Creative Writing Unit 6-1

Creative Writing Unit 6-1

Poetry Part 3 and Revision

Building Connection, Feeling, and Inference

6 - 1 Due Date 5/14

6 - 2 Due Date 5/17

6 - 3 Due Date 5/21

6 - 4 Due Date 5/24

6.5.2 CST 6.5.3 TST (Excused) Due Date 5/30

7.1.2 EXAM 7.1.3 Final EXAM Due Date 6/04

​Objectives

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• Discover how placing words and images side by side can create surprise in poetry.

• Explore how writers use tone to add meaning to poetry.

• Explore how the first line, last line, and title of a poem can create and confound our expectations as we read poetry.

• Create a list of titles and first lines for poems that do not yet exist for possible later use in a poem.

​6.1.1 page 1

​A poem's "goal" isn't just to convey a basic meaning or a main idea but also to create an experience for the reader from start to finish. Though you can still look at each line closely to appreciate the whole in a multifaceted way, sometimes it's better just to let a poem "be" — to experience it rather than "solve" it.

But poems don't just spring up fully formed. The poet had to make the poem, putting its parts together into what it would "be." And thinking about meaning — not just basic meaning, but what might make a lasting and meaningful impression on the reader — is an important part of that process.

​6.1.1 page 5

​Putting different elements together, especially to suggest a comparison or contrast, is the writer's tool of juxtaposition. The elements could be different images, ideas, or even characters.

At its best, juxtaposition allows a deeper understanding of contrasting parts that are placed in proximity to one another. It can also be used to build tension as the differences push and pull against one another.

​White birds over the grey river.
Scarlet flowers on the green hills.
I watch the Spring go by and wonder
If I shall ever return home.

—Tu Fu (translated from Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth)

​6.1.1 page 7

​Leading

One style can be called leading. This is when the poet seems to guide the reader smoothly from image to image or from line to line.

The poet may not necessarily explain the connections, but the parts are more congruous and feel easier to connect in our minds. Sometimes a poet may choose to provide more direct transitions and connecting words ("and," "so," "yet") to help with this process.

​As we saw in the poem about the white birds and the scarlet flowers.

​page 7 cont'd.

​Leaping

Other poets use a style we might call leaping.

In this approach the images or lines may seem less directly connected at first, requiring the reader to take larger (or more frequent) imaginative leaps.

Often, very little transition or explanation is provided. Sometimes the transitions occur fluidly, but the individual parts are so surprising that our imagination must really stretch to connect them.

​…everything is related,

                        the rich own the clouds,

          and you can always locate yourself

                       with so many shadows
                    to instruct you.

—Matthew Zapruder, "You Have Astounding Cosmic News"

​page 7 cont'd.

​One style isn't necessarily better than the other, and most successful poems will contain a bit of both: some guidance to transition between parts and to set the pace, and some surprising leaps to make things interesting and exciting.

​6.1.1 page 11

​List poems can work in different ways to come together as a whole that's larger than its parts. One way is for the list to be unified by some overarching theme, feeling, or idea. Take, for example, these lists by Sei Shonagon, who wrote in Japan during the late 10th and early 11th centuries:

Elegant Things

A white coat worn over a violet waistcoat.
Duck eggs.
Shaved ice mixed with liana syrup and put in a new silver bowl.
A rosary of rock crystal.
Wisteria blossoms. Plum blossoms covered with snow.
A pretty child eating strawberries.

—Sei Shonagon

​6.1.1 page 12

​Another way a list poem can come together in a satisfying way is through the power of repetition. Take a look at the following excerpt from "I Remember," a list poem by Joe Brainard, and notice what gives the lines an interesting range of emotions as well as momentum. (This list continues the length of an entire book!)

​I remember the only time I ever saw my mother cry. I was eating
      apricot pie.
I remember how much I used to stutter.
I remember the first time I saw television. Lucille Ball was taking
     ballet lessons.
I remember a very poor boy who had to wear his sister's
     blouses to school.
I remember shower curtains with angel fish on them.
I remember very old people when I was very young. Their
     houses smelled funny.
I remember daydreams of being a singer all alone on a big
     stage with no scenery, just one spotlight on me, singing my
     heart out, and moving my audience to total tears of love and
     affection.
I remember waking up somewhere once and there was a horse
     staring me in the face.
I remember saying "thank you" in reply to "thank you" and then
     the other person doesn't know what to say.

​6.1.1 page 14

​If what's holding the parts of a poem together is not immediately obvious, see if the images and lines work together to create a particular tone or mood. The poet might be trying to create a feeling (or a shift in feelings) using images that may not connect logically but make a cumulative impression.

