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Poetry... What's that then?

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It was recently brought to my attention that my poems are pointless. Well, that wasn't news to me, to be honest, I don't think that poems really have to be anything special, or profound. To me, they're a vessel for letting thoughts out, but in a different way from prose. I don't really care about the normal trappings of a poem (enjambement, rhyming, repetition etc), but I do care if I get thoughts out of my head. One of my favourite poets is Spike Milligan. If you've read anything by him, you'll know that his poems are generally silly little things, based on snippets of his life, like White Mice, where he asks "what colour is the price of those white mice?" That was inspired by his daughter, asking that question, and he turned it into a poem. It had significance for him, but to the reader, it was just a silly poem.

But, I'm now asking you: What the hell is a poem, to you?
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What Is A Pome?


For those who incorrectly guessed
A pome is a brief quest
Lasting nowhere near as long as a tome
Unexpectedly ending shortly after it starts
And in the privacy of your own home
May involve K-Y Jelly
A lawn gnome
Perhaps auto parts
Sometimes it feels really good
Mostly it smarts
So, don't be a hero
Like when in Rome
I suggest you do as the Romans do
Except for Nero
Best known for accidentally burning everything down
While lighting his own farts
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Poems or song lyrics are simply a condensed version of prose that doesn't have to adhere to the rules of punctuation and all of the He Said She Said.

That this poem or that song lyric is "poetic" is something else entirely different.
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Poem

noun: poem; plural noun: poems

a piece of writing in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by particular attention to diction (sometimes involving rhyme), rhythm, and imagery.


That's the jist of what all the popular dictionaries say. Nothing wrong with their definition, except that poetry is so much more than that.

A poem isn't something you can describe, not in intellectual terms anyway. It's a form of art, so like any other art-form it's an expression of what resides deep inside the artist. Any poem that's written using only your mind isn't really a poem, is it? A poem is an expression of what lives in your soul, in a place that even you won't understand at times.

I remember my high school English teacher once reading a poem in class and one of the students asked why we have to read poetry - it was an incredibly boring poem. She was quiet for a while, then she smiled and replied, "We don't. Poems read us." I'm not sure any of us really understood what she meant, but I never forgot what she said. Over the years my mind has drifted back to a lot of things she taught me, so I've had time to think about it. I think that I finally understand. It explains why a dozen people can read the same poem and each find a different meaning, some even finding hidden messages that the poet wasn't even consciously aware of while writing it.

I think that many of us have been conditioned to believe that a poem should read like the ones we were taught at school - flowery, puzzling and deep. And through all of that it should also make sense. That's the problem right there, we were taught to study poems and to somehow - despite what we take from it - reach the 'right' conclusion. There was a 'correct' -prescribed - interpretation of each poem and then there was the interpretation that would earn you an easy F. It didn't matter what we thought or felt while reading, so most of us grew to hate poetry. Poetry became just one more useless thing to suffer through at school.

And as usual, I digress... in answer to your question, Andrew - yes, most of your poems are rather pointless, but that does not necessarily make them bad poems. On the contrary, I rather enjoy well-written pointless poetry, it's like a breath of fresh air for the brain and the soul. It's not over-thought or too hard to understand. They make me smile, even when I'm not in the mood to smile. I think of your poetry as a walk on the light side, except for when you're having a rant, but even those are well-written. I remember when you first arrived here and started posting your 'Lady Vodka' poems, I thought, "Hmm... how much can one say about Vodka? He'll run dry soon enough." I was wrong, the poems kept coming and strangely, each of them were interesting and unique. The world needs more poets like you.

Now if you truly want to contemplate what pointless poetry is all about, have a look at Aram Saroyan's poem, 'Lighght'. It's been estimated to be the most expensive word in history. Go figure... I wonder how long it took him to write that one.

“Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing.”

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Quote by Magnetron
What Is A Pome?


For those who incorrectly guessed
A pome is a brief quest
Lasting nowhere near as long as a tome
Unexpectedly ending shortly after it starts
And in the privacy of your own home
May involve K-Y Jelly
A lawn gnome
Perhaps auto parts
Sometimes it feels really good
Mostly it smarts
So, don't be a hero
Like when in Rome
I suggest you do as the Romans do
Except for Nero
Best known for accidentally burning everything down
While lighting his own farts


Love this...

“Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing.”

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Quote by Sherzahd
Poem

noun: poem; plural noun: poems

a piece of writing in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by particular attention to diction (sometimes involving rhyme), rhythm, and imagery.


