Finally, I suggest you write poetry, but I’m not talking abou the kind of free verse that most people write. There’s nothing wrong with free verse, but it’s come to mean “no rules,” and while no rules are fun, it’s hard to stretch yourself without constraints.
Formal poetry is rule based. There are all sorts of forms that you can read about in books like “The Ode Less Traveled,” by Stephen Fry[1]. The most famous is blank verse (Shakespeare’s meter), in which each line has ten syllables, which are broken into pairs. The second syllable in each pair gets more stress than the first. So “caboose” (caBOOSE) counts but “window” (WINdow) doesn’t.
Sometimes I find a random piece of writing and try to translate it into blank verse, just for the workout:
I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom, but – I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boyfriend; not an Italian. She went to the movies with him; she stayed out late. I didn’t protest. Two months ago, he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey. And then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her, like an animal. When I went to the hospital, her nose was a’broken. Her jaw was a’shattered, held together by wire. She couldn’t even weep because of the pain. But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life – beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again. (Bonasera breaks down) Sorry…I – I went to the police, like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison– suspended sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool. And those two bastard, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, “for justice, we must go to Don Corleone.”
– Opening speech of “The Godfather”
The Blank Verse Version
America is my re-lig-i-on. (Poets sometimes “cheat” by elongating words that way.) It’s where I made my fortune, and I brought My daughter up to be a ‘mer’can girl. I gave her freedom, but I taught her not To bring dishonor on the fam’ly name.
In case it’s unclear what I’m doing, here are the syllable pairs (called beats) made clearer – remember, there are ten per line, divided into five pairs of two, with the second syllable in each pair getting the stress:
| a MER | i CA | is MY | re LIG | i ON |
| it’s WHERE | i MADE | my FOR | tune AND | i BROUGHT |
| my DAUGHT | er UP | to BE | a MER | can GIRL |
| i GAVE | her FREE | dom BUT | i TAUGHT | her NOT |
| to BRING | dis HON | er ON | the FAM | ly NAME |
Continue the exercise if you want, or find some other bit of prose and transform it into some other style of verse: sonnet, haiku, limerick, etc.
Psychologically, why do people read poetry? This question previously had details. They are now in a comment. Profile photo for Marcus Geduld Marcus Geduld , 35 years of study in psychology, as a lay reader. Answered Dec 3, 2014 “Is it simply that people often feel depressed and hopelessly lost, and in poetry they see how beautiful and strange everything is (when you cut things however the poem does). So in that way poetry calms peoples anxiety.”
There are many different poems and many different kinds of poems. They are not all calming. Some poems make me anxious, angry, scared, and sad, which is why I value them. As a reader, I want a full meal, not just dessert. I want the sweet and the bitter. Often, I read poetry when I’m already relaxed. In fact, I read more in general when I’m not stressed out.
Here are the main reasons I respond to poetry, as far as I can tell:
Metrical poems (and some that are non-metrical) are about setting up rules and then bending them. Usually, this is done by setting up a rhythm and then violating it or almost violating it. And then returning to it again. This satisfies my craving for order and also my craving for testing boundaries.
It’s the same thing improvised jazz does. The pianist will start with the melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and then veer away from it. If he veers too far, the performance will become noise; if he sticks too close to the melody, it won’t be jazz. The tension between order and chaos is luscious.
Poetry plays with language and often slams words together in surprising ways, which is thrilling the way food can be when the chef has paired ingredients you never thought would taste good together but somehow do.
Many poems are dense. Words mean two or three things at once and lots of suggestion is packed between the lines. This is intellectually stimulating and it allows me to read the same poem over and over, always finding new things in it.
And, of course, there’s the subject matter. It interests me just as it would i if the same subject was explored in a story or essay. Not all poems interest me in this way, but then not all stories and essays do, either.
23 March 2019