I need help

[UnderYourSpell]

I need help and I suppose this is the right way to go about, if not I am sure someone will tell me. I have been taking in your advice and your criticisms that my style isn't quite the thing and to try and change it. But you see I have forgotten all I learnt at school about sonnets and as for the way poems seem to be written these days I have no idea .. I wasn't taught it .. and quite frankly the message I am sending is I can't because I don't know how. How do I learn can you help me please?

 

[Angeline]

Poetry Magic is just one of many sites on the Web where you can explore lots of information about poetry. You might want to start by reading there and discover (or rediscover ) poets you like and styles you wish to emulate. There are also some good links in the Welcome Poets thread here, or you could try my old standby the Google Directory. If you go there and click on Arts, then Literature, then Poetry, you will find enough info to keep you reading and studying for years.

 

[EnglishAgain]

Poetry

I need help and I suppose this is the right way to go about, if not I am sure someone will tell me. I have been taking in your advice and your criticisms that my style isn't quite the thing and to try and change it. But you see I have forgotten all I learnt at school about sonnets and as for the way poems seem to be written these days I have no idea .. I wasn't taught it .. and quite frankly the message I am sending is I can't because I don't know how. How do I learn can you help me please?

You could consider an OU course in approaching literature? 6 months, a few quid, an appreciation of the octet and sestet (the two bits of some sonnets) in no time flat. Alternatively just write something you really feel, then look over it and distil it down to as few words as possible. Leave it a week and look over it again. It works for me.

Good luck, have fun x

 

[UnderYourSpell]

That was a while back!! I've learnt one hell of a lot on here especially with the recent teach ins and without paying at all lol When I first came here I was still only writing in verse but I think and hope that I am turning out some other stuff ok now. By the way the OU isn't far away from me at MK lol

 

[EnglishAgain]

Mk

That was a while back!! I've learnt one hell of a lot on here especially with the recent teach ins and without paying at all lol When I first came here I was still only writing in verse but I think and hope that I am turning out some other stuff ok now. By the way the OU isn't far away from me at MK lol

I drove past you today on my way from Luton up the M1. Didn't you see me waving?

 

[UnderYourSpell]

You waved too soon lol

 

[lorencino]

. . . I have been taking in your advice and your criticisms that my style isn't quite the thing and to try and change it. . . .

With no intention of contradicting any of the sound advice given here nor any wish to trivialize centuries of literary scholarship I must say that the question of your style not being "quite the thing" is setting a very different set of alarm bells a-fluttering in my mind. You see, it sounds like the kind of thing that Colonel Blimp, with nothing to commend himself but his snobbery and his unfounded sense of superiority, would say to anyone with any hint of individuality that sets them apart from the Colonel's barren milieu.

What I'm trying to say is that there is no-one quite like you around here and that is wonderful.

True one should strive to make one's writing more powerful and more capable of communication what one intends. That means avoiding being "quite the thing" because the "thing" becomes the tired old cliche, in due course, and then becomes easy to ignore.

It is my impression that form is far more important to North American sensitivities than it is to the British. Punctuation, too, is far more logically applied in the US than it is in the UK. So it's all a matter of subjective tastes and not the thing.

Just wanted to make sure you understood the value of your uniqueness.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

How very kind of you to write and say so When I was younger my motto was 'Dare to be different' probably because I was anyway!! As I get older ? Who knows? I have wondered if my sense of humour hasn't rubbed some up the wrong way (too flippant for some methinks aka a 'dumbcunt' remark that I am not altogether sure wasn't aimed in my direction on a diff thread, which I chose to ignore) . I enjoy trying out the new challenges (who knows I might find some style I like better!) but I am still me and what you see is what you get but thankyou again.

 

[lorencino]

How very kind of you to write and say so When I was younger my motto was 'Dare to be different' probably because I was anyway!! As I get older ? Who knows? I have wondered if my sense of humour hasn't rubbed some up the wrong way (too flippant for some methinks aka a 'dumbcunt' remark that I am not altogether sure wasn't aimed in my direction on a diff thread, which I chose to ignore) . I enjoy trying out the new challenges (who knows I might find some style I like better!) but I am still me and what you see is what you get but thankyou again.

Only the cunt-struck would speak of dumbcunt remarks. Its a way of dealing with their fear of the power cunts hold over their puerile minds.

 

[vampiredust]

I need help and I suppose this is the right way to go about, if not I am sure someone will tell me. I have been taking in your advice and your criticisms that my style isn't quite the thing and to try and change it. But you see I have forgotten all I learnt at school about sonnets and as for the way poems seem to be written these days I have no idea .. I wasn't taught it .. and quite frankly the message I am sending is I can't because I don't know how. How do I learn can you help me please?

Style is a difficult subject to give advice on. Every poet has their own way of looking at the world and it is unique to them. Your voice will develop as your poetry progresses.

As to suggestions on improving your craft, read, write and read some more.

Reading poetry books and journals will further your understanding of techniques poets use and show you new perspectives on the world.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Hi Vampiredust
My perspectives on the world could quite honestly come under the heading of 'weird' at times pity I can't seem to get them down on paper heyyy I could become known as 'That weird poet'!

 

[LadynStFreknBed]

Hi Vampiredust
My perspectives on the world could quite honestly come under the heading of 'weird' at times pity I can't seem to get them down on paper heyyy I could become known as 'That weird poet'!

weird trumps ordinary.

 

[lorencino]

Hi Vampiredust
My perspectives on the world could quite honestly come under the heading of 'weird' at times pity I can't seem to get them down on paper heyyy I could become known as 'That weird poet'!

All the advice that I've seen here is good. I have nothing intrinsically new to offer, except a different angle:

Sometimes it is dry-headache work
swamped in self-loathing. Sometimes,
in the still interstices of careening life,
when the infinite beckons, stop.

Listen for the rhythm of your heart.
Deep breath, hold and relax and breath out.
Feel your breath moving in,
swirling through the channels of your body; moving out.
Don't force; sink quietly deeper into the places
you breathe out of.

Mind open, glide over the words
clustering about your ideas like fallen leaves.
Ruffle them gently; become still; listen
to the rhythm of your mind, your sensate body,
your whispering soul. Let your body sway,
sway slight encouragement
to the rhythm of your words.

Let it be.
Let yourself be.
Let you mind be what it is.
Let your thumping heart celebrate.
Gather up your words; sift them
through your you.
let you be.
Don't just leave it be.

 

[EnglishAgain]

Hi Vampiredust
My perspectives on the world could quite honestly come under the heading of 'weird' at times pity I can't seem to get them down on paper heyyy I could become known as 'That weird poet'!

Your perspective is the one thing no-one can have, no one can teach you, no-one can experience, and surely your words are simply there to try to explain to the rest of us what you see when you look out on the world. It's your view, they're your words. Just spill them out, we'll all be listening.