That's the jist of what all the popular dictionaries say. Nothing wrong with their definition, except that poetry is so much more than that.

A poem isn't something you can describe, not in intellectual terms anyway. It's a form of art, so like any other art-form it's an expression of what resides deep inside the artist. Any poem that's written using only your mind isn't really a poem, is it? A poem is an expression of what lives in your soul, in a place that even you won't understand at times.

I remember my high school English teacher once reading a poem in class and one of the students asked why we have to read poetry - it was an incredibly boring poem. She was quiet for a while, then she smiled and replied, "We don't. Poems read us." I'm not sure any of us really understood what she meant, but I never forgot what she said. Over the years my mind has drifted back to a lot of things she taught me, so I've had time to think about it. I think that I finally understand. It explains why a dozen people can read the same poem and each find a different meaning, some even finding hidden messages that the poet wasn't even consciously aware of while writing it.

I think that many of us have been conditioned to believe that a poem should read like the ones we were taught at school - flowery, puzzling and deep. And through all of that it should also make sense. That's the problem right there, we were taught to study poems and to somehow - despite what we take from it - reach the 'right' conclusion. There was a 'correct' -prescribed - interpretation of each poem and then there was the interpretation that would earn you an easy F. It didn't matter what we thought or felt while reading, so most of us grew to hate poetry. Poetry became just one more useless thing to suffer through at school.

And as usual, I digress... in answer to your question, Andrew - yes, most of your poems are rather pointless, but that does not necessarily make them bad poems. On the contrary, I rather enjoy well-written pointless poetry, it's like a breath of fresh air for the brain and the soul. It's not over-thought or too hard to understand. They make me smile, even when I'm not in the mood to smile. I think of your poetry as a walk on the light side, except for when you're having a rant, but even those are well-written. I remember when you first arrived here and started posting your 'Lady Vodka' poems, I thought, "Hmm... how much can one say about Vodka? He'll run dry soon enough." I was wrong, the poems kept coming and strangely, each of them were interesting and unique. The world needs more poets like you.

Now if you truly want to contemplate what pointless poetry is all about, have a look at Aram Saroyan's poem, 'Lighght'. It's been estimated to be the most expensive word in history. Go figure... I wonder how long it took him to write that one.


I remember when I was in school, and studying poetry. I was lucky to have had a teacher who taught the exam answers, but also taught us no not be afraid of having an opinion other than the prescribed meaning, as you so eloquently put it.

As a reluctant poet, I tend to not think much about it, so the silliness that is in my soul (I like that one!) tends to just roam free.

I really wish I'd managed to publish 'Lighght'. It seems like nothing more than a typo, and as a poem, it does work, weirdly. More words have been written about the poem than is in the poem... That's a stroke of bloody genius!
Ghosts, flamingos, guitars and vodka. Eclectic subjects, eccentric stories:

Humorous guide & Recommended Read =^.^= How To Make a Cup of Tea
A flash fiction series :) A Random Moment in Time
Editors' Pick! :D I Am The Deep, Dark Woods
And another EP!: The Fragility of Age
=^.^=
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When I was in high school we had a visit from a poet once. I remember she said that poets are motivated to write because they love writing poetry, not because they won't someone to dissect it later. She wasn't denigrating analysis of poetry, but encouraging us to just write what we feel in our hearts and if it's true then it is poetry. I was inspired by this and have written poetry nearly every day of my life since. I don't care if it doesn't meet academic standards or definitions of what a 'poem' is, because each one is a little part of me.
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Quote by Circle_Something
It was recently brought to my attention that my poems are pointless. Well, that wasn't news to me, to be honest, I don't think that poems really have to be anything special, or profound. To me, they're a vessel for letting thoughts out, but in a different way from prose. I don't really care about the normal trappings of a poem (enjambement, rhyming, repetition etc), but I do care if I get thoughts out of my head. One of my favourite poets is Spike Milligan. If you've read anything by him, you'll know that his poems are generally silly little things, based on snippets of his life, like White Mice, where he asks "what colour is the price of those white mice?" That was inspired by his daughter, asking that question, and he turned it into a poem. It had significance for him, but to the reader, it was just a silly poem.

But, I'm now asking you: What the hell is a poem, to you?


Such profundity deserves a long, detailed and probably boring and highly intellectual treatise. Bugger that!

Poetry is, in my opinion, what art is to the individiual: "I know what I like".

