/lit/ - Literature

Read poetry

practice

>>12321753
why would i tell a nigga for free?

>>12321753
Read lots of good poetry and write lots of bad poetry.

just bea yourself

>>12321753
you already do
your task is to convince the rest of the world that you do

>>12321753
That is the question anon, which I desperately wonder myself. I heavily desire to become a better poet, yet sadly feel it may not be for me. Meter is the most difficult thing of life, desu. Whatever poetic lines I can write, have never followed any meter, and when I try to bind myself to one, not even a single line of value comes out. Yet you read famous poets, and my oh my, they interweave theme, arc, rhyme, meter and more together into a single piece of poetry like it was the easiest thing in the world for them, making me feel even more embarassed at my incompetence next to them.

>>12321753
Read poetry

Read the dictionary

>>12321753
You either have it or you don’t. I recommend that you write prose. if it makes you feel any better, modern poetry is saturated with pretentiousness and charlatanism.

>>12321859
Is meter the most important element of poetry?

>>12321908
I would, in my own humble judgment, say it is, or is at least up there. While theme and the rest are all part of any piece of writing, meter is the backbone of the poetic art in specific, which clearly distinguishes it from other writing, be it prose or otherwise. And it is extraordinarily difficult to pull off as well, at least for me. So personally while I appreciate all poetry, and look at every poem individually and judging it by its own merits rather than my own expectations, I personally consider meter to be the essential marker of a poet in the conventional sense.

>>12321753
Try to write songs, then fail.

>>12322480
then keep trying you goddamn crybaby

>>12321753

>good poetry

Just write how you feel and what you observe, after all that's what I believe writing is.

You'll quite often find that many great poets always managed to define the most simple ideas in a thunderous way.

So from there it really comes down to your choice of words, after all that's language.

Poetry, to me, is those small thoughts you have throughout the day and linger on for a second or two then it's gone.

>>12321753
why would a bear want to write poetry?

>>12321908
I think it
Is
Because without metre
Poetry tends to be prose
Falling down the page
As if the poet
Kept pressing enter
By mistake

>>12322843
upvoted

>>12322796
To write down my feelings when the Bears with da Superb Owl.

>>12321753
Good images and proper technique. And you actually need something to write about.

>>12322843
My position is not that meterless poetry = prose, and there are great poets who can bypass meter and produce greatness, like Whitman. But few can pull this off, and it is doubtless to say that meter is a defining marker of poetry and separates it from other forms of writing, and one who has mastered meter is a true poet in the classical sense.

>>12324091
As someone who is only starting to write in poetic fashion, I am trying to put as much emphasis on meter as I can. The imagery, word play, and themes will eventually be built up, but they all will reside on the backbone of meter.

Does /lit/ think this is the right approach?

>>12324122
Same anon you replied. I personally do. Imagery, theme and the rest are part of every type of fictional writing, but meter is exclusive to poetry, and therefore an aspiring poet, of the traditional variety, should focus on meter above the rest. The other aspects can be improved in prose practise.

Are you talking about actually understanding the basics of metre?

Like, what are you talking about here?

Poetry arises out of a sense of sexual betrayal, at its purest, but it needs metre in order to become accessible.

>>12324426
I wish to write poetry that I can be proud of. Quickly, I learned poetry is a lot more than some rhyming words. I am hung up on meter because it seems to be the foundation of poetry. Insights on the basics of meter would be helpful.

However, if you have any ideas about poetry in general that would be useful to someone starting out, please share.

>>12324502

Not sure how basic you are asking for. The only thing I can suggest is reading these two texts. I own them myself & occasionally glance in to them. This is quite basic stuff, tho. If you are looking for something more advanced, all I can say is that poetic sentiment arises out of intense feelings of sexuality, usually associated with betrayal & that this needs to be expressed again through form. The sentiment precedes the form, tho. A sonnet is just as viable as a vers libre masterpiece if it expresses something eternal.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poetic-Meter-Form-Wooden-Books/dp/1632864444/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1546369604&sr=8-2

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Metre-Rhythm-Verse-Critical-Idiom/dp/0415122678/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1546369626&sr=8-1

The latter is longer & actually less helpful in the long run, but you should read through it once for a quick intro, if you really have absolutely no clue, then Keep the former on you @ all times as you slowly learn, if you have not already. Remember, this is almost as hard as learning a new language.

>>12321859

Count the syllables with your fingers; in time it will become second nature.

OP, the greatest thing in poetry is to be good with metaphors. I suggest you start reading a lot of Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson.

>>12324571
No, it isn't. There are many very lucid poems which have eternal sources of power.

>>12324581

Can you post examples?

>>12324594

Con la tarde
se cansaron los dos o tres colores del patio.

Esta noche, la luna, el claro círculo,
no domina su espacio.
Patio, cielo encauzado.

El patio es el declive
por el cual se derrama el cielo en la casa.

Serena,
la eternidad espera en la encrucijada de estrellas.

Grato es vivir en la amistad oscura
de un zaguán, de una parra y de un aljibe.

>>12324594

I dwelt alone
In a world of moan,
And my soul was a stagnant tide,
Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride-
Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride.

Ah, less- less bright
The stars of the night
Than the eyes of the radiant girl!
That the vapor can make
With the moon-tints of purple and pearl,
Can vie with the modest Eulalie's most unregarded curl-
Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie's most humble and careless
curl.

Now Doubt- now Pain
Come never again,
For her soul gives me sigh for sigh,
And all day long
Shines, bright and strong,
Astarte within the sky,
While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye-
While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye.

>>12324605
>>12324613
you're a Pseud

>>12324594

I dreamed that I stood in a valley, and amid sighs,
For happy lovers passed two by two where I stood;
And I dreamed my lost love came stealthily out of the wood
With her cloud-pale eyelids falling on dream-dimmed eyes:
I cried in my dream, O women, bid the young men lay
Their heads on your knees, and drown their eyes with your hair,
Or remembering hers they will find no other face fair
Till all the valleys of the world have been withered away.

>>12324594
Weialala leia. Wallala leialala.
Weialala leia. Wallala leialala.
Weialala leia. Wallala leialala.
-TS Eliot

>>12324605
>>12324613

Good poems. I was not saying that metaphors are the only important thing in poetry, by the way, just that they seem to me it’s most striking and memorable feature. But of course, there are great poems with few or any metaphors. One of my favorites, for example, it’s “Drinking Alone with the Moon”, by Li Bay.

But the moment I feel most satisfied and thrilled with poetry is when I encounter great metaphors (or similes, although metaphors are more powerful): they encapsulate a whole great deal of meaning in a few words, sometimes the same number of sentences would be needed to explain what the metaphors explains.

That’s one of the reasons why I love Emily Dickinson so much. Even the most trivial and bare aspects of daily life are transformed by her metaphors into gigantic entities and new worlds.

Another advise I would like to give OP is this: don’t try to use poetry to achieve renown or fame. It’s a very arcane genre that few people appreciate, and publishing houses view it with great suspicion. If you want to write just fornthe sake of writing than screenplays and novels are your best bet. However, if you truly love language and don’t mind practicing an art that will hardly bring you any benefit than study poetry very hard.

>>12324663
Thanks for the advice, picking up some Emily Dickinson right now.

I aim to write poetry because it is something that I feel inside. There is no goal other than my own self expression.

>>12324692
you don't need to write poetry in order to express yourself, anon.