Curse

Auh · Apr 25, 2005, 01:36 AM // 01:36

Ok... I probably shouldn't ask this on forums.. but...

I need to know how to compose certain poems:
Odes, Ballads, Free Verse, Couplets, Quatrains, Cinquains, Clerihews, "Concrete" poems.

I don't know much about poetry.. And the teacher's supplied information on the subject was rather un-helpful.

If you can help with any of these, That's great.

Also, Do you like poetry? Got any poems?
Wanna post some?

Here's a few poems from the very large list of poems I'm required to make:

Limericks

Me and a friend were playing ball.
I missed a catch and it did fall.
It bounced then rolled into a hole.
Couldn't even be reached with a pole.
So we then went to the mall.

I saw a man.
He held a knife in his hand.
It was dark.
He had the eyes of a shark.
I was scared and I ran.

Suzy had a gun.
It was not fun.
She asked for my wallet.
But Earlier I lost it.
Now my life is done.

This litte old guy,
really liked pie.
Apple or blueberry,
especially cherry!
This love will never die.

I had a cat.
He was very fat.
He slept under a tire,
with a cause he didn't desire,
And now he isn't fat.

Epitaphs

Here lies Bobby Brown.
Shot by a crazy clown.
He then fell down,
Poor Bobby Brown.

Here lies mr. Keith.
He was a lousy thief.
He went for the plunder,
Now he's six feet under.

Haikus

I do like baseball.
I wish I was on a team.
But I have cancer.

I am lying in a bed
Trying to write a bunch of poems
But my mind is blank.

I have some paper.
It has blue and red lines
and there are three holes.

This is a haiku.
It consists of syllables.
It's a type of poem.

I have two sox on.
Right under my flip-flops.
People find it strange.

I'm in my car.
I may not have gone very far.
Now I'm almost there.

Sonnet

I looked out the window,
behind the tree there was a man.
He had a strange glow,
and a very light tan.

My mom called me,
Upset at the sight I replied.
She asked me if I wanted tea,
To this I couldn't lie.

I went back to my window after,
And surely the man was still there.
He turned and saw me and replied with laughter.
He hid behind the tree so I couldn't see him there.

I went out to see,
And find that he was no longer behind the tree.

All of these were created by me and/or my friend, Whom was very helpful.

Just for your enjoyment.. Maybe help to make the perilous journey to Wensday more bareable.

Spooky · Apr 25, 2005, 03:41 AM // 03:41

Quatrains are relatively simple to put together, as the name suggests, it is a short verse of four lines, and they usually follow one of these patterns:
AABB, ABAB, ABCB, ABBA, and AABA. The idea is that lines ending in the same 'letter' designation rhyme with each other.

An example of an AABB Quatrain:

If other sites you do detest;
Seek GWG! They are the best,
Crunch some numbers with Ensign and Rexy;
And then there's Spooky - who is just plain sexy.

Cinquains are much the same thing, but they use five lines. Typically, they're structured in an ABABB format.

A Clerihew, however, is not so easy to explain. Think of it as a limmerick that uses someone's name at the end of the first or second line, and rhymes around that. It's easier with an example..

Founder Patrick Wyatt
Said of Guild Wars; "Buy it!"
We think you'll find our game is pretty l337
And that your purchase keeps us off the street.

Now that that's out of the way: Couplets are easy. It's just two lines that rhyme. They may or may not be structured together to make something bigger.

Ouch! Godzilla has stepped on me
Now i'm flat and quite squishy.

A Ballad, however, is more complex. A Ballad tells a story through song, in the third person, and usually is straight forward in terms of its wording (rather than trying to become overly flowery or complex in its depictions.) Usually they're written around basic rhymes, in ballad meter, which is an alternation of three and four stress lines (it's like writing in Iambic Pentameter, if you're familiar with it.)

Examples of these can kind of go all over the place.. from traditional ballads, to modern stylings (such as the House of the Rising Sun) .. it's probably easier to look them up yourself and judge which is a more comfortable style to work with.

Odes are .. something that are best looked up independently, because there's at least three different major styles of writing them, none of which I particularly feel like getting into at the moment, because most Odes tend to focus on describing something in as overwrought a manner as the writer is capable of.

I have never heard of the term "Concrete" poems .. which leaves us with the easiest of all: Free verse. Like the name implies, it's basically writing whatever you feel like. There can be rhyming patterns, there can not be. It is essentially the expression of the writer without being bound by stanzas, forms, rhyme schemes, etc.

Fauztin · Apr 25, 2005, 03:45 AM // 03:45

Well i can help you wilth the conrete poem, its one of the simplest. You just use words to shape a picture, like this one here:
http://www.geocities.com/littleangel...cs/rainbow.jpg
The words dont have to mean anything, it could even be a picture of a bananna , with the words bananna inside.

