Poetry
How do you know a poem is a poem? Say you are walking down the street and run into something that looks vaguely like a poem. How can you tell?
The Four Characteristics of Poetry
Line length – Poets choose their own length. Tends to be single line. Truncated. Even at a casual glance you know it's a poem.
Whose woods these are, I think I
know
His house is in the
village, though.
He will not see me stopping here
to watch his woods fill
up with snow.
Heightened use of sound – rhyme, alliteration
Tiny Tom tiptoed toward the tree.
The
wind eased through the tree's leaves.
Tom's boot hit a root.
He said,
"Shoot!"
Rhythm – systemic variation in the flow of sound
I existed in a womb just like an
abyss
Came straight from spiritland, my hands balled in a fist
Punching on
my mom's stomach, kicking on her cervix
Twitching cause I'm
nervous
Thought my intended purpose
Was to be born to reign, not in scorn
or vain
But to take on a name, my pops chose for me
Bloodstream full of
indo
Developing eyes looking out my belly-button window.
Crunch Time
Another way of looking at poetry, for better or verse.
Some common poetry
forms
Can't tell the difference between a sonnet and a
cinquain?
The
Villanelle
Robert Frost
A look
at the work of New Hampshire's best-known poet.
T.S. Eliot
From
"coffee spoons" to "Cats."
PoetryCast
Bringing poetry to
the Internets!
An investigation into the works of William Smith and Sir Mixalot
Songwriting
Get your funky folk on!
Compression – saying a lot in a few words.
if you like my poems let them
walk in the
evening, a little behind you
then people will say
"Along this road i saw a
princess pass
on her way to meet her lover ( t was
toward nightfall) with
tall and ignorant servants."
