For today's poem, I wrote an Italian-style sonnet. A sonnet has fourteen lines no matter what type you choose to write. The requirements for writing a sonnet have blurred overtime, mainly in rhyme scheme, but virtually every sonnet is written in iambic pentameter. I chose a rather common rhyme scheme: ABBAABBA CDECDE. As you can see, there are two stanzas. Often, poets will choose to change the mood of their poem upon reaching the new stanza.
Sonnets are often written in relation to romance, but sometimes the prettiest sonnets, in my opinion, are the ones that break the mold. Here's my poem:
I have been to a place they call heaven,
A place frought with joy and purest delight,
And its inhabitants suffer from light,
A light so bright no man has ever seen,
And up in heaven each person's soul washed clean,
Their light so bright it's purest white, a sight
Immaculate even in darkest night,
I'd never leave if it were up to me.
And so I thought, but then one day I woke,
From sweetest dream to gloomiest nightmare,
Out of the sunshine and into the fire,
And from then on no voice to me e'er spoke,
Nothing to grasp, dangling from high height there,
My future has ne'er looked to be so dire.
***
As you can plainly see, the mood change from the first to the second stanza was pretty obvious, and I planned that. This sonnet was inspired by a line from The Real World by Owl City, which I included word for word in the poem: "I'd never leave if it were up to me." The rest of the sonnet just shaped itself around that line, and it was interesting to watch this idea form in my head. I really am happy with how this poem turned out.
Showing posts with label Poetry Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poetry Challenge. Show all posts
Saturday December 29th, 2012
For today's poem, I decided to try another poetry style of French origin called a triolet. It is a rather simple eight-line poem with just a few requirements. For this rhyme scheme, lowercase letters signify just rhyming with that letter-type, while capital letters signify repeated lines. Here goes: ABaAabAB.
As you can see, the first line of the poem is repeated twice, and the second is repeated once. If you do the math, you realize you only have three more lines to write after the first two, but getting them to make sense in the context of the poem as a whole is the more difficult part. For my poem, I also wrote in Iambic tetrameter, though this is not required. Here is my poem:
The Sky Grows Ever Dark Outside
The sky grows ever dark outside,
And I have not a place to go,
And so to you I must confide,
The sky grows ever dark outside,
I don't have a place to reside,
And minutes pass as hard winds blow,
As the sky grows ever dark outside,
And I have not a place to go.
***
I had a little fun with this one, imagining the horse-driver from Robert Frost's famous poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening having to stop for the night with hardly a house in sight and having no idea where he would be welcome to stay the night. A little bit of a twist from the original poem, but it was fun to write.
As you can see, the first line of the poem is repeated twice, and the second is repeated once. If you do the math, you realize you only have three more lines to write after the first two, but getting them to make sense in the context of the poem as a whole is the more difficult part. For my poem, I also wrote in Iambic tetrameter, though this is not required. Here is my poem:
The Sky Grows Ever Dark Outside
The sky grows ever dark outside,
And I have not a place to go,
And so to you I must confide,
The sky grows ever dark outside,
I don't have a place to reside,
And minutes pass as hard winds blow,
As the sky grows ever dark outside,
And I have not a place to go.
***
I had a little fun with this one, imagining the horse-driver from Robert Frost's famous poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening having to stop for the night with hardly a house in sight and having no idea where he would be welcome to stay the night. A little bit of a twist from the original poem, but it was fun to write.
Friday December 28th, 2012
For today's poem, I went with a type of poetry that is a little more exotic. It is called a kyrielle and is of French origin. Each stanza should be a quatraine, (four lines), and can have any rhyme scheme (I chose ABCB). Also, the final line of each stanza is a refrain, or a recurring theme of sorts, so it should be repeated at least to the point of recognition at the end of each stanza. To allow for the refrain, at least two stanzas are required for the poem. Here is mine:
A Not-So-Frozen Soul
Hardships abound in the world,
Each person holds a cross to bear,
Yet their struggle remains inside,
There is nobody near to care.
Jack Frost glances longingly in,
Children dream of sugarplums there,
Jack only in their worst nightmares,
And nobody is near to care.
