BE AN EARLY BIRD
1977 Contest Report, Cont.
I have compiled a list of do's and don'ts
for future contest entrants.
DO SEND THE PROPER ENTRY FEES.
DO DOUBLE-SPACE.
DO NAME THE CATEGORY.
DO SEND SASE WITH SUFFICIENT POSTAGE.
DO OBSERVE THE CONTEST DEADLINE.
DO TYFE YOUR ENTRY.
DO SIGN YOUR CHECK.
DON'T SEND HAND-WRITTEN MATERIAL.
DON'T SEND MORE ENTRIES THAN YOU FAY FOR.
DON'T SEND AN ENTRY WITH NO NAME OR CATEGORY.
DON'T SEND A SMALL ENVELOPE FOR SASE.
GET Y OUR 1 978 C ONTEST E NTRIES R EADY N OW
A Poet's World
By Virginia Covey Boswell
Understanding Poetry
Poetry is defined in many ways. Robert
Penn Warren says it is "a specialization of
ordinary speech, of thoroughly universal
habits of human thinking and feeling."
Wordsworth called it "emotion recollected in
tranquillity." To me, it is the flowing of
the soul into words.
Poetry is a form of speech, written or
spoken. One person is saying something to
another person, making a direct appeal.
Poetry fulfills some human need which cannot
otherwise be fulfilled. A writer creates a
poem because he wants a meaning dramatized,
developed through experience, and then
realized in the medium of language. Poetic
expression is intrisic to man. It appears in
editorials, sermons, articles, political
speeches, advertisements.
A poem is composed of mechanical elements:
meter, rhyme, figurative language, tone and
attitude. These, along with the wider
perspective of statement and idea, create the
total effect. The relationship among all the
elements in a poem is very important. The
poet must decide not only what he wishes to
say, but how to say it. Some ideas (and
emotions) are best conveyed in free verse,
without the restrictions and/or music of
rhyme. This is true in "Parachutist" by
Samuel Hazo:
After jump, drop and somersault
with cords unraveling in skein,
chute rising in a puff more taut
than sail until it domes a cone
of cords hooked to a harnessed dot
twirling and suspended like a toy
wind-swung and puppeted in space,
he pendulums sideways down the sky.
These 8 lines are so well written, you
can actually see this picture! Note the
excellent use of verbs and verb forms; they
create the figurative language in this fine
descriptive poem.
Another poem of observation uses the
exactness and effect of rhyme to complete the
impact: "The Eagle" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
He clasps the crag with crooked hands?
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Alliteration works well in this poem:
clasps, crag, crooked, close; Ringed, wrinkled;
watches, walls. The effect here is melodious
as well as dramatic.
A poem has intensity, one of the
hallmarks of this writing form. Poetry is, b
by nature, precise and concise; wordiness won
won't work. A haiku called "Snake" by Kyoshi:
note the feeling it evokes.
A snake! Though it passes,
eyes that had glared at me
stay in the grasses.
Poetry can be studied by every writer as
a prelude to any kind of writing, because in
poetry there will be imagery (metaphor, simile,
alliteration, et al.) , imagination, intensity,
compactness. Here is an excellent learning
ground.
You might want to sample a variety of
poets. Some of my favorites: Judith Viorst
for contemporary impact; N. Scott Momaday for
intelligent intensity and artistry; S. Omar
Barker for humor and love of the West; Emily
Dickinson for matchless imagery; Edna St.
Vincent Millay for depth of feeling; Robert
Frost for all seasons. You can have fun
learning from Dr. Seuss too!
Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren
state in their definitive work, UNDERSTANDING
POETRY, that "poetry is not an isolated and
eccentric thing, but springs from a basic
human impulse and fulfills a basic human
interest."