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Rhyming in Poetry
Tue, 06/01/2010 - 21:55
I think that very few people rhyme well in poetry. Its partly due to the fact that poets are too ready to contort their language to fit the strictures of a rhyme scheme. The end up with archaic-sounding lines that conjure images of sheperds in idyllic Scottich meadows pining for their sweethearts or some such rubbish that never existed, even when it was in vogue hundreds of years ago. I'm not sure that I do it right all of the time in my poetry. I just think that a poet should seek to treat the language well enough to make the lines sound natural and unforced. I have found that writing in ten syllable couplets with subordinate clauses along the way allows for good opportunities to rhyme while giving a natural sound. I want to do more work in that form, I think that there is alot of room for originality there.
Wed, 06/02/2010 - 08:40
#1
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I try to allow the poem to come out in a flow, and sometimes that flow gets interrupted by this seemingly obsessive need to make it rhyme. When I forget about rhyming, I find that the poem comes out with a rhythm that is more important than the rhyme. I am also guilty of the archaic. I'll reverse words to copy WS. Its indulgent, I know.
Also, each piece I do is like an experiment. if I go to sleep at night with the idea in my head, and it sticks, it's the one I'll usually put on paper. When I write it, I try to remain detached from it, as if I am allowing an inner part of me to move the hand. When it's done I'll have noticed there are rhymes in it I hadnt even planned for. That is rare though.
What are your feelings about prose poetry? And free verse? Oh I just found this priceless quote from old T.S. - "No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job."
Wed, 06/09/2010 - 15:36
#2
I agree with both of you here. Although I haven't written too many poems, I've studied poetry enough and read other work from my classmates to realize that rhyming usually hinders the poet rather than helps. A writer, especially a poet, should be free to use the thousands of words in the english language, or any language for that matter, in any combination he/she wants. I know when a beginner tries rhyming poetry (as I have) they limit themselves to very few words for the end of each line and the outcome usually contorts the theme/emotion/feeling of the poem. Like Alberto said, when you forget about rhyming and just go with the flow you end up creating, overall I believe, a better poem. When I'm writing a short story I try to forget about spelling/grammar on the first draft just to allow myself to get all the ideas out, then clean it up with my second draft. I suppose this is similar to rhyming poetry in a way. Anyway, like I said I'm not much of a poet, but I feel out of the few poems I have written the ones in free verse are the best. Maybe I'll submit one and see what readers think...
Fri, 06/18/2010 - 20:52
#3
It is much more difficult to rhyme in English because sentence meaning is dictated by the position of the words. Some other inflected languages like Greek are more flexible and the meaning remains the same, even if the s-v or v-s structures are inverted.
Thu, 07/15/2010 - 10:15
#4
I find the true measure of creativity is how well one masters the art of working within certain boundaries. Knowing just when to bending or break the rules is an acquired skill. I think a good balance of rhyming and free verse is ideal in poetry. One or the other can be so repetitive it gets to be a bore. -Soulja4Alethia