He sheds a tear and wipes it off,
Crystallizes in his palm fair,
A masterpiece, a work of art,
And nobody is near to care.
Yet someone must admire beauty,
And so Frost forges frozen tears,
Molds a web of frosted sorrow,
In hopes that somebody will care.
***
I wrote my poem about a subject that is very timely in the winter season, good old Jack Frost. It seems to me that he is almost always portrayed as a villain or a person with evil intent, and I feel bad for him. I don't think he deserves that. So I decided to write a poem to shed some light on a different side of Jack that noone really would even imagine. I hope you liked it!
A Not-So-Frozen Soul
Hardships abound in the world,
Each person holds a cross to bear,
Yet their struggle remains inside,
There is nobody near to care.
Jack Frost glances longingly in,
Children dream of sugarplums there,
Jack only in their worst nightmares,
And nobody is near to care.
He sheds a tear and wipes it off,
Crystallizes in his palm fair,
A masterpiece, a work of art,
And nobody is near to care.
Yet someone must admire beauty,
And so Frost forges frozen tears,
Molds a web of frosted sorrow,
In hopes that somebody will care.
***
I wrote my poem about a subject that is very timely in the winter season, good old Jack Frost. It seems to me that he is almost always portrayed as a villain or a person with evil intent, and I feel bad for him. I don't think he deserves that. So I decided to write a poem to shed some light on a different side of Jack that noone really would even imagine. I hope you liked it!
Thursday December 27th, 2012
For today's poems, I wrote two limericks that are both Christmas-related. A limerick is a five-line poem with the rhyme scheme AABBA, and the first, second, and fifth lines all must have three stressed syllables, while the third and fourth lines can only have two stressed syllables. Without further ado, the poetry:
There once was a man at the pole,
Who filled stockings with presents and coal,
He's nimble, he's quick,
He's good ol' Saint Nick,
Young children do Santa extol.
He's a right good jolly old elf,
He stores his toys on a shelf,
He takes them down,
Passes them around,
To each boy and girl themself.
***
I mainly just wished to shed a little light on the Santa we all know and love, and how diligent he works to make every little boy and girl across the world leap with joy come Christmastime. I hope you enjoyed it!
There once was a man at the pole,
Who filled stockings with presents and coal,
He's nimble, he's quick,
He's good ol' Saint Nick,
Young children do Santa extol.
He's a right good jolly old elf,
He stores his toys on a shelf,
He takes them down,
Passes them around,
To each boy and girl themself.
***
I mainly just wished to shed a little light on the Santa we all know and love, and how diligent he works to make every little boy and girl across the world leap with joy come Christmastime. I hope you enjoyed it!
Wednesday December 26th, 2012
Happy Belated Boxing Day! Again, this is from my vacation time. This time I chose to write my poem in classic Quatraine style, with multiple stanzas. For each stanza, the rhyme scheme is ABAB.
A Lesson Learned
I watch from afar, afraid to approach,
I look on, growing ever more wary,
Nothing could lead me to encroach,
The world is much too scary.
A father yells, a child cries,
A mother chides, a girl pouts,
A man probes, a suspect lies,
A wife soothes, a husband shouts.
The circle of pain goes ever on,
No end in sight, no guiding light,
No eternal night turned into dawn,
No blinded man returned his sight.
I cannot care, life lashes back.
I cannot dare, the world staves me off.
I learned my lesson, the world much too black,
Sees my compassion, and can only scoff.
***
Sometimes it can seem that you're trying to do everything you can to help, and those around you think that you're just in the way or opposing them. It's a rather frustrating feeling, especially when noone is aware they are in the wrong. Fortunately, I know the world not to be like this all the time, no matter how it may appear at one specific instant. All you need do is wait a moment and the sun will peek out of the clouds that were hiding it.
A Lesson Learned
I watch from afar, afraid to approach,
I look on, growing ever more wary,
Nothing could lead me to encroach,
The world is much too scary.
A father yells, a child cries,
A mother chides, a girl pouts,
A man probes, a suspect lies,
A wife soothes, a husband shouts.
The circle of pain goes ever on,
No end in sight, no guiding light,
No eternal night turned into dawn,
No blinded man returned his sight.
I cannot care, life lashes back.
I cannot dare, the world staves me off.