If a poem 'speaks' to me on some sort of level, then I like that poem. If it leaves me cold because the author has his/her head up their own backside and has been all clever and supercillious with fancy words and phraseology, then I'm not a fan. To my mind, if someone has to explain a poem to you, then what's the sodding point? Immediacy and unequivocal common sense, that's my cup of tea in a poem... and I hope that's the sense I get across in my work
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I tend to side with Sherzahd. Poetry is an art form, as is pros. It is really hard to teach someone to be a truly fine poet. There is a natural, unexplainable, element that some have with little effort and some never achieve. However, that doesn't mean that it can't be taught. Like the study of art, there are techniques to be studied, guides for style, training and constant fine tuning. Like art, not just anything and everything the artist thought worthy makes it to the museum wall or any wall at all. To most artists, that's nice, but not necessary. Their desire to create is what drives them. The ironic thing is, if you read the personal writings of many great poets, you will find that for them the most important thing was that they write. They had to. They would have been doing it without the recognition anyway.

Just as there are many levels of education and intellect, there are many levels of poetry. I'd never assume the right to judge what level it should be written on, it depends on the writer and the reader. Journalism rules don't apply. The simplicity of "The Red Wheelbarrow" or "This is Just to Say" can't be paralleled to "Song of Myself". William Carlos Williams and Walt Whitman are both brilliant and all three poems are profound--one with a minimum of language and the other with the extreme. Someone might read either and say, "What's the point?" But, you will be fixed to find a survey American anthology of poetry without them in it. Why? Because they are exemplary.

And, that's poetry.

I'm curious, you speak as if the fact that your poetry may or may not make a point doesn't matter. Then why does what we think matter? We ain't (yeah I said ain't) nobody.

Concentrate on the art of it.
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Quote by AvrgBlkGrl
I tend to side with Sherzahd. Poetry is an art form, as is pros. It is really hard to teach someone to be a truly fine poet. There is a natural, unexplainable, element that some have with little effort and some never achieve. However, that doesn't mean that it can't be taught. Like the study of art, there are techniques to be studied, guides for style, training and constant fine tuning. Like art, not just anything and everything the artist thought worthy makes it to the museum wall or any wall at all. To most artists, that's nice, but not necessary. Their desire to create is what drives them. The ironic thing is, if you read the personal writings of many great poets, you will find that for them the most important thing was that they write. They had to. They would have been doing it without the recognition anyway.

Just as there are many levels of education and intellect, there are many levels of poetry. I'd never assume the right to judge what level it should be written on, it depends on the writer and the reader. Journalism rules don't apply. The simplicity of "The Red Wheelbarrow" or "This is Just to Say" can't be paralleled to "Song of Myself". William Carlos Williams and Walt Whitman are both brilliant and all three poems are profound--one with a minimum of language and the other with the extreme. Someone might read either and say, "What's the point?" But, you will be fixed to find a survey American anthology of poetry without them in it. Why? Because they are exemplary.

And, that's poetry.

I'm curious, you speak as if the fact that your poetry may or may not make a point doesn't matter. Then why does what we think matter? We ain't (yeah I said ain't) nobody.

Concentrate on the art of it.


You do, of course, make fine and sensible points, which I applaud you for.

Poetry, itself an art-form (although that is a debateable statement in some circles) is as subjective as art, story-telling or a musical composition. Not everyone is going to like everything: do I think an unmade bed or half a cow suspended in formaldehyde is art? No, not for a moment. Do I believe that every piece of classical music ever compoised is by dint 'great'? Not a bit of it. Have I read and enjoyed the great literary classics? Some, but by no means all. Can I even remotely quantify why one painting/drawing/photograph touches something in me where another similar rendering leaves me cold? I wish I could. Do I know a 'good' poem when I read one? No, I don't think I do, but I DO know what I like. And, really, that's what it all boils down to: liking something because it means something personal to you.

