but unpretentious words and images that make sense and that make the reader stop and think. They could be ones of fantasy, of the modern times, of the past, of the great treasure chest of mythology, gritty and/ or charming, and/or rural or urban, suburban, and much much more.

Apart from the usual culprit named grammar, there is one common element that most new writers of poetry misuse. Ellipsis - those 3 dots -  is not a  device to be used indiscriminately. It is not there to prove that a piece of writing is indeed a poem. We all know we are reading a poem when we read one. No need of ellipsis just for that. Use it sparingly, for the most effect. Same with the overuse of "like" for introducing similes.  When you delete just those two factors itself, things change. Getting your meaning across would be a little less easy. That might entail a lot of reworking of the whole piece. But it will make one think beyond the usual clichés, and make the poem fresh. Most poems could benefit from an overhaul. Make it shorter, denser with apt but unpretentious devices, make it more succinct . Better to have drama rather than melodrama, I think. 

Be careful when you are determined to  write rhymed verse, sometimes they look too forced. Especially when you pick up weird but rhyming words from the thesaurus. Poetry should flow naturally. So is with the use of uncommon words. That just looks pretentious, and many readers will not bother to find out the real meaning. Loss of communication. Some use "nay" and prithee and thee for their poems which, let us say, is amusing. And a lot of question marks, and words in all capital letters to make a point, or to show someone is shouting. ( I have done that!)  I am enjoying writing this! It sure feels good to pontificate!

Also, I do not think readers enjoy too much preaching/pontificating in poems. High morals and ideals, and observations of that nature are good, actually it shows an observant mind. But a poet has to go beyond just stating the facts. Show the pitfalls of evil or sin in simple but symbolic ways. For poems in general, I prefer “showing” rather than “telling”. Or a good balance of show and tell. Again, read more, observe more, think more, live more, I guess. Poetry is an attempt to transcend the concrete, using various poetic devices and at the same time, capture it. It should make the reader feel and think beyond what is written in the poem. I am not asking  that a poet should be obscure, but the poem should spark, trigger ideas in the reader's mind. Provoke. Inspire.  Just my opinion. 

Early poems, say of a very young person, are useful in the sense that the reader can see how an imaginative, intelligent young person  with a good grasp of the English language saw the world around him or her at a certain point in time. But many creative young persons have done the same, which is fine too. But when they all do it in rather similar ways,  it stops being that special. But it still could be special for some readers. Here's where knowing your audience works. Who are you writing for? For yourself? Then it's all fine. For young people of your age? They may like them. For a few youth of your age? Sure, some will like them. Now, how about older readers? And we are talking of the ones who like to read poetry. How about an international reader?  I am not sure how they will read them. What I am sure of is that if the poems are good, they will see that there is potential, and there is time before you, to get the experience, through just living, through books, movies, music, works of art, through travelling. A talented, aspiring poet should realize that not all are literary minded. Not even students of literature. They are not able to write or think like you. You are different. You can write. You are  budding writers. And it takes time and work to be  great writers.

  I do not consider myself to be a poet, let alone a good one. I am guilty of many of the issues I have mentioned. And I am too lazy to change, and that may be one, just one, of the reasons that I am still unpublished by an established publishing house. Remember what I said in the beginning? Fooling myself. But  I can recognize good poetry when I see it, most of the time! I may be totally wrong too in my opinions. Appreciation of poetry is totally personal. Ask others to read the poems, (criticism hurts, but it helps too, they say) maybe an English teacher of yours, or a published writer - not a self-published one, preferably.  In this age of self-publishing, and success through effective marketing, or by "going viral" (yikes!), or by just having a group of enthusiastic, supportive friends and  as all of you happen to live in a big city, where they can even start a publishing house for you, and/or if you are web-savvy, anyone can be a writer. Well, these days they have courses in creative writing. But to be  writers whose writings stand the test of time, to rise above mediocrity - that is the ideal. And I believe a moderately talented, determined person can do it, with a little bit of luck . 

However, it is your choice that matters the most, when it comes to publishing right away. Choose your favorite ones, work on them if you feel like they need work, after hearing competent readers' take on them. Those should not be confined to your usual set of admirers, made up of people who dislike any kind of creative writing, or who just read comic books and romances,  your love struck boyfriend or girlfriend, or an apparent hotshot connoisseur whom you met online who is really just angling for a bit of romance on the side, via the net or via Main Street/M.G. Road, your younger siblings , (guilty here )or just one of your indulgent teachers who thinks the world of you because you have a good vocabulary, and you are one of the few who could write a complete sentence without making any spelling or grammar mistakes, and because, maybe unconsciously, you walk around thinking you are Keats or Emily Dickinson, and managed to fool them too!

Don't be afraid that a good critic or fellow poet will steal your thoughts, or that they will be envious and put you down on purpose.  Not that that does not happen, it does. But most often, your current attempts are not that original or perfect for them to copy. I may be wrong about that too now. Some would-be poets and novelists avoid reading others' poems and works of fiction fearing that they would be influenced. As if their very unique genius, and sublime innocence and purity of thought will be tainted by the others' views. The noble savage has to remain so! The other fear is different - what if the other person is better than you? And you think that might make you feel anxious and jealous and leave you unable to focus. Another fear is that of failure. What if no one likes your work? And at the other end are those who fear success even before they taste it! So they sabotage themselves in many ways. Fear and laziness - two evils that pull us down. Look who's talking! 

In spite of all that, if you think your poems are good as they are, I respect that too. After all, you are the author. And you only live once, and this is the age of self-conscious living! (I did it! - I went and self-published my 2 books. For my first novel, I did the "query" thing -- did not work. So went the digital publishing way. The second one, the poem thing, I just didn't bother doing the query procedure - I knew my poems were nothing to write home about. Anyway I avoided the pain of rejection and by that also the joy of recognition. Lesson learned - no pain, no gain. The only difference between you and me - I am older, and do not have time and youth on my side now). Besides, you won't be around to see if your work stood the test of time!

The suggestion is to wait. And then write, and rewrite incorporating new insights.I know many writers or aspiring writers cannot bear to rewrite and revise. I am one of those. But I also know that revising and reworking our writings will make them all the more substantial, rich and polished.  If there is talent, that  needs to be nourished, sustained, and grown. I have heard drugs and alcohol fuels the imagination and many a great writer and artist have used that throughout history. In fact there seems to be a huge market for redeemed addicts' - that is with addiction of any kind, love, religion,sex, drug, alcohol, food,politics--  writings. Well, that can mean that they are passionate about something, or that they are intrepid warriors of experimentations, those who are not controlled by boundaries. But let me make it clear to you young writers - I do not recommend that. Why? For one, most of the time those artistes/artists are too much into their experimental living that they are unable to enjoy their talent(s). For two, they just get stuck in the experiment and not in their art. The greatest among them do not see their own fame or popularity in their own lifetimes. Be sensible, or not. But take care of your body and mind. Make reading  your addiction, if you will.

Now, there are those who are physically enabled to be highly creative artists, they say. Synesthetes like Vladimir Nabokov, tetrachromats like Concheta Antico may have used their special gifts in their creative endeavor. Some say people can be trained to see and feel the world like them. Till then, for the rest of us, good old reading and living and talking and thinking will have to do.