I learned my lesson, the world much too black,
Sees my compassion, and can only scoff.
***
Sometimes it can seem that you're trying to do everything you can to help, and those around you think that you're just in the way or opposing them. It's a rather frustrating feeling, especially when noone is aware they are in the wrong. Fortunately, I know the world not to be like this all the time, no matter how it may appear at one specific instant. All you need do is wait a moment and the sun will peek out of the clouds that were hiding it.
I'm Back / Update Plans
I'm officially back from vacation, so I am going to begin uploading what I worked on while I was gone. I'll post two poems each day until I'm caught up, starting with Christmas Day on!
So for Christmas Day, I decided to parody a well-known Christmas carol, Silent Night. Basically, I maintained the position of stressed sullables, as well as the rhyme scheme. So here goes nothing!
Clamorous Night
Clamorous night, super's delight,
Got to find the last gifts.
Barbie dolls from the toy store,
Pots and pans for adults galore.
Wrap them and sigh with relief,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
***
I figured this fit in quite well with the shopping plans of procrastinators around the world, and maybe even myself... So I had fun writing this!
So for Christmas Day, I decided to parody a well-known Christmas carol, Silent Night. Basically, I maintained the position of stressed sullables, as well as the rhyme scheme. So here goes nothing!
Clamorous Night
Clamorous night, super's delight,
Got to find the last gifts.
Barbie dolls from the toy store,
Pots and pans for adults galore.
Wrap them and sigh with relief,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
***
I figured this fit in quite well with the shopping plans of procrastinators around the world, and maybe even myself... So I had fun writing this!
Monday December 24rd, 2012
The Depths of Deception
We live in a world that's fraught with lies,
Deception lurks in every shadow.
Yet even the best cannot realize,
The heart of every person is hollow.
I take a look at those around me,
I see sorrow and despair in their eyes,
The hurt others cause is easy to see,
We live in a world that's fraught with lies.
We lie to family, we lie to friends,
We lie 'til filled with unbearable sorrow.
We lie out of habit, we lie without end,
Deception lurks in every shadow.
Everywhere one looks it is found,
I observe this desolation with sighs,
Signs are everywhere, all around,
Yet even the best cannot realize.
For everyone is guilty, everyone laments,
In a flood of misery we wallow,
The lies inescapable, ever present,
The heart of every person is hollow.
***
This type of poem is called a cascading poem. It primarily revolves around the first stanza. The poem maybe be written with stanzas written either as tercets (three-line stanzas) or quatrains (four-line stanzas). I chose to write using quatrains. The form of the poem then requires that each line from the first stanza be used as the final line for each following stanza. To help this make more sense, here is a rhyme scheme:
A
B
C
D
a
b
c
A
d
e
f
B
g
h
i
C
j
k
l
D
The rules for cascade poems do not dictate any other requirements, but I decided to make it a little more interesting for myself by adding the rhyme scheme ABAB into every stanza.
***
The reason I chose to write about this topic is because I have been deceived quite often by friends and other people, and just today someone close to me got caught in a web of lies they'd been weaving for quite some time. Although I realize that not everyone in the world is caught in a similar trap, I know deception is a worldwide epidemic, whether it be large or minute. I just wish that people would more often think about the words that are coming out of their mouth and realize the hurt they could cause before they actually say them. So much pain could be avoided in today's world if people were to think before they speak. Sometimes the problem isn't speaking, but rather not speaking, keeping something a secret that you really should tell someone about, and this is just as bad as speaking a lie. No matter how you lie, someone is hurt.
Yes, I'm guilty of this too, but maybe this poem will help me to second-guess myself next time I want to lie about something, no matter how unimportant it may seem.
We live in a world that's fraught with lies,
Deception lurks in every shadow.
Yet even the best cannot realize,
The heart of every person is hollow.
I take a look at those around me,
I see sorrow and despair in their eyes,
The hurt others cause is easy to see,
We live in a world that's fraught with lies.
We lie to family, we lie to friends,
We lie 'til filled with unbearable sorrow.
We lie out of habit, we lie without end,
Deception lurks in every shadow.
Everywhere one looks it is found,
I observe this desolation with sighs,
Signs are everywhere, all around,
Yet even the best cannot realize.