The one thing I am dead sure of is that none of us amateur writers write for anything more than the process and pleasure of doing so. To do otherwise is setting oneself up to fail spectacularly. I would never claim to be the greatest writer or poet here or anywhere else. However, I can say in all honesty that I have written stuff that I am intensely proud of and treasure. By the same token I have written stuff that makes me cringe with embarrassment, and I would lay generous odds that every one of you who have contributed to this site (or similar sites) can make the same admission. It's who we are and what we do. It's our art and we should revel in it, celebrate it and not question it
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I love each answer to this question and feel these words move my heart. So I shall try and explain what a poem is to me.
To read someone words is a great honor to me. I get to see into that persons mind, heart and soul. Even the rambling as you say. It is beautiful to me. When I write. It feels as if I can not put the pen down until I am finished. Good or bad. Most times I know not what I have wrote until I read it.After I am finished lol strange but true. A poem or story is like a beautiful gift. I treasure it. Passion is a word I love. That is the word that comes to my mind and soul. I also have some poems I am not so proud of and some I love as I would a child. I have read others work and wept like my heart was breaking, and it did.... That is beautiful. It is an honor for me for someone to comment on my poem. The comment good or bad I know I touched a persons life and make them feel emotion. I am proud to be on this site with so many that is so gifted. Thank you for allowing me to express a little of what is in my heart. My soul. My mind. In one word it is .......ME
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Quote by maryruth
I love each answer to this question and feel these words move my heart. So I shall try and explain what a poem is to me.
To read someone words is a great honor to me. I get to see into that persons mind, heart and soul. Even the rambling as you say. It is beautiful to me. When I write. It feels as if I can not put the pen down until I am finished. Good or bad. Most times I know not what I have wrote until I read it.After I am finished lol strange but true. A poem or story is like a beautiful gift. I treasure it. Passion is a word I love. That is the word that comes to my mind and soul. I also have some poems I am not so proud of and some I love as I would a child. I have read others work and wept like my heart was breaking, and it did.... That is beautiful. It is an honor for me for someone to comment on my poem. The comment good or bad I know I touched a persons life and make them feel emotion. I am proud to be on this site with so many that is so gifted. Thank you for allowing me to express a little of what is in my heart. My soul. My mind. In one word it is .......ME


I think I love you Mary Ruth
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Quote by maryruth
I love each answer to this question and feel these words move my heart. So I shall try and explain what a poem is to me.
To read someone words is a great honor to me. I get to see into that persons mind, heart and soul. Even the rambling as you say. It is beautiful to me. When I write. It feels as if I can not put the pen down until I am finished. Good or bad. Most times I know not what I have wrote until I read it.After I am finished lol strange but true. A poem or story is like a beautiful gift. I treasure it. Passion is a word I love. That is the word that comes to my mind and soul. I also have some poems I am not so proud of and some I love as I would a child. I have read others work and wept like my heart was breaking, and it did.... That is beautiful. It is an honor for me for someone to comment on my poem. The comment good or bad I know I touched a persons life and make them feel emotion. I am proud to be on this site with so many that is so gifted. Thank you for allowing me to express a little of what is in my heart. My soul. My mind. In one word it is .......ME


I think I love you Mary Ruth
thank you, AvrgBlkGri, There are many that have stolen my heart with their words,you among them. I am in aww to be around such good authors. I hope some day to be half as good as most of the ones on this site. sincerely Maryruth
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Hey Circle something----

At the end of the day you have to do what makes you happy and if writing a poem is your thing ,even if no-one gets it or some-one feels it is a waste of time, write it anyway.You are the ONLY you that will ever work the Earth. Your words count so write on.
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Quote by rosemaureen
Hey Circle something----

At the end of the day you have to do what makes you happy and if writing a poem is your thing ,even if no-one gets it or some-one feels it is a waste of time, write it anyway.You are the ONLY you that will ever work the Earth. Your words count so write on.


That's the answer in a nutshell!
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Poetry to me, is not what I write, but what makes me write. The result is just my translation of the poetry, I sense around me and inside of me, into words. If that turns out to be poetry to someone else, I succeeded in translating what I felt.
If life seems jolly rotten
there's something you've forgotten
and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing

from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
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Quote by AvrgBlkGrl
The ironic thing is, if you read the personal writings of many great poets, you will find that for them the most important thing was that they write. They had to. They would have been doing it without the recognition anyway.

............

I'm curious, you speak as if the fact that your poetry may or may not make a point doesn't matter. Then why does what we think matter? We ain't (yeah I said ain't) nobody.

Concentrate on the art of it.

I would like to begin my answer with this first part: ABG says here "the most important thing is that they write. They had to."

Note that poetry is done out of some necessity.

I believe that is true in two ways: firstly, if I am just needing to write something down for myself, then fine, I do it and no one else ever sees it. It is private.

