Wonderful set of articles about poetry from Purdue OWL

[rayheinrich]

Here is a wonderful set of articles about poetry and about writing it.
Don't be put off by the titles and all; the articles are quite
down-to-earth and accessible.

(When you're reading the articles, note that that "Next Resource"
button in the bottom right-hand corner is their name for "Next Page".)

------------------------------------------------------
THE BASICS:
Pattern and Variation: Aural
Summary:
A brief exploration of the various aspects of sound that can be
utilized when making a poem. The crafting of the aural aspects
of a poem is what we may call "ear training." Thus, the crafting
of the visual aspects is what we'd call "eye training."

Starts here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/570/01/
And includes:
Sound and Meter
Meter and Scansion
Poetic Feet, Line Length
Sound and Rhyme
Other Matters of Sound


------------------------------------------------------
WOW, NEVER READ ANYTHING THIS GOOD ABOUT VISUAL:
Pattern and Variation: Visual
Summary:
A brief exploration of the various visual aspects that can be utilized
when making a poem. If the crafting of the aural aspects of a poem
is what we may call "ear training," the crafting of the visual aspects
is what we'd call "eye training."

Starts here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/569/1/
And includes:
Visual Patterning
Visual Variation, Exercises


------------------------------------------------------
THE ACTUAL BEGINING OF THE ABOVE TWO IS HERE;
BUT I THOUGHT THE OTHER TWO WERE THE MOST USEFUL
SO I PUT THIS AT THE LAST:
Pattern and Variation in Poetry
Summary:
A brief rundown on the basic concepts of pattern and variation
and how they can be used when writing poems.

Starts here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/568/1/
And includes:
Pattern and Variation
Pattern
Variation


------------------------------------------------------
Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) home page
More about writing than you'd ever imagine*:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing
resources and instructional material, and we provide these as
a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue.


*I kid you not:
Writing as a Veterinary Technician
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/950/01/

[billy]

Just did a quick flyby and they look intersting, good find

[cidermaid]

Thanks for posting this Ray, also not had time to do much more than a quick scan but looks like provide some helpful prompts and instruction.
Cheers AJ

[billy]

while the vet tech didn't seem great, this part stood out;

Veterinary medical records must be complete, accurate, orderly, and legible and should give a description of what was done, when, by whom, why, how, and where.

often people write poetry without a thought to a lot of the above. i read some more of the pages and it's certainly seems like good reading.

[cidermaid]

That is an interesting point you make Billy.
Made me think about my "other life" as in what i do for work. I'm wondering how much our habits and other skills influence our poetic ability. I have personally often struggled with poems that to my read seem disorderly or random. (In my work skill base I work in a lab (cider testing) and also keep medical records for the horses in a day book..so all of the things mentioned in you excerpt of the vet records seem obvious and essential to me).
...no particular purpose in this comment just thought this was an interesting thing to consider.
AJ.

[ellajam]

Thanks for posting these, Ray, interesting and accessible for us beginners.

[ChristopherSea]

These resources would be well placed in the Reference Forum. Perhaps they could be moved there for future peeks. Technical writing may not seem applicable to poetry, but it helps one to research and outline a subject for a poem.

---

That is an interesting point you make Billy.
Made me think about my "other life" as in what i do for work. I'm wondering how much our habits and other skills influence our poetic ability. I have personally often struggled with poems that to my read seem disorderly or random. (In my work skill base I work in a lab (cider testing) and also keep medical records for the horses in a day book..so all of the things mentioned in you excerpt of the vet records seem obvious and essential to me).
...no particular purpose in this comment just thought this was an interesting thing to consider.
AJ.

I think our professional training does play a role in our poetry AJ. As a fellow scientist with over thirty published papers, I find it natural to employ the scientific method when developing themes and experimenting with writing poetry. I often begin with a question, make a prediction, experiment with some sort of protocol and follow with an analysis or conclusion.

[Erthona]

Thanks Ray,


I like this quote (see end of page,"Of the ways of looking at meter" ) because it says the same thing I have been saying for at least the last thirty years or so (emphasis is mine), of course one can pick and choose like they do with their Eliot quote:

"Since poets are now free to irregularly change the rhythms and sounds throughout a poem, they have many more choices to make with every word put on the page. T. S. Eliot said in his essay "The Music of Poetry" in 1942 that "no verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job"

Eliot did say this, he just happened to be referring primarily to "free iambic verse", but I'll not quibble since it happens to agree with my sentiment on the subject.

Dale
__________________________________________________________
"Of the ways of looking at meter, the most common in English are those that are accentual. English, being of Germanic origin, is a predominantly accentual language. This means that its natural rhythms are not found naturally from syllable to syllable, but rather from one accent to the next."




_____________________________________________________________