Iamb: aloof, rewrote, a dove, in love, unhappy, my heart, atop, italic, in meter.
Trochee: Must be, curiously, mocking, steady, lucky, trouble, double.
Dactyl: marketing, trust in me, soon you'll see, robbery, praise the sea.
Anapest: interrupt, in my mug, eat a duck, in a fuss, feel the thud.
spondee: smiling, shotgun, home sick, bleeding thick.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
#6: Redoing Poems
Original:
The Lemons
In April they were still tough and green,
strangely proud in the cold sun.
And all around the garden the leaves
conspiring in green on green on green.
By June they turned. The branches sunk
in the wind. The lemons shone with dust.
Some of them fell and rolled down
the hill to the town bellow us.
Packed tight against the sea's
wind, the town was abandoned now.
The roofs fallen away. The setting sun
cutting its way among the rubble.
At night we'd walk down
the big hill and look back up.
We couldn't see the house where we slept,
where our lives were decided.
But the lemons hit the black hill.
By their marks we found our way home.
The winds and the lemons wedded in August,
and the lemons dropped to the cool ground.
A crisp mist settled on the town.
The rains swarmed in from the sea.
All of it became inseparable in our minds.
Walking down the hill and back
again, your hand would fall
into my hand and stay there.
Redone:
In April they were still tough and green,
strangely proud in the cold sun.
And all around the garden the leaves
conspiring in the green on green on green.
By June they turned. The branches sunk
in the wind. The lemons shone with dust.
Some of them fell and rolled down
the hill to the town below us.
Packed tight against the sea's
wind, the town was abandoned now.
The roofs fallen away. The setting sun
cutting its way among the rubble.
At night we'd walk down
the big hill and look back up.
We couldn't see the house where we slept,
where our lives were decided.
But the lemons lit the black hill.
By their marks we found our way home.
The winds and the lemons wedded in August,
and the lemons dropped to the cool ground.
A crisp mist settled on the town.
The rains swarmed in from the sea.
All of it became inseparable in our minds.
Walking down the hill and back
again, your hand would fall
into my hand and stay there.
When you change the stanzas in The Lemons, it takes a different meaning. When the poem is written in couplets, you can see that the poem seems to be telling a story about aging. The couplets help her to present the stages of life individually, then allows them to come together so that they create a pattern and a flow. When the poem is put into quatrains, it doesn't give you that necessary pause between stanzas. The quatrain is comfortable, and "easier on the eyes," so to speak, but it also prevents the poet from giving the reader a series of events that must be separate to be understood. Also, when the poem is changed to a quatrain, the poem seems to be more about lemons, or growing up around lemons, and takes away from the deeper meaning that a reader could get out of the poem.
The Lemons
In April they were still tough and green,
strangely proud in the cold sun.
And all around the garden the leaves
conspiring in green on green on green.
By June they turned. The branches sunk
in the wind. The lemons shone with dust.
Some of them fell and rolled down
the hill to the town bellow us.
Packed tight against the sea's
wind, the town was abandoned now.
The roofs fallen away. The setting sun
cutting its way among the rubble.
At night we'd walk down
the big hill and look back up.
We couldn't see the house where we slept,
where our lives were decided.
But the lemons hit the black hill.
By their marks we found our way home.
The winds and the lemons wedded in August,
and the lemons dropped to the cool ground.
A crisp mist settled on the town.
The rains swarmed in from the sea.
All of it became inseparable in our minds.
Walking down the hill and back
again, your hand would fall
into my hand and stay there.
Redone:
In April they were still tough and green,
strangely proud in the cold sun.
And all around the garden the leaves
conspiring in the green on green on green.
By June they turned. The branches sunk
in the wind. The lemons shone with dust.
Some of them fell and rolled down
the hill to the town below us.
Packed tight against the sea's
wind, the town was abandoned now.
The roofs fallen away. The setting sun
cutting its way among the rubble.
At night we'd walk down
the big hill and look back up.
We couldn't see the house where we slept,
where our lives were decided.
But the lemons lit the black hill.
By their marks we found our way home.
The winds and the lemons wedded in August,
and the lemons dropped to the cool ground.
A crisp mist settled on the town.
The rains swarmed in from the sea.
All of it became inseparable in our minds.
Walking down the hill and back
again, your hand would fall
into my hand and stay there.
When you change the stanzas in The Lemons, it takes a different meaning. When the poem is written in couplets, you can see that the poem seems to be telling a story about aging. The couplets help her to present the stages of life individually, then allows them to come together so that they create a pattern and a flow. When the poem is put into quatrains, it doesn't give you that necessary pause between stanzas. The quatrain is comfortable, and "easier on the eyes," so to speak, but it also prevents the poet from giving the reader a series of events that must be separate to be understood. Also, when the poem is changed to a quatrain, the poem seems to be more about lemons, or growing up around lemons, and takes away from the deeper meaning that a reader could get out of the poem.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
#5: Interesting Facts about the Ballad Stanza
Some facts about the Ballad Stanza:
-In the form of a song.
-Usually deals with folklore or legends.
-Written in the rhyme scheme ABAB or ABBA.
-Usually a four to six line form.
-Used in The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.
-Used in early historic tales, such as Beowulf.
http://personal.georgiasouthern.edu/~dougt/terms.htm
http://www.freebase.com/view/en/ballad_stanza
http://www.writing-world.com/poetry/ballad.shtml
What I found interesting about my research was the different ways that ballad forms are used. I know that I really should know better, but often times when I think of a ballad, I think of sappy love songs and what-not. I didn't know that Beowulf or The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner were written in ballads, or that people use ballads for story telling. I like how the ballad can be used for many different things as well. You can use a ballad to tell a tragic tale, a funny story, or to mock something. I just never knew ballads could be so interesting!
-In the form of a song.
-Usually deals with folklore or legends.
-Written in the rhyme scheme ABAB or ABBA.
-Usually a four to six line form.
-Used in The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.
-Used in early historic tales, such as Beowulf.
http://personal.georgiasouthern.edu/~dougt/terms.htm
http://www.freebase.com/view/en/ballad_stanza
http://www.writing-world.com/poetry/ballad.shtml
What I found interesting about my research was the different ways that ballad forms are used. I know that I really should know better, but often times when I think of a ballad, I think of sappy love songs and what-not. I didn't know that Beowulf or The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner were written in ballads, or that people use ballads for story telling. I like how the ballad can be used for many different things as well. You can use a ballad to tell a tragic tale, a funny story, or to mock something. I just never knew ballads could be so interesting!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
#4 A Pretty Picture
I took this picture when I was in Salt Lake City, Utah over Thanksgiving. I was in Temple Square, and I looked to my left and saw this really beautiful berry tree. When I looked down, I noticed that the berries were mixed in with these dainty purple flowers.
The first thing that pops out to me in my photo is the contrast in the colors. The way the light hits the berries makes them this brilliant color, almost fuchsia, and I love how that vibrant color contrast with the dull, brown dirt. Also, I feel like the flowers really make this picture. Everything seems to blend in to me, yet it doesn't at the same time, if that makes any sense. I love this photo because it seems designed, but there is no design.
The best part about the picture is that everything was put in the order nature intended. True, the flowers bordering the wall that held the tree were placed there by man, but as you can see in the photo, the flowers began to grow on their own terms. You can see a couple of flowers mixed in with the berries, deciding for themselves where they want to go. Everything in nature seems to come together to create this work of art. The sun is in the perfect place so that you not only see the eye-catching colors of the flowers and the berries, but the sun also shows us the shadow of the tree itself.
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