But when you write something so that others may see it, [for whatever reason], then you believe it has some kind of necessity that could go beyond just writing it for others.
The necessity could be one that would affect others in what you sense is an important way, i. e., a way that could affect their existence so you MUST show it. It has a purpose. Such as in epic poetry which makes manifest the nature of and roots of the culture of the people who speak a certain language. To the Greeks of Plato's time for instance, Homer's works were something like their "Bible."
Then there are other forms of poetry that allow one to sing about things that are just beautiful, or things that there is no reason to sing about other than the fact that they become something one can undergo just for the joy of it. If, for example, I am driving through Vermont during the Fall season, it is well known for its beauty. The leaves of the deciduous trees change in all their variety creating a landscape of glorious colors. We just "have" to share it for those who may not have seen it before.
I can discuss the origins of poetry if what I have said here has had any value to any of you.
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A lot of what I write is in the form of blank verse, lacking in rhyme although I stick to a strict metre. Many people do not consider blank verse to be 'proper' poetry, and it is clear that those who count on this site think that my scribblings have very little merit. It is well to have the bubble of one's self delusion punctured, but the humiliation of the realisation of one's lack of ability still hurts.

Meanwhile I will give an example of what I aspire to from Book IV of Wordsworth's Prelude.

Bright was the summer's noon when quickening steps
Followed each other till a dreary moor
Was crossed, a bare ridge clomb, upon whose top
Standing alone, as from a rampart's edge,
I overlooked the bed of Windermere,
Like a vast river, stretching in the sun.
With exultation, at my feet I saw
Lake, islands, promontories, gleaming bays,
A universe of Nature's fairest forms
Proudly revealed with instantaneous burst,
Magnificent, and beautiful, and gay.
I bounded down the hill shouting amain
For the old Ferryman; to the shout the rocks
Replied, and when the Charon of the flood
Had staid his oars, and touched the jutting pier,
I did not step into the well-known boat
Without a cordial greeting. Thence with speed
Up the familiar hill I took my way
Towards that sweet Valley where I had been reared;
'Twas but a short hour's walk, ere veering round
I saw the snow-white church upon her hill
Sit like a thronèd Lady, sending out
A gracious look all over her domain.
Yon azure smoke betrays the lurking town;
With eager footsteps I advance and reach
The cottage threshold where my journey closed.
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Quote by KnightOfLove
A lot of what I write is in the form of blank verse, lacking in rhyme although I stick to a strict metre. Many people do not consider blank verse to be 'proper' poetry, and it is clear that those who count on this site think that my scribblings have very little merit. It is well to have the bubble of one's self delusion punctured, but the humiliation of the realisation of one's lack of ability still hurts.


Blank verse is a recognized and highly respected form of poetry. If you read the vast amount of poetry at SS, you will note that most falls into this category. It is often recognized with a Recommended Read or even Editor's Pick Award by the moderators. My only RR on this site was a blank verse poem.

Please do not be discouraged. Your entry was very good, but just did not quite make the cut off for top ten. Your talent is obvious and you have nothing to feel bad about.
You can't get there from here, because when you get there you're still here and here is now there.
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Quote by KnightOfLove
A lot of what I write is in the form of blank verse, lacking in rhyme although I stick to a strict metre. Many people do not consider blank verse to be 'proper' poetry, and it is clear that those who count on this site think that my scribblings have very little merit. It is well to have the bubble of one's self delusion punctured, but the humiliation of the realisation of one's lack of ability still hurts.


There are one or two supercilious idiots on SS who think they walk on water. They will go out of their way to patronise and belittle anybody they take a disliking to.

IGNORE THEM!

Your contributions to this site are as welcome and as interesting as anybody else's. Let nobody tell you or try to convince you of anything differently!

And, as my sig says, "those who mind don't matter"!
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Quote by KnightOfLove
A lot of what I write is in the form of blank verse, lacking in rhyme although I stick to a strict metre. Many people do not consider blank verse to be 'proper' poetry, and it is clear that those who count on this site think that my scribblings have very little merit. It is well to have the bubble of one's self delusion punctured, but the humiliation of the realisation of one's lack of ability still hurts.


There are one or two supercilious idiots on SS who think they walk on water. They will go out of their way to patronise and belittle anybody they take a disliking to.

IGNORE THEM!

Your contributions to this site are as welcome and as interesting as anybody else's. Let nobody tell you or try to convince you of anything differently!

And, as my sig says, "those who mind don't matter"!


I definitely agree
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Quote by KnightOfLove
A lot of what I write is in the form of blank verse, lacking in rhyme although I stick to a strict metre. Many people do not consider blank verse to be 'proper' poetry, and it is clear that those who count on this site think that my scribblings have very little merit. It is well to have the bubble of one's self delusion punctured, but the humiliation of the realisation of one's lack of ability still hurts.


