Whenever I use to write a poem for a class, my poems always rhymed. I find it so much easier to get words out and on to the page when they rhyme. (Plus I have more interest in poems when they rhyme.) When we start class and someone offers to put their poem up on the overhead I feel like their poems are so much more "adult-like" then mine and I try to use descriptive words too, but I just feel like my poems are very "childish." Now that we started to write our poems in iambic pentameter it's even harder. I can barely think of words that make sense together that actually go in a certain rhythm. I like free-verse a lot better or even when we write from listening to music or from looking at a painting. However, when I write from these I tend to just tell a story but I usually can think of something or where I want to go with the poem a lot quicker...good thing i'm not a poetry major because I'm pretty sure I would just skate by. I do like the class though. I always though poetry was very simple and didn't have much to it but I was definitely wrong.
I can definitely relate to you. In high school, I took this introductory poetry course. My teacher primarily focused on the rhyming aspect of poetry so that's what I'm familiar with when it comes to writing poetry. I feel like poetry flows more when it rhymes and sounds better. In this class, I am forced to step out of my comfort zone and challenge my abilities, which is always a good thing, but not necessarily something I enjoy doing. Like you, I've noticed that the poems of other students sound more "sophisticated" than mine, so I'm not eager to share my poems with the class. Coming into this class, I thought that it would be somewhat like some things I learned in high school, but it is the total opposite. However, I am learning new, interesting things that I didn't know before, and can use for future reference.
ReplyDeleteI understand why you think rhyme sounds almost "childlike." It sounds like a little kid on the playground talking to his friends in some sort of a sophisticated language. I also enjoy free verse. Meter flat out makes me miserable. It's frustrating and it takes away so much creativity to try and cram words into the confined space we call "feet" and "pentameters" and "trochees." My advice: story telling is okay. It's simply your style. Just go with it. If your poems don't look like anyone else's, so what; they're unique to you and that's what makes them beautiful! Keep writing!!!
ReplyDeleteI both understand and can relate to what you have said. In all of my poems that I write I notice that they rhyme somewhere. I think it is because we have this mind set that poems have to rhyme and it is kind of hard to get out of it. I grew up reading children books and they all rhymed.So know when I write poems I feel like they have to rhyme. Its good to know that they don't have to.
ReplyDeleteI used to run into the habit of rhyming as well and I've learned that it slowed me down and stubbed my freedom to express my thoughts. I got into the habit of telling stories through my poetry and it helped me stay from rhyming.
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