For everyone is guilty, everyone laments,
In a flood of misery we wallow,
The lies inescapable, ever present,
The heart of every person is hollow.
***
This type of poem is called a cascading poem. It primarily revolves around the first stanza. The poem maybe be written with stanzas written either as tercets (three-line stanzas) or quatrains (four-line stanzas). I chose to write using quatrains. The form of the poem then requires that each line from the first stanza be used as the final line for each following stanza. To help this make more sense, here is a rhyme scheme:
A
B
C
D
a
b
c
A
d
e
f
B
g
h
i
C
j
k
l
D
The rules for cascade poems do not dictate any other requirements, but I decided to make it a little more interesting for myself by adding the rhyme scheme ABAB into every stanza.
***
The reason I chose to write about this topic is because I have been deceived quite often by friends and other people, and just today someone close to me got caught in a web of lies they'd been weaving for quite some time. Although I realize that not everyone in the world is caught in a similar trap, I know deception is a worldwide epidemic, whether it be large or minute. I just wish that people would more often think about the words that are coming out of their mouth and realize the hurt they could cause before they actually say them. So much pain could be avoided in today's world if people were to think before they speak. Sometimes the problem isn't speaking, but rather not speaking, keeping something a secret that you really should tell someone about, and this is just as bad as speaking a lie. No matter how you lie, someone is hurt.
Yes, I'm guilty of this too, but maybe this poem will help me to second-guess myself next time I want to lie about something, no matter how unimportant it may seem.
Personal Poetry Challenge
I have decided to challenge myself by setting aside thirty minutes every day for writing poetry. I have always enjoyed writing, but I haven't had much time to do it at all lately, primarily due to my hectic schedule. So I figured what better time to start than Christmas break, when virtually all obligations are nonexistant!
So I plan to take thirty minutes out of my day each day this week to sit in silence and basically meditate. I will write poetry based on how I'm feeling at the moment and also on whatever is on my mind. This should be mildly therapeutic, because the poetry will allow me to vent, thus eradicating the build-up of stress and tension, and allowing me to relax more easily.
I enjoy writing poetry, so I plan on using this challenge as an opportunity to practice and improve my poetry, as well as just enjoy being able to take the time to write it. I enjoy experimenting with poetry styles, so I will probably end up writing in a new style or form pretty much every day, from traditional ABCB-stanza poems to haikus to sestinas, and pretty much everything in between.
Although I won't set this as part of the goal, there will most likely be several days that I upload more than one poem, mainly due to the miniscule size of some types of poems, no matter how much hidden meaning there is to be read into each poem.
I also plan on writing a lot of what went through my thought process in making these poems, and possibly also writing about the forms of poetry I write and what parameters must be followed for it to be categorized as that kind of poetry, in case anybody who happens to read this would like to understand how to write their own version of a sestina or a villanelle.
I really look forward to to starting this challenge today, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. If it goes well, I may continue after the week is up.
See you later today when I post my first day of poetry!
So I plan to take thirty minutes out of my day each day this week to sit in silence and basically meditate. I will write poetry based on how I'm feeling at the moment and also on whatever is on my mind. This should be mildly therapeutic, because the poetry will allow me to vent, thus eradicating the build-up of stress and tension, and allowing me to relax more easily.
I enjoy writing poetry, so I plan on using this challenge as an opportunity to practice and improve my poetry, as well as just enjoy being able to take the time to write it. I enjoy experimenting with poetry styles, so I will probably end up writing in a new style or form pretty much every day, from traditional ABCB-stanza poems to haikus to sestinas, and pretty much everything in between.
Although I won't set this as part of the goal, there will most likely be several days that I upload more than one poem, mainly due to the miniscule size of some types of poems, no matter how much hidden meaning there is to be read into each poem.
I also plan on writing a lot of what went through my thought process in making these poems, and possibly also writing about the forms of poetry I write and what parameters must be followed for it to be categorized as that kind of poetry, in case anybody who happens to read this would like to understand how to write their own version of a sestina or a villanelle.
I really look forward to to starting this challenge today, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. If it goes well, I may continue after the week is up.
See you later today when I post my first day of poetry!
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