TOP OF PAGE
Poetry – Write or Wrong
The broadcaster, Terry Wogan, in his buildup to National Poetry Day one year, read out listeners’ simple rhyming verse as ‘poetry’ and, clearly, didn’t know the difference. Listening to this, therefore, and also using the bulk of the work submitted to both ‘mainstream’ and ‘avant guard’ publications, as examples, it is clear that the ‘general public’s’ perception of ‘poetry’, as such, is characterized, not so much by ‘proper poetry’, rhyming or otherwise (but more of that later), as by simple rhyming verse (doggerel even) or by the loose collections of, often as not, maudlin and melodramatic words and phrases, cobbled together in the name of, so called, freeform or ‘blank’ verse (non-rhyming poetry).
It is very difficult, indeed, to get work published in the UK, by either the ‘mainstream’ or the ‘avant-garde’ media if one writes traditional rhyming poetry, which is patently not ‘in fashion’ at the moment. Indeed, the anthologies published and the competitions won are dominated by free verse, blank verse, call it what you will, but essentially non rhyming poetry. Not what I would call proper poetry at all (although Milton, in his preface to Paradise Lost, might disagree!). I would agree that there is some which is written (Tennyson and Milton, for example) which is unsurpassed in its beauty and use of language and which is sublime in the extreme and which, by virtue of the use of language and the interaction and use of words and the flow, rhythm and structure of the piece as a whole, transcends the words themselves and which is equal to, if not better than, the best of rhyming poetry - but this is rare! Most blank verse, like simple rhyming verse, is at best, a pleasing diversion and, at worst, pretentious rubbish.
Many people, nowadays, jump on the ‘bandwagon’ of free verse, as it is a lot easier to write than rhyming poetry and, as it is ‘fashionable’, tends to succeed more in competitions and gets published much more easily. This is not to say that there is not a lot of over sentimental rubbish (doggerel) churned out in the name of rhyme, too, (usually by middle aged women, I have to say, in the ‘Patience Strong’ mould), although, having said that, I also subscribe to the belief that some of the finest poetry in the English language has been written by women - for example, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti - profound, emotional and sombre, but definitely not sentimental. Most of this rhyming output, though, is just plain verse - easy to write, simplistic and bland in the extreme and is just not poetry. Indeed most people who write verse probably don’t even know the difference and is what probably does give rhyming poetry such a bad name. Much of the poetry written (and published), which purports to be 'Poetry' is, in my opinion, often not much more than this simple verse. Most people (some better than others, of course) can write verse adequately well, but far fewer can write meaningful poetry and some may not even appreciate the difference.
I maintain that a poem, to be meaningful and to qualify to be called a poem in the first place, has to have certain pre-requisites which, taken together, also serve to define the qualities necessary to distinguish poetry from verse.
Firstly, a poem has to have metre (poetic rhythm, e.g. de dum de dum de dum dum de) and has to ‘scan’ (poetic balance). Then, ideally, but not necessarily, it has to have some form of rhyming. This doesn't have to be regular (every two lines or every other line); in fact, it is better, but more difficult, to rhyme irregularly, say on the first and fourth, on the third and seventh lines or even in the middle of lines.
Writing non rhyming poetry (blank verse) is very easy and is what most people mean when they say they 'write poetry' - most people can and do have a stab at this at some time in their lives - evidence the numerous ‘poems’ of this type as seen in the myriad’s of newspapers, magazines, women’s journals, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
However, writing good non rhyming poetry is also very difficult to do and, indeed, very few people are able to do this well. Writing good non rhyming poetry requires an absolute mastery of all the other elements of good poetry, combined with a feel for the rightness, harmony and balance and for the meaning, shape and flow of the words themselves and their interaction with each other, Morte D'Arthur, by Tennyson and Paradise Lost by John Milton being classic examples of this genre.
To continue with the qualities necessary to distinguish poetry from verse, poetry also has to have some profound depth of meaning (emotional, philosophical, spiritual), rather than some purely 'Moon in June’ narrative description of events.
Finally, a poem, in common with all other forms of good writing, has to have style and has to be elegant, elegance being defined, for this purpose, as being complete in itself and portraying its message simply, in as few words as possible, without redundancy or over elaboration.
Thus, I contend, is defined the sublime classic rhyming poem, superior in every respect to what is called modern 'freeform' poetry, with its fundamental lack of rhythm, structure, balance and harmony. Impossible though it is to stand any chance in current competitions with classic rhyming poetry and unfashionable and open to ridicule as it is from publishers large and small, I still contend that it is far from dead, is still practiced (albeit, often in secret and not much talked about in polite company!) and that its time will come again!
This, therefore, is my submission.
Return to resume | Return to main index