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Quote:ray, i refuse to type out rayheinrich wrote:
"Bold", the trick is "bold"; it really helps words stand alone.
(Though, personally, I prefer poems with a few more words.)
in another thread which made me think about a poems length. in general what's you fave length
no rude answers please....
we all know a good poem can be any length but which do you find you're drawn too more, before the reading so to speak.i love haiku because they're so easy to scan yet sometimes so deep. my favourite length is about the size of a sonnet maybe just a little more. a poem of that size would have a better chance of me reading it than say poe's raven.
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Honestly, I know haiku's are hard to write and they're great art in the sense of perfectly encapsulating something in a concise manner but, personally, they're just too damn small to be satisfying. It's like eating one potato chip. Just not worth it.
And long poems: too much effort to wrap my non-aligned mind around.
But, yeah, sonnet to sonnet-and-a-half sized is the most likely thing I'll read. Enough meat to sink my teeth into but not too much to tax my little brain.
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."
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Haiku don't do it for me. I always say that they only work in the original Japanese (whch unfortunately, I don't speak/read).
At school I read long poems such as Milton's Samson Agonistes, and stuff like the Ancient Mariner and of course, Shakespeare/Chaucer with no problem and a great deal of enjoyment (but with a teacher helping me to understand what I was reading)
Left to my own devices I think around 20 lines is about right for me.
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i enjoyed the mariner but in general not too many long ones hold my attention and so i forget what i'd read.
as for the jap haiku. they were often funny and and riske. basho often did them about horse shit and flies hehe. as long as they're well done, i like them. of course the real form is japanese but the modern English for at least gets close to it, or so i'm told by a japanse friend i have. the main diff is the syllable count which they don't really use. we on the onther hand can't get away from the 575 format which is okay to get you going (it does help keep the thing clean) the use what you need to and keep inside a medium breath.
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As long as it has to be
No sense in writing a three-line ballad, or dragging a single image out for twenty three cantos. As long as every stanza has a purpose, I will read anything.
It could be worse