Blank verse is a recognized and highly respected form of poetry. If you read the vast amount of poetry at SS, you will note that most falls into this category. It is often recognized with a Recommended Read or even Editor's Pick Award by the moderators. My only RR on this site was a blank verse poem.

Please do not be discouraged. Your entry was very good, but just did not quite make the cut off for top ten. Your talent is obvious and you have nothing to feel bad about.


The following is a quote from Wikipedia concerning blank verse. It is illuminating for anyone who uses blank verse to create poetry.

Blank verse is poetry written in regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always iambic pentameters.[1] It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century"[2] and Paul Fussell has estimated that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."[3]

Anyone writing in blank verse is among some of the greatest English language poets of the past 400 years.
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I think good poetry, especially in blank verse, is incredibly hard to pull off. I struggle with it. However, I also think there's a place for 'throw away' poetry with no deeper meaning other than pure entertainment value. I love poems by Pam Ayres and Spike Milligan which are totally flippant but make me smile. That's important.
Variety. That's the key, isn't it? How boring if there was only one way to write poetry.

Back to struggling on mine... oh dear...
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Quote by Welshdreamer42
I think good poetry, especially in blank verse, is incredibly hard to pull off. I struggle with it. However, I also think there's a place for 'throw away' poetry with no deeper meaning other than pure entertainment value. I love poems by Pam Ayres and Spike Milligan which are totally flippant but make me smile. That's important.
Variety. That's the key, isn't it? How boring if there was only one way to write poetry.


I totally agree with Helen here.

I have written both and find them all equally enjoyable.

Frankly I do get a little weary of the same types of poems, one after another. On here it seems to be true love, heartbreak, and self loathing that makes up 75% or more of the poems. I understand why these topics are popular, but there seems so little of anything else.

On the bright side, I have noticed an increase in humorous/satirical poetry lately.
You can't get there from here, because when you get there you're still here and here is now there.
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Quote by LarryFNighThe following is a quote from Wikipedia concerning blank verse. It is illuminating for anyone who uses blank verse to create poetry.

Blank verse is poetry written in regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always iambic pentameters.[1

It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century"[2] and Paul Fussell has estimated that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."[3]

Anyone writing in blank verse is among some of the greatest English language poets of the past 400 years.


I was listening to a programme on radio recently (I almost said the wireless) that suggested that iambic (a short syllable followed by a long syllable with the stress on the second long syllable) is the natural metre of English speech, not just poetry. Although much English poetry has a line length of 5 iambs, ie. 10 syllables, this is not a universal rule, so in ballad poetry such as the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, a line of iambic pentameter is followed by one of iambs trimeter. Interestingly I find it more natural to write lines of 12 or 14 syllables.

Not all blank verse is regular in metre. This is particularly true of Wordsworth who is among my top five most admired and loved poets. He did write poems with a regular number of syllables per line as in Upon Westminster Bridge, although it is debatable if this should be described as iambic pentameter since to a natural UK English speaker the stresses in each line do not all fall on the second syllable of each pair — so in the first line "Earth has not anything to show more fair" the stresses are on Earth and show, and the other syllables are evenly stressed. Try reading it with stress on the second syllable of the line and the meaning is completely different. This is important as the way a line is stressed actually creates the meaning, which is why public reading of any passage from the Bible is an act of interpretation. To return to Wordsworth, in one of his greatest poems Ode:Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood, there is no discernible metrical pattern at all.

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature's priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.
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Quote by rolandlytle
Quote by Welshdreamer42
I think good poetry, especially in blank verse, is incredibly hard to pull off. I struggle with it. However, I also think there's a place for 'throw away' poetry with no deeper meaning other than pure entertainment value. I love poems by Pam Ayres and Spike Milligan which are totally flippant but make me smile. That's important.
Variety. That's the key, isn't it? How boring if there was only one way to write poetry.


I totally agree with Helen here.
I have written both and find them all equally enjoyable.
Frankly I do get a little weary of the same types of poems, one after another. On here it seems to be true love, heartbreak, and self loathing that makes up 75% or more of the poems. I understand why these topics are popular, but there seems so little of anything else.
On the bright side, I have noticed an increase in humorous/satirical poetry lately.


I am particularly interested in narrative verse and ballads, and I have been thinking for some time that it ought to be possible to put stories and poems into a major and minor genre — eg Poetry, Narrative or Poetry, Humorous.