Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 00:34:11 -0800 (PST)
From: StreetWrites 
Subject: {poetry} In The Beginning, Part 1

I have written four exercises that I consider to be the VERY basics -
warmup exercises for the very beginner, and still fun for the "advanced
poet".

First:
-----

Words, Words, Words
-------------------

"When I use a word, it means exactly what I intend it to mean, no more,
no less."
-- Humpty Dumpty to Alice, Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll

	In spite of Humpty Dumpty's attitude, most of us regard poetry as
an art of communication.  We want to pick words that not only mean
something to us, they mean mostly the same thing to our readers.

	A large and flexible vocabulary is almost THE basic tool of the writer.

"What I don't know has never gotten me in half as much trouble as what I
know that ain't so."	-- Will Rogers

	One of the land-mines for a reader, a writer, or any person in
daily conversation, is the word that you KNOW the meaning of -- the wrong
meaning.  When you don't know a word, you just ask -- or look it up
quietly on your own.  If you think you do know a word, someone describes
your husband as "uxorious", and you fly to his defense in loyal outrage

	Here's an exercise, just for yourself - not for critique.  Look up
the definitions of the following words in any good dictionary.  See if
they actually mean what you think they mean - or if there are additional
meanings you've never used.  Then make up three sentences using each word,
in each of its senses.

uxorious
which
of
effect
affect
shall
literal
virtual
infer
imply

	Does the page look any brighter after that?  Try the same thing,
periodically, for yourself - browse the dictionary, making a game out of
TRYING to find words you know that have meanings you didn't know.

	Here's another couple of exercises - again, for yourself, not for
critique.

	For each of the following words, make a list of all the synonyms that
you can think of for it - or words that convey the same meaning, not
strictly synonymous, such as "trout" for "fish", or "seek" for "fish", or
"wrinkled" for "old".

---
love
apply
fish
old
give
human
---

	Now make a list of antonyms for every word you came up with in
those six lists.

	Now for a poem exercise, for critique.

The List Poem
-------------

	Take one of your lists and develop each word into a line, playing out a
string of variations on one theme.

Example:

	An old man;
	a wrinkled, hoar, bent man;
	a moldering man;
	an ancient man;
	a ripe man;
	an aged man;
	a well-matured man;
	a sage and seasoned man;
	a man.

Guidelines for critique:

Basic:

Length and variety of the list:  Did the writer cover an impressive scope
of variations?  Or can you think of a lot of possibilities left out?

Writers: If someone points out words you passed up using, I recommend you
go look them up and practice them.

Advanced:

1) Is there a pattern to the flow of the list?

2) Is there a theme?

3) Is the whole more than just a list of parts?

	Critiques may address any other aspects, also, but please be sure to
cover the points in the above list.

Write On!
Anitra
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     "Beware of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup."  ABS
	   anitra@speakeasy.org   http://www.speakeasy.org/~anitra
	   thalia@speakeasy.org   http://www.speakeasy.org/~thalia

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