Poetry on
Demand
By Northwind of Otters
Have you ever had to write a poem on assignment? For some,
this is a difficult task that tests their abilities and stretches their skill;
for others, it’s easy and comes to them naturally. When I first started out as
a writer, I never was able to write on assignment, especially not poems. Now, I know that everyone says that lots of
practice helps, and it does, but here are a few other tips.
Last semester I took an elective class that was called
Creative Writing. Well, it really turned out to be all about writing poetry. For our first class the instructor
brought in a bag of vegetables and told us to describe each one; I was very
disappointed because I had been looking forward to an advanced writing class,
but I did it anyway.
Later, my teacher made us write a poem with the descriptions
we had written earlier. This proved to be one of my most difficult assignments and
I soon despaired. My teacher asked me what the trouble was and I explained that
I was at a loss for what to do and that I was unsure even where to begin. She
understood and explained to me that I should try describing the vegetables as
poetically as I could—that I should make it overly silly, dramatic, and sappy.
I did so, and I ended up really liking my poem!
So, when you have to write about veggies or some object that you could
care less about, use this technique, the method of exaggerating your subject
poetically. I also found it easier to associate past experiences with the
vegetable (growing, cooking, or eating them, for instance) rather than just describing
them.
The next assignment was also tough: we were told to write a
poem about a horse. As I said earlier, it is easier to write a poem that is
overly dramatic, etc. Also, you may not
write the basic poem type, and instead like to make your poems sound mystical
or more interesting. For instance, you could write like this:
The horse is a beautiful beast,
It is very strong and large.
Its coat is many colors…
Or, as in my poem, The Horse:
Majestic beauty,
You are strong yet lovely.
See your muscles straining,
A mystery in making.
(This next line is confusing to anyone who wasn’t in my
class…)
Did he really know?
Like a river you flow.
Or iron biting dust,
Down your hooves are thrust.
I know, I know, I may have made the first example really
unrealistic, but do you get the point? Instead of telling just solid facts
about the horse, I made it sound slightly interesting and drew the reader in (I
must say now, if you did not find that very good, please excuse me—I didn’t
like it either).
Another type of poem commonly assigned is a ballad or a poem
that forms a story, like The Lake Isle of
Innisfree by William Butler Yeats. It is one of my personal favorites; I
love the description and the mournful feeling.
The
I will arise and go now, and go to
Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of
clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a
hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud
glade.
And I shall have some peace there,
for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping form the veils of morning
to where the cricket sings;
There
And evening full of linnets’ wings.
I will arise and go now, for always
night and day,
I hear lake water lapping with low
sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on
the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
In this poem, Yeats is describing his longing for the peace
and tranquility that can be found at the
If you are told to write a ballad/story type poem, I would
recommend writing about something with lots of detail, such as the sea, nature,
weather, etc. There are many options and it is easier to write about one thing with
lots of detail than a few things with less detail that would have to be tied
together.
Emotional poems are one of the best to write; utilize
emotion as often as you can. Mournful poems are the best of the emotions to use
because you are able to wrap the reader in a feeling of sadness, thus wrapping
them in a web of shadows. Humor has a different effect on the reader, but
almost the same end result.
I wrote a ballad once, as assigned by the teacher, but what
he didn’t tell us until later was that we were going to have to read our poems in
front of the class. I knew that most, if not all, of the other poems were going
to be cheesy; everyone would try to bring out their best for the teacher by
highlighting and rewarding virtue in the book that was the subject of our
poems.
I was sick of this kind of poetry. Every time the school had
a poetry contest, everyone would write about virtue and being godly, trying to impress
the judges. I was so sick of it that I vowed never to write one like that for
the school; thankfully, they must have been sick of it too, because I won
several of the contests. Anyways, back to the story. So I sat down and tried to
think of a way to make my poem different. Now, please note, I’m not trying to
teach you how to evade the grade you may deserve, just how to bring out the
best for your reader or your audience. I finally settled on making my poem mock
(in a way) the time frame of the book, saying that everything went so quickly
that the book seemed to occur all in one day while everyone was getting old and
having grandchildren. It turned out to be a moderately good poem…meaning my teacher
gave me an A. (Have I ever told you how much I hate reading poems aloud?)
Another author that I found extremely helpful and inspiring
is Sir Walter Scott. I just, to my immense pleasure, discovered a one-hundred-four-year-old
edition of his complete poetical works. Two of my favorite poems are The Maid of Toro and Songs from the Legend of Montrose, both by
Sir Walter Scott.
The Maid of Toro
O, low shone the sun on the fair
lake of
Toro,
And weak were the whispers that waved
the
dark wood,
All as a fair maiden, bewildered in
sorrow,
Sorely sighed to the breezes and wept to
the
flood.
‘O saints, from the mansions of
bliss lowly,
bending!
Sweet Virgin, who hearest the suppliant’s
cry!
Now grant my petition in anguish
ascending,
My Henry restore or let Eleanor die!’
All distant and faint were the
sounds of the
battle,
With the breezes they rise, with the
breezes
they fail,
Till the shout and the groan and the
con-
flicts
dread rattle,
And the chase’s wild clamor, came
load-
ing
the gale.
Breathless she gazed on the
woodlands so
dreary;
Slowly approaching a warrior was seen;
Life’s ebbing tide marked his
footsteps so
weary;
Cleft was his helmet and woe was his
mien.
‘O, save thee, fair maid, for our
armies are
flying!
O, save thee, fair maid, for thy guardian
is
low!
Deadly cold on yon heath thy brave
Henry
is
lying,
And fast through the woodland ap-
proaches
the foe.’
Scarce could he falter the tidings
of sorrow,
And scarce could she hear them, be-
numbed
with despair:
And when the sun sunk on the sweet
lake
of
Toro,
Forever he set to the Brave and the
Fair.
As far as whether or not to make a whole lot of sense in
your poetry—well, that is a good question. I’ve read many good poems that made
little to no sense whatsoever and I still loved them; on the other hand, I’ve
found a fair amount that are spelled out to the letter but are also enjoyable.
My friend feels like they must know the reason for everything, and can’t stand
it when I have a poem that doesn’t spell out its meaning or purpose for you. I
enjoy writing and reading this kind of poetry and it is far easier to write a poem
and let the audience interpret at will.
I hope you found this helpful. Of course, if you didn’t, I
have one more recommendation: practice. Practice the hardest things when you
aren’t going to be graded or publicized, when it really doesn’t matter, because
nobody is going to read it; it is one of those old standbys that really does work.