Poetry Forms

 

Art begins with selection. You have only a certain space in which to place your words — a very small space in our current conception of poetry — and those words need to be effectively organised. Think carefully in choosing the appropriate poetry forms for your work.

Discussion

Consider performance poetry, possibly the least organised of genres. Even the casual impromptu piece grows out of the occasion and expectations of the audience. The piece may only exist in the performer's head, but in place of the traditional lines on the page there will be an acute sense of timing, an emotional rapport with the audience, a sequence of themes developed and returned to. None of this is easy, and good performers, like standup comics, practise their skills endlessly.

Poetry may therefore seem formless, and a good deal of contemporary work may indeed be little more than chopped-up prose, but behind all the better poems are structures made the more effective by being unobtrusive. Poems that appear just right, with not a word too many or out of place, are usually the result of prolonged effort and skill, an example of art that conceals art. But note the word conceals. Readers distrust poems that have too obvious a design upon them. In traditional poetry the very shape — metre, rhyme and stanza — creates an emotional distance that helps the poem gain in universality: it speaks to and for our common humanity. In contrast, contemporary styles aim at "a slice of life." Universal appeal is not guaranteed, and greater skill is needed in ensuring results appear natural, authentic and convincing. If the reader's response is "so what?" then the poem has failed, whatever the style being followed. Few rules exist in contemporary poetry, beyond the ceaseless experimenting in poetry forms to find what "works" for the piece in question.

Points to Bear in Mind

1. Style simply provides the means: it does not guarantee success. Rearranging undistinguished prose in short lines will not thereby create poetry. Nor will making it rhyme or scan. Of anything announcing itself as poetry a good deal is expected, and failures are the more ludicrous. You must employ the devices of whatever style you chose to create something that cannot be so fully said in prose.

2. In choosing a style, be guided by what the better lines suggest.

3. Write drafts in both free and strict forms. The skills are different but interact.

4. Research how recognized poets have handled your theme.

 

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