“One way to focus on the music of your work is to discover your personal rhythm,” asserts Sidney Wade in today’s craft tip from The Practicing Poet. Why is it always easier to discuss another poet's “personal rhythms” than to determine our own stylistic tendencies? Last year, I spent a good bit of time studying the poems of Ada Limón. One of the aspects I noted was how Limón follows the form the poem requires. To me, she seems to have a gift for listening to the poem and getting it on the page in a way that deepens its meaning and amplifies its music.
Perhaps one of the best ways to discover our own personal rhythms and stylistic tendancies is to look closely at the work of other poets. In each chapter of The Practicing Poet the contributor finds a poem that accentuates their point and then analyzes the poem. This has become one of my favorite parts about the book. As I’ve looked more closely at the analysis of other poets, I’m learning what I should also think more about when I write.
In this section on the music of poetry, these questions continue to return as I read:
How does the way the poem looks on the page impact its sound and silence?
How do the syllabic rhythms and breaks of lines help create the music of the poem?
What changes can be made in word choice to improve the sound of the poem?
Wade suggested a few tips that may be helpful in digging deeper into the craft of poetry. She first suggests that we check on each word in our poem to make sure it is necessary to the meaning (and, I might add, to the sound). She uses an exercise called the skinny line where she works with narrowist of line, and often utilizes couplets, to help with the sound of a poem. Additionally, she often works in the constraints of particular forms as that can help to perfect her use of sound in poems.
The music of poetry is a worthy goal. Learning our stylistic tendancies is the first step in growing in our writing.
Off to write today’s poem, which you find at Merely Day by Day.
The Rabbit Hole
“The sound is the gold in the ore,” quotes Wade from Robert Frost’s essay: The Figure a Poem Makes.
Hmmmm, couplets. The Poetry Foundation has curated this collection of couplets.
It’s National Poetry Month. In April, I will reflect daily on the craft tip offered in The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics, edited by Diane Lockward. You’ll find those reflections here. Of course, I will also write a poem using the craft tip in celebration - and because apparently, I like a good challenge - of Poetry Month. Each day, the new poem will be posted on my blog, Merely Day by Day. Thank you for stopping by.