Goal for the day: To match rhythm with image and action
Today is about rhythm, a many-colored, various thing in writing. Poetry textbooks talk discuss "meter" alongside "rhythm." Meter is the like written music; rhythm is how the musician plays the notes. As such, the focus today is not to teach meter in the abstract but to have you think about what kind of rhythmic effects match what you're writing about.
I want you to find an image or action in your short story and turn your descriptive prose poetic. Cut and paste this description into a separate document. What kind of rhythm matches the descriptions, what your text should sound like. Break the lines, take out or add words, and do whatever you can to get it to create a rhythm that matches the description. I'll ask you to share this proto-poem.
This will give us an excuse to then talk about meter and accent or stress and how you can get certain effects by adjusting the stress of the syllables within the line. I'll give you a handout so you can play with some of these effects on your own. Can you adjust some of the syllables in your proto-poem to enhance the effect you were going for?
I will then pass out a short cycle of three poems by Natasha Trethewey that we'll workshop on Thursday. Here is the workshop prep form that you should fill out and bring with you on Thursday for points
Homework for Thursday, October 22nd
Keep working on your poems. Read Trethewey's three poems and fill out the workshop prep form
Today is about rhythm, a many-colored, various thing in writing. Poetry textbooks talk discuss "meter" alongside "rhythm." Meter is the like written music; rhythm is how the musician plays the notes. As such, the focus today is not to teach meter in the abstract but to have you think about what kind of rhythmic effects match what you're writing about.
I want you to find an image or action in your short story and turn your descriptive prose poetic. Cut and paste this description into a separate document. What kind of rhythm matches the descriptions, what your text should sound like. Break the lines, take out or add words, and do whatever you can to get it to create a rhythm that matches the description. I'll ask you to share this proto-poem.
This will give us an excuse to then talk about meter and accent or stress and how you can get certain effects by adjusting the stress of the syllables within the line. I'll give you a handout so you can play with some of these effects on your own. Can you adjust some of the syllables in your proto-poem to enhance the effect you were going for?
I will then pass out a short cycle of three poems by Natasha Trethewey that we'll workshop on Thursday. Here is the workshop prep form that you should fill out and bring with you on Thursday for points
Homework for Thursday, October 22nd
Keep working on your poems. Read Trethewey's three poems and fill out the workshop prep form