You might also try using the power of inference to guess at the larger story behind the parts. For example, a grocery list may not feel like a poem. But if the items on it are specific and intriguing enough, we might start to guess things about the person who made it and what his or her life might be like. The same holds true for non-list poems, too: What larger story or insight is suggested from the details we read?

​6.1.1 Review

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• A reader's mind will naturally try to forge connections between words, images, and lines that are in close proximity to one another, even if they appear to be random.

• A writer can use juxtaposition to highlight comparisons or contrasts between elements.

• Some poems try to lead the reader through a series of images, ideas, or lines, revealing connection and meaning as a natural progression.

• Other poems use wild imaginative leaps or less obviously connected images, lines, and ideas to create their overall impression.

• To make a list poem feel satisfying as poetry, it can be helpful to include vivid or surprising images, put some variation in the lines and details, and consider using repetition or unifying the parts with an overarching theme, feeling, or idea.

​6.1.3 page 3

​Obviously, the first line of a poem is the very beginning of the beginning, so it makes sense that these initial words give a reader his or her first clues about a poem, and may determine if the reader wants to continue this interaction at all. Like the beginning of a story, there needs to be something that intrigues the reader in this very first moment and makes him or her want to keep reading

​6.1.3 page 6

​Just as people have many different styles of saying good-bye, often based on personal preference and the situation, so too do poems. Some poems seem to linger at the end, as if sad to leave us, the images slowly fading into the distance while the feeling of the poem remains. Some poems make a grand bow or final statement that we remember long after we've parted ways. Some end abruptly, as if dashing off in mid-sentence.

There's no right or wrong way for a poem to end. Much of it will depend on the tone and style of that particular poem and the last impression the poet wants to make. Just as a first line can be critical in enticing the reader to keep reading, the last line is equally important in helping the poem stay in the reader's mind in a memorable way.

​6.1.3 page 8

​Knowing how to end a poem can be tricky. You know that the last impression is important and that you have different options, but how do you get the ending right?

In early drafts, writers sometimes overlook the best exit for their poem.

As you're revising your initial drafts, consider the possibility that a strong final image or last line may have already presented itself earlier in the poem.

Often in early drafts we write a little more than we need to, trying to get all our ideas onto the page and exploring different possibilities. The revision process helps us trim and compress our words to create greater impact, and this holds true for endings, too.

If you ended your poem a few lines up, would you leave your reader with a more dynamic, intriguing, or resonant final image or idea?

Remember, a poem's ending doesn't have to be tidy or resolve everything. What would make the most interesting or memorable good-bye?

​6.1.3 page 10 The Title

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• While it's true that some poems are left untitled or simply use the first line as a title, a title has the potential to play an important role in the reader's understanding of the piece.

• A title can be pulled from an image, phrase, or line within the poem, highlighting that moment and sharpening its impact.

• A title can name a person, place, or event that inspired the poem or around which the poem's images or feelings orbit.

• A title can suggest a theme or idea that ties the poem together or deepens its meaning.

• Similar to a first line, a title can suggest a tone that the poem can then build upon or work against.

​6.1.3 page 10 cont'd.

​Finally, an interesting title is a great way to pull your reader toward your poem. Imagine your poem is in a literary journal or a poetry anthology, and a reader is scanning the table of contents. What title could you give your poem that would make a reader want to turn to your page?

​6.1.3 REVIEW

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• A first line is like a first introduction — it helps establish a poem's tone and can influence the reader's experience of the rest of the poem.

• There are many different ways a first line can intrigue a reader. For example, it might suggest a story, ask a question, set up an argument, create a vivid first image, throw us into the action, or invite us into a conversation.

• The last line of a poem is like a good-bye and influences how the reader will remember the poem.

• There are many approaches to ending a poem in a memorable and compelling way. For example, the poem might end on a vivid image, provide a final insight, or seem to carry us beyond the last words with its rhythm, imagery, or action.

• Sometimes the best ending for a poem may be a few lines up from the ending in an early draft.

• A title can play an equally important role as the beginning and ending of a poem.

• A title can help set the tone, provide helpful context, or highlight certain images, themes, or ideas within the poem.

​6.1.5 Journal

​For this assignment, you’ll make many different types of lists. The most important part is using your imagination and including interesting variety, language, and details for each. Each section will guide you toward a slightly different list form. Try to make each individual list as interesting as you can. Some may feel more like poems than others. You might decide to use some of these details in other poems (in or out of a list form) in the future, too.

​NO

EXIT
SLIP
THIS
TIME!!!!