The Effects of Form in Poetry Form is important when it comes to literature, especially poetry. It helps keep a certain rhythm or rhyme pattern that pleases the reader, but it also gives many advantages to the writer. Over many decades in the development of literature, new forms have appeared because writers like to try new things, but this does not mean that one form is better than the next; each form has its own advantages through the effect that it gives to the poem because it communicates something that the author specifically chooses to communicate. By comparing John Milton’s ‘Invocation’ from Paradise Lost and Thomas Wyatt’s ‘The Long Love,’ the many advantages will be highlighted by taking a close look at the ideas of freedom and restraint, the effect of blank verse versus the effect of a sonnet, and literary devices. We will see that each form has a specific purpose and its own assets. Poets often struggle with the ideas of freedom and restraint through censorship and freedom of expression. A good way for authors to explore and push the boundaries of these concepts is through form. A writer can either choose to restrict himself by following a strict pattern in writing like a specific rhyme scheme and metrical foot, while another author can choose to avoid some of these constraints by using what is called free verse. According to M.H. Abrams, free verse is an “open form” and it is “conversational.” Another form of free verse is blank verse, which is unrhymed, but
Frost further points out that the stretch of woods being viewed is very rural. This is made possible by the reference to the location between the woods and frozen lake. In closing the final sentence of the second stanza Frost reiterates the fact that this occurs on “the darkest evening of the year” stating the darkness of the mood.
Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.
A distinguished sense of hollowness, and darkness is discernable in George Elliot Clarke’s poem “Blank Sonnet”. This poem expresses, the author’s difficult and awkward communication with a lover through a broken relationship. word choice and imagery is imperative to the overall effect and tone of the poem. The usage of an atypical sonnet stylization, broken sentences, forms of metaphors, symbolism, sensory language, and alliteration form strong imagery, and a sense of disconnect. The overall effect leaves the reader with a resonating feeling of emptiness.
Style is the special way an author creates his or her work. Gabriela Mistral exploits an informal style in her poem “Ballad”. The poem discusses the poets feelings and is written in first person point of view validating its informality; “My heart’s blood.”-Line17 using ‘my’ and describing her heart confirm this. Diction contributes to style in an extensive way. Repetition is a form of diction that is heavily spread out through the poem. “Saw him pass by.”-Lines 2/6, “He goes loving.../...in bloom”-Lines1-2/11-12, and “He will go.../through eternity.”-Lines 19-20/23-24. The repetition emphasizes the authors style an diction. In this poem diction is displayed through negative connotation. Choosing to describe her emotional state as “,wretched,”-Line 5, instead of sad or unhappy, and by adding a
George Szirtes article “Formal Wear: Notes on Rhyme, Meter, Stanza, and Pattern” from the Poetry Foundation opens with opinions which focus on limitations of poetic form. As a counter to these common arguments, Szirtes claims, “Verse is not decoration: it is structural. It is a forming principle and words at depth” ("Formal Wear: Notes” 2). He then develops an argument explaining, “the constraints of form are spurs of the imagination: that they are in fact the chief producers of imagination” ("Formal Wear: Notes” 2). Taking these ideas into consideration Szirtes incorporates the idea of language explaining how language connects to memory and imagination which come together to form poetic images. Additionally, when poets use form it develops
Take a minute to imagine “Men looking like they had been/attacked repeatedly by a succession /of wild animals,” “never/ ending blasted field of corpses,” and “throats half gone, /eyes bleeding, raw meat heaped/ in piles.” These are the vividly, grotesque images Edward Mayes describes to readers in his poem, “University of Iowa Hospital, 1976.” Before even reading the poem, the title gave me a preconceived idea of what the poem might be about. “University of Iowa Hospital, 1976” describes what an extreme version of what I expected the poem to be about. The images I
Poetry has a role in society, not only to serve as part of the aesthetics or of the arts. It also gives us a view of what the society is in the context of when it was written and what the author is trying to express through words. The words as a tool in poetry may seem ordinary when used in ordinary circumstance. Yet, these words can hold more emotion and thought, however brief it was presented.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by
Poetry to this day is has a remarkable influence on music despite it’s genre which could be rap or country music. Poetry allows individals to express their innermost feelings and thoughts buried deep within. There are several ways poetry can be used
Although devices, such as point of view, structure, and theme are similar in both poems, they are fundamentally distinct in the message they deliver and extent of free will they demonstrate. Wordsworth’s “The World…” represents a speaker with a grasp over a better, but not necessarily true and achievable. In contrast, Milton’s “Sonnet 19…” describes a speaker in control of his thoughts and feelings, with patience assisting him. In either case, a person is identified, by not simply they aspire, but by what they can
poem is not merely a static, decorative creation, but that it is an act of communication between the poet and
As to structure, the form of the 16th century’s poems is different from early 17th century’s poems. Elizabethan’s poems were mainly sonnets which present a situation (in the octave or in the first three quatrains) to find a solution (in the sestet or in the couplet) whereas cavalier poets used only short lyrics composed of stanzas which are simple in verse and style to express their feelings and thoughts.
Poetry allows the writer, the reader and even those listening to get a deeper sense of being. It gives us the opportunity to break free from simple and boring routine. If done correctly a poem will done correctly a poem will be able to stir emotion, and create wonder. In order to this however all the part that make up a poem must be in sync. Its tone, diction, imaginary, rhythm, symbolism and subject matter are all critical areas. A good poem will draw an emotional reaction from its audience, whether those are light and upbeat or darker more serious feelings they will come away with a new experience, changed by what they just experienced. Two such poems that embody what a good poem should be are “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath and “Harlem”, also published as “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes. These poems elevate the experience for reading, listening and writing poetry, and serve as an excellent reference for a poem should be.
Free Verse: Poetry is not written in regular rhymical pattern or meter. Free verse seems to capture the rhymes of speech. It is the dominant form of contemporary
The form of ‘God’s Grandeur’ is an Italian sonnet, but with some alteration. Even though Hopkins does not use sprung rhythm here, he varies his sonnet structure from the traditional iambic pentameter. Typically, a sonnet contains 3 quatrains (4 lines) and a couplet (2 lines); the Italian sonnet is characterized by having 1 octave (8 lines) and 1 sestet (6 lines). In ‘God’s Grandeur’ a similar pattern is followed, however, Hopkins presents a technique he often employs in other works as well, that of using the octet to present a personal or a sensory experience and the octet in order to provide some reflection on the topic (Gardner 221).