On Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at 7:02:43 PM UTC-5,
tst...@gmail.com wrote:
On Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at 9:40:10 AM UTC-5, George J. Dance wrote:
I've decided to post annual updates of my poessay, "How to Write Good (Poetry)."
The biggest changes this year were to number off the sections; add hypothetical page breaks (indicated by "~~~"); and introduce one new word: "canon."
~~~
How to Write Good
(Poetry)
Do you want to learn
to write good
poetry?
Great: you know what
You want to learn.
But why?
For the money?
Most poets don't make much.
For the fame?
Most poets don't get much.
Or maybe you're like me:
I used to write
a lot of poems
but I wasn't happy
with them;
I didn't think they were good;
I was never satisfied.
That's why I learn:
for my own
satisfaction.
If that's why you want
to learn,
we've covered
the what and the why --
But that still leaves
the how:
~~~
How do you learn
to write good
poetry?
Short answer:
1. Read poetry
2. Practice writing it
That's answer is true,
as far as it goes,
but it doesn't go very far.
It's like telling someone
Who wants to learn to play music
"1. listen to music
"2. Practice playing it"
What music?
How do you listen to it?
(What are you listening for?)
And why?
What do you practice?
How do you practice it?
And why?
What are you trying to get
from listening and practicing?
So ...
~~~
Long answer:
I. Read poetry.
1. "Read poetry." What poetry?
Start by reading what you can find.
Bookmark the poems you like
and reread them.
Use the above
to find poets you like,
and read more of their work.
Build a list of good poems,
poems you have chosen
for your own reasons,
as good.
Those are your "canon."
But I'll bet you've done
much of that already.
If you like poetry,
you already have
your favorite poems.
You have even memorized some.
So make a list
of the ones you remember.
As you think of more,
seconds, days, weeks
or months later, go back
to your list and add them.
There. You already have a canon.
It's a good start,
but it's only a start.
Keep reading poetry
And keep building your canon
while you read.
~~~
2. "Read poetry." How do you read it?
Study it. Spend time on it,
the way you'd study a subject
in school.
What do you study?
Reread the poems in your canon.
How many times?
As many times as you can,
Don't stop until
you memorize them.
If you liked the poem,
you already know
what the poet had to say.
So now pay attention
to how he said it:
Try reading them as poems.
When you read a poem in your canon,
Ask:
What did you like
about the poem
/as a poem/?
Was it the rhyme,
the cadence,
the word choices
and how they sound
when you read them aloud?
(What you liked
does not have to be
just one thing.)
Try to discover:
(A) what did that poet do
that made his a good poem?
What skills did he use?
How did the maker of the poem
make this mass of words
Into a poem you liked:
How did he write a good poem?
3. "Read poetry." Why?
As you do the above
and repeat it
you are learning
intuitively or consciously
what makes a poem good.
~~~~
II. Practice Writing It
4. "Practice writing it." What do you practice?
Find an old draft,
or a not-so-good
poem, of your own.
Compare it to a good poem
from your canon.
Or, even better,
reverse the process.
Choose a poem from your canon
and write a new poem
of your own
on the same subject
or on the same ideas.
Then compare the two poems.
For the poem on your canon
you have already answered
(A) what did that poet do
that made his a good poem?
Now try to answer
(B) Can I do what I liked
about that poem in mine?
Can I develop that skill?
~~~
5. "Practice writing it." How do you practice?
(i) Write a poem of your own
(ii) Compare it to a poem on your canon
as in the previous section
Then do it again
over and over
with different poems and drafts
Feel free to mix and match:
Compare a poem in your canon
to more than one of yours,
And one of yours
To more than one in your canon.
Do it until
you have discovered
and learned
that poet's skills.
Then use that skill
in your new poems.
6. "Practice writing it." Why?
The only way
and all you need
to learn to write good
poetry is to learn
what makes a poem
good, and how
to do that yourself.
Reading and studying
will teach you
what makes a poem good.
Practicing will teach you
consciously or intuitively
how to do that yourself.
Excellent....!
Thanks, Zod. I'm happy with it. I will review it next January, but it looks pretty complete as is.
I'm reaching the end of days, now that I'm retired, and I'd like to start getting my best writing into book form over the next years. At some point I'd like to put out a book on poetics, and I think this poem would make a good title essay.
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