Cinquains:

There are 22 syllables in a cinquain poem and they are divided among the lines (2, 4, 6, 8, 2), there are five lines
the first line has two syllables
the second line has four syllables
the third line has six syllables
the fourth line has eight syllables
the fifth line has two syllables

ex:
that fish
pulled and i tugged-
i almost had him when
the line broke and he swam away
grinning

Auh · Apr 25, 2005, 03:54 AM // 03:54

Oh God-- Those are Hilarous!

I wonder why we don't have a Spooky Poetry Section.

That really helped, Spooky. Thanks a bunch!

So... A good Quatrain might be:

Spooky, You're the Best!
You've helped me with all the rest!
You used a certain melody,
To help me with my poetry!

I tried =)

Auh · Apr 25, 2005, 04:00 AM // 04:00

Thanks Fauztin.

So, in a cinquain it's basically just counting syllables, making them fit the form, and adding a general idea to it?

Like a Haiku or Tanka, Which are

Haiku:
5
7
5

Tanka:
5
7
5
7
7

Fauztin · Apr 25, 2005, 04:05 AM // 04:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Auh

Thanks Fauztin.

So, in a cinquain it's basically just counting syllables, making them fit the form, and adding a general idea to it?

Like a Haiku or Tanka, Which are

Haiku:
5
7
5

Tanka:
5
7
5
7
7

That's it

Auh · Apr 25, 2005, 04:06 AM // 04:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fauztin

That's it

Oh, Thanks very much again

Dreamsmith · Apr 25, 2005, 04:31 AM // 04:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Auh

So, in a cinquain it's basically just counting syllables, making them fit the form, and adding a general idea to it? Like a Haiku or ...

Argh! Haiku is definitely not "just counting syllables". There is quite a bit more to real Haiku than that. For example, Haiku is always expressed in terms of external images, and does not talk of the inner life of the poet. Haiku generally captures a single timeless moment, the point being to help the reader share in that Zen-like moment. There's more as well, one could write a rather long essay on the art of Haiku, I'll merely say that something that merely follows a 5-7-5 pattern isn't necessarily Haiku, and indeed much Haiku in English doesn't follow a 5-7-5 pattern.

Quote:

On a leafless branch,
A crow comes to rest–
Autumn nightfall.
-- Basho (1644–1694)

What's important here is the moment, the natural imagery, and the comparison between the crow and nightfall descending without the use of metaphor (a no-no in Haiku, part of what distinguishes it from other forms of poety). It probably did have a 5-7-5 form before being translated into English, but even Haiku written in English in the first place often lacks a 5-7-5 pattern (indeed, since you can usually get more into 17 syllables in English than in Japanese, sticking to that form is almost cheating). In English Haiku, those numbers are more upper limits than exact requirements. Timeless, egoless, literal in description, yet revealing an interesting insight, all in a very short form. THAT is Haiku.

Anyhow, sorry, didn't mean to rant. It's just that Haiku is one of the beautiful forms of poety and one of the most difficult to really get right. I hate to see it described as "just counting syllables".

Devil's Dictionary · Apr 25, 2005, 04:46 AM // 04:46

I didn't know this. In fact, I didn't even see the connection between the three lines utill I read further.
Thank you.
I never liked poetry (with the exception of war poetry) but this Haiku is magical.

Auh · Apr 25, 2005, 04:47 AM // 04:47

I'm sorry, But my teacher didn't really go into details about any type of poetry. She just gave us a packet, Filled with 107 poems we had to find (Heheh, Basho was one of the Poets), 46 specific types of poems for us to create, and a small section in the back explaining a few of the types of poetry-- It doesn't even cover all it asked us to do.

All it contains on a Haiku is:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Haiku- The Japanese write poetry in a very simple form. This is called haiku. It is a three line poem, unrhymed, and composed of five syllables in the first line, seven in the second line, and five in the third line.

Example:

The flashing lightning
Just yesterday in the east
In the west today
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again, I'm sorry but I guess my English teacher just isn't passionate about any of the forms of poetry.

Dreamsmith · Apr 25, 2005, 05:55 AM // 05:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Auh

Again, I'm sorry but I guess my English teacher just isn't passionate about any of the forms of poetry.

Sad, but par for the course. Your average English teacher isn't qualified to teach anything about Haiku to begin with (do they know anything about Japanese language or culture, or Zen Buddhism?) and half of them aren't qualified to teach anything about English poetry either. They teach rhyming and rhythm and pass that off as teaching poetry, probably because rhyming and rhythm and counting syllables are all objective, easily observed and measured things, whereas what makes poetry poetry is intangible, unmeasurable, and observed not by the eyes or ears but by the soul. To borrow DATD's comment, it's magical, and how qualified is your average English teacher at teaching magic?

But then, who is?

Auh · Apr 27, 2005, 02:49 AM // 02:49

Well, I guess if you consider that qualified, Then she probably isn't. But she has been teaching for a long time...

I don't particularly like that teacher anyways.

Anyways, Does anybody know the form for an ode?
I can't seem to find it, and my Friend told me it did have a form.