A Farewell To Rhyme

defenestrate

United States579 Posts

October 25 2007 07:08 GMT

I enrolled in a poetry workshop this fall to improve my writing. Today, on the fourth session, the professor told us that we were forbidden to use rhyme in the next three weeks' submissions.

Having lifted my mandible from the floor, I wonder: what the hell should I do? I could realistically ramble in prose and hit "enter" to space it at random intervals (which is what a good chunk of the rhymeless stuff I've seen actually looks like), but it doesn't seem honest. My style is in the structure; without it, I'm left with random crap.

fig_newbie

749 Posts

October 25 2007 07:25 GMT

poetry is about capturing a moment in a way that can influence the emotions and senses of the reader. you dont need rhyme. think of it as art with words - think about something and make it powerful. its easier said than done of course, but then again its your project :D. good luck.

SonuvBob

Aiur21549 Posts

October 25 2007 09:25 GMT

1. Make a standard rhyming poem.
2. Find a thesaurus.

Gokey

United States2722 Posts

October 25 2007 09:26 GMT

On October 25 2007 18:25 SonuvBob wrote:
1. Make a standard rhyming poem.
2. Find a thesaurus.

lol

i guess too much flexibility can be a bad thing...

but really, it's just your mind tricking you

Daigomi

South Africa4316 Posts

October 25 2007 12:57 GMT

Well, if I can give you a few hints:

1. Rhythm is more important in non-rhyming poetry, and harder to understand. You can't stick to a simple iambic pentametre in non-rhyming poetry. Make sure that the poem still reads comfortable (do not use a thesaurus!)

2. There are many different styles of non-rhyming poetry. Find one that suits you, and continue writing in it.

3. Try to understand freeform poetry. It's very easy to confuse rhymes for rhyming poetry, but freeform poetry takes away that which most people believe is the root of poetry, so you have to rediscover what poetry really is. Make sure you do.

Some poets you can look at if you want ideas of the different kind of styles that can be found in freeform poetry:

The anti-poets: Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, and Richard Brautigan. They wrote in a very conversational style of poetry (and often used conversation as a basis for their poetry) and wrote about topics which was previously seen as unfit for poetry. See:

Bukowski - Curtains
Ginsberg - Howl
Brautigan - Deer Tracks

The sad-poets: Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. Although they did occasionally write rhyming poetry, more often than not they used freeform. These poets both made use of strong imagery and metaphors as well as quick rhythms to move the poetry forward. See:

Plath - Cut
Sexton - Bayonet

The lyricist-poets: David Lehman, Ken Abustani (also known as AR Lamb I think), and Ralph Angel. These poets create beautiful imagery and usually quite flowing poetry by using long run on lines. Sentences are rarely ended, and the entire poem is usually centered around a single image. See:

Lehman - January 31
Ken Abustani - her eyes were like
Ralph Angel - This

The contemporary-poets: David Berman, Billy Collins, and Donald Justice. These are more modern poets. They don't specifically have a point to make, or great emotions to conjure up. They do use words very effectively, and they often tell stories in their poems. See:

Berman - Imagining Defeat
Collins - I Go Back To The House For A Book
Justice - Men at 30

The epic-poets: Bertold Brecht, and Horst Bienek. There are probably others here as well, but these two just sprung to mind now. These poets were both war poets from Germany (I think Bienek might have been from the Ukraine, not sure). They use free verse to comment on the war, and the poetry is often quite grand. It's still non-rhyming though, so maybe this style would suit you. See:

Brecht - To Posterity
Bienek - Rebellion

The other-poets: These poets are simply other poets that don't fall into a specific group but that are still worth looking at. I'll make a list of the poets and a good poem by them, but you'll have to look at the poems to identify the differences in style:

Bill Knot - Death
Ted Hughes - Crow's fall
Edward Field - The Farewell
Carol Ann Duffy - Talent
Lawrence Ferlinghetti - Brainwashed Poet
Christopher van Wyk - In Detention
Raymond Carver - Stupid
Stephen Crane - In the desert
Russell Edson - Conjugal
Ronald Koertge - Colouring
Sharon Olds - The Pope's Penis
DH Lawrence - Snake
Carl Sandburg - Happiness
EE Cummings - My Sweet Old Etcetera.
William Carlos Williams - Danse Russe
Richard Aldington - Childhood

Phew. What a shitload of poems to read. Hope you get the time to read some of them, and hopefully they help.

rpf

United States2705 Posts

October 25 2007 14:46 GMT

The professor is forcing you out of your comfort zone. That's a good thing.

There's a difference between writing a paragraph, and hitting "Enter" randomly, and writing something comprised of short phrases.

fig_newbie

749 Posts

October 25 2007 16:45 GMT

On October 25 2007 21:57 Daigomi wrote:
Bill Knot - Death
Ted Hughes - Crow's fall
Edward Field - The Farewell
Carol Ann Duffy - Talent
Lawrence Ferlinghetti - Brainwashed Poet
Christopher van Wyk - In Detention
Raymond Carver - Stupid
Stephen Crane - In the desert
Russell Edson - Conjugal
Ronald Koertge - Colouring
Sharon Olds - The Pope's Penis
DH Lawrence - Snake
Carl Sandburg - Happiness
EE Cummings - My Sweet Old Etcetera.
William Carlos Williams - Danse Russe
Richard Aldington - Childhood

Phew. What a shitload of poems to read. Hope you get the time to read some of them, and hopefully they help.

God that poem rules.