05-08-2014, 04:16 AM
There is no rule in poetry that says syntax must be formal and regular; even in prose, syntax can be altered to suit passive or active voice, for example. However -- and this is a big one -- if there's no purpose for it except to force a line into meter or rhyme (or worse yet, to sound more poetic) then, like any technique in a similar situation, it's being misused.
Posting on a workshop, one must expect that comments are occasionally going to focus on word choice and order. As with everything, the writer need not make changes as there is no requirement to heed advice. Good common sense would suggest that if several people find a phrase awkward (tortured, even), it is not a bad idea to kill the baby you've grown so irrationally attached to and substitute something that isn't going to draw attention away from the important parts of the poem (or the poem overall). Until your poetry reaches a level of expertise where wordplay and altered syntax are achieved with great facility, perhaps it's not a bad idea to listen to suggestions.
On the other side of the coin, commenters need to be wary of jumping on trend bandwagons and just seconding motions put forward by other commenters. In poetry as in life, thinking for oneself is essential -- as long as you've paid enough attention to the thoughts of others that you don't just go spouting their prejudices as if they're facts.
In short: inverted syntax is not poetic, it's just inverted syntax. If that syntax is inverted in such a way that meaning can still be extracted without causing extreme pain on the part of the reader, then it's probably ok. Having said that, a very high proportion of inversion that I have seen on this site falls into the painful category. Please stop it, it's mean.
Posting on a workshop, one must expect that comments are occasionally going to focus on word choice and order. As with everything, the writer need not make changes as there is no requirement to heed advice. Good common sense would suggest that if several people find a phrase awkward (tortured, even), it is not a bad idea to kill the baby you've grown so irrationally attached to and substitute something that isn't going to draw attention away from the important parts of the poem (or the poem overall). Until your poetry reaches a level of expertise where wordplay and altered syntax are achieved with great facility, perhaps it's not a bad idea to listen to suggestions.
On the other side of the coin, commenters need to be wary of jumping on trend bandwagons and just seconding motions put forward by other commenters. In poetry as in life, thinking for oneself is essential -- as long as you've paid enough attention to the thoughts of others that you don't just go spouting their prejudices as if they're facts.
In short: inverted syntax is not poetic, it's just inverted syntax. If that syntax is inverted in such a way that meaning can still be extracted without causing extreme pain on the part of the reader, then it's probably ok. Having said that, a very high proportion of inversion that I have seen on this site falls into the painful category. Please stop it, it's mean.
It could be worse