poetry in motion —

On AFF it isn’t common to see pieces of poetry; however, I have come to realize that a lot of youth tend to have problems writing it. The thing that at times can hold us back from writing at our best is either a prompt to follow or a time limit.  

When people think poems, they think rhyming. That isn’t true. Not every poem rhymes in the way that you think they do. Take Robert Frost or EE s for example. Both are genius writers of poetry. Their pieces are both unique and famous in various countries and whatnot. The influence they have on the poetic population today is immense.

I am the first to admit, poetry is not easy to write. The poetry I write is of moderate form. I can take up a few stanzas; each around four lines each, to a whole page, if not more depending on the topic and inspiration I have. Poetry, and forms of it, varies. Whether it is the length we’re talking about or the style. Some poems don’t even have a rhyming scheme. Most of my poetry, and any amateur poetry out there, will start off with basic rhyming schemes.

Another thing to note about poems is that, not all of them are straightforward. EE s and Frost are two examples of writers who don’t exactly put what they want to say in their poetry. It’s all there but you have to figure out what they mean by deciphering its symbolism. Symbolism can be very tricky and deceiving when trying to pick apart a piece of writing to find out what it means. Websites are available at which you can use to your leisure if you ever get stuck. However, not all writing pieces are found online with a big black and white translation of its true meaning.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, [A]

And sorry I could not travel both [B]

And be one traveler, long I stood [A]

And looked down one as far as I could [A]

To where it bent in the undergrowth; [C]

Then took the other, as just as fair,  [D]

And having perhaps the better claim [E]

Because it was grassy and wanted wear, [D]

Though as for that the passing there [D]

Had worn them really about the same, [E]

And both that morning equally lay [F]

In leaves no step had trodden black. [G]

Oh, I marked the first for another day! [F]

Yet knowing how way leads on to way [F]

I doubted if I should ever come back. [G]

I shall be telling this with a sigh [H]

Somewhere ages and ages hence: [I]

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, [J]

I took the one less traveled by, [J]

And that has made all the difference. [I?]

There, above, you will see the whole poem ‘A Road Not Taken’ written by Robert Frost. It is by far one of my favorite poems by him. You’ll notice that at the end of each line I have a letter of the alphabet in brackets. That would be what is called rhyme scheme. I’m no scholar, so I counted half rhymes in the rhyme scheme. To me, half rhymes are a nuisance but they have their own term and everything so they count. The concept of half rhyme can be confusing which is why there is a question mark in the last set of brackets.

Poems don’t have any rules or guidelines to follow but rather generalities that have been followed overtime. Take rhyming for instance, it isn’t necessary but it is just so common in poetry. EE s really broke away from any poetry normality devices in his writing. His indentation and punctuation is so much different than most poets. Check his poetry out and tell me you aren’t impressed.

If you are of eleven years or older you should be able to construct a “proper” poem, no problem. By “proper” I mean, no acrostic poems or little three lined poems. As stated before (I hope), there are many types of ways to write poems. To make things even more difficult there are also many kinds of poetry. Haikus are the harder poems to write. That’s my opinion at least.

Haikus originated in Japan, later on becoming more popular outside of Asia and so on. These types of poems consist of three simple lines. Each line has their own syllable count; five, seven, and five again. Over time people have bent the rules of haikus and gone beyond the one stanza haiku format and have made them longer. I have also seen that some people also play with the number of syllables in each line. It doesn’t make it wrong; it just makes it a more modern haiku as opposed to an older styled one.

Never in a million years, once you translate a Japanese haiku attempt to count the syllables because it won’t come out right. Only in the Japanese original text will the syllables come out the way they are supposed to. Nine times out of ten, when you look up haikus it will come up Japanese writers with an English translation of their work. Their English versions are beautifully written but do not fit the five, seven, five syllable count.

fu-ru-i-ke ya [5]

ka-wa-zu to-bi-ko-mu [7]

mi-zu no o-to [5]

This is a poem written originally by the Japanese writer Matsuo Bashō. It is sad to say but he died at the age of fifty. Keep in mind his time frame and it makes it more understandable why he died at such a young age. Fifty is only middle aged, most adults today live to be around eighty or so depending on their health conditions.

old pond . . . [2]

a frog leaps in [3]

water’s sound [3]

When translated the poem by Matsuo, you get the following text above. It doesn’t fit the syllable count. I’ve tried to count it out and I didn’t get the numbers that were there when it was in Japanese. Our ways of pronunciation is different, which is why counting the syllables out is mainly pointless. So for now I’ll go back on track to poetry that is more common in English.

If you ever write poetry, do your best to keep an open mind. My cousin and I both are writers of poetry. Just because we write it doesn’t mean we’re good at it. In order to write poetry that doesn’t totally tank, you have to get straight what is on your mind before writing. Poetry isn’t written in two seconds flat just because it’s a shorter form of literature. Most poetry takes a decent amount of time to work out before it’s finished.

Below is a list of the most common forms of poetry in English literature today. As an addition to that I wrote a basic definition of what that form of poetry is. You’re welcome.

• Sonnet: a poem of fourteen lines using any number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line.
• Haiku: a Japanese poem that consists of three lines, one stanza.
• Acrostic: a poem in which certain letters in each line form a word or words.

Also, as a stupid advertisement of my work, I’ll be giving examples with links so that you can take a look at what poetry looks like when it’s fully completed. Most of my poetry that I post online is in blog form that way I don’t have to waste a new ‘story’ on it. My collection of poetry isn’t big enough that I can afford to make a new story for a collection.

A Final Reply & The Haunted; Leviathan; Censored; Three Words 

I bet you guys can't find which poem has a quote from one of Beast's songs in there. Find it and I'll give you a surprise prize ~