Experimental Poetry 11: Paraphrasing

A paraphrase or rephrase is where you re-write a text using different words without losing the meaning of the original text itself. It's an experimental technique poets can use to infuse a deeper level of creativity into their previously written words. It's a rich form of reiteration. In jazz music, especially the more experimental forms, you may never hear the same phrase played twice. This is because the musicians understand that within the tempo and root chords, just about anything is possible. It's the same with poetry, except there are even less constraints than in jazz! That should tell you just how free and creative you can be in your writing.

Method 19: Try this: Go back to one of your previously written poems and examine it. Are there words or phrases you could improve upon? Are there lines that could benefit from a make-over? Let me give you some examples of poetry that would not have been as impressive if it hadn't been developed by the writer...

There is a classic poem called Mandalay, by English poet Rudyard Kipling. It's a fabulous, entertaining poem containing many inventive lines... one that stands out for me is '...an' the dawn comes up like thunder....' He could easily have written '...and the sun rises in a spectacular way...' but it would not have been as effective. 

Another more recent classic by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas has the first line 'Do not go gentle into that good night...' Again, it would be simpler to say 'Do not fade slowly in death...' but this wouldn't have been as poetic. 

Are there words or phrases in your old poems that could do with a make-over? I know there are in many of mine! 

Steve Wheeler

Previous posts in this series

Experimental Poetry 1: Found Poetry
Experimental Poetry 2: Stream of Consciousness
Experimental Poetry 3: Fake Translations
Experimental Poetry 4: Overlapping Voices
Experimental Poetry 5: Random Prompts
Experimental Poetry 6: The Movie Method
Experimental Poetry 7: Unexpected End Rhymes
Experimental Poetry 8: Calligrams
Experimental Poetry 9: Anarchic Poetry
Experimental Poetry 10: Timed Writing

Image from pxhere used under a Creative Commons licence

Poetic devices 17: Antithesis

An antithesis is the opposite to a thesis. A thesis is an idea, a theory, a concept - something that explains your world to you. The anthesis of good is evil. They are opposed. They are in opposition to each other. They are antithetical. 

In poetry antithesis is a device used to show how two objects or ideas are different to each other. Antithesis can also be used to reinforce the tempo of a poem. Let's explore how this works...

The 1920 poem Fire and Ice by Robert Frost is a classic example of antithesis: 

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

The juxtaposition of fire and ice as two opposing concepts has a dramatic effect on the reader. It creates a tension in the comparisons. It allows the poet to elaborate on the ideas, melding them into a metaphor for love and desire, and also as a device to express his observations on life. It's a rhythmic triumph in the use of antithesis.

Another well known example of antithesis can be found in Hamlet's soliloquy, from the classic play by William Shakespeare. In it, Hamlet is contemplating a perennial antithesis: the meaning of life and the finality of death.

To be or not to be, that is the question

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind

To suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take up arms against a sea of troubles.

Again, it's very dramatic, and as the soliloquy progresses, it reveals the turmoil present in Hamlet's mind as he battles with his conscience.

Another example of antithesis is present in a famous poem called If, by Rudyard Kipling.

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same...

This is a rather interesting approach to antithesis, because the poet identifies several binaries - opposing ideas like triumph and disaster, and then tells the reader that in reality, they don't really matter - because the character of the person is much more important than the fate that befalls him. It's not so much what happens to you, but how you respond to it that is the key to your success. 

Steve Wheeler

Image used by Creative Commons licence from Flickr

Previous posts in this series:

1. Simile
2. Metaphor
3. Repetition and refrains
4. Alliteration
5. Assonance
6. End Rhymes
7. Internal Rhymes
8. Rhythm and Tempo
9. Enjambment

10. Allegory

11. Metonymy

12. Cacophony

13. Calligram

14. Personification

15. Paradox

16. Euphony

Aspiring to inspire!

Inspiration! 

What is it? What drives us to aspire to new tasks, to envelope the degrees of difficulty and overcome the highest heights? To master the navigations of damage control, and be the best at what we can do with what we have? What is inspiration?

Upon playing with my nieces that live so far away at a family reunion this weekend… I saw generations of loved ones past sparkling in their youthful eyes. It was both so endearingly sweet and sad at the same time… yet encouraging to me. The progress of our families in the existence of our times…

                                           —

Poetry can be inspiring. It draws me into its complicated webs weaved by so many poets of different cultures, places, perspectives, and most of all, dreams. This diversity feeds the poet soul, which is both curious and insatiable for information about the human condition.

Inspiring poems take readers in new directions they may have never considered when they hit the target of the heart. They aim to motivate us, direct us, and push us into becoming someone or something better than what we are. Directly, or in metaphor, these poems are the ones we like to quote or keep as a reminder when things go rough…

                                           —

Consider this invitation from “Invictus”, by William Ernest Henley, to remain strong and honorable even in the face of death…:

It matters not how strait the gate

How charged with punishments the scroll

I am the master of my fate

I am the captain of my soul

The two last lines echo the sentiment of positive construction, expression, and direction needed to keep one’s head up and stay on the ball no matter what. We go on!

                                           —

What about good old Walt? Not Walt Disney! Walt Whitman… his Song Of Myself continues to bring smiles even to this day to many an English and Literature class with the early morning rays of educational sunshine beaming through those sweet windows…

I celebrate myself, and sing myself, 
  And what I assume you shall assume, 
For every atom belonging to me as

  good belongs to you.

An originality and individual value is within us all, not only to be recognized, but validated and cherished as beautiful as well. Song of Myself says this in so many ways…

    

                                           —

Take the breath of Rudyard Kipling in his monumental inspiration entitled “If”:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

This applies not only to “man” but women, children, and all human souls! I live by this fiercely bold and courageous philosophy…. “Yours is the Earth and all upon it, if you can “fill the unforgiving minute”… seize the opportunities laid before you! Take control of your destiny! Shades of Invictus… this is a prevailing theme in inspiring poems.

                                           —

Women have an equal (if not more) of a voice in poetry today than has ever been heard in the history of our prestigious craft. Women such as Rupi Kaur, Maya Angelou, Carol Ann Duffy, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson… transcend emotion into inspirational action… 

Take Wheelsong poet Imelda Zapata Garcia, who continues to encourage a strength and determination that is so original, creative, practical, fierce, and beautiful all at once. This is such an awe inspiring exposition…  “The Gambit”:

Each wrung she stepped upon
led to a faltering height
try as she might, to climb
slipped to the base of the flight
the steps which rose up
from the floor 
led straight to another
in store
Beams of illusion it seems
crept in from high up above 
with promise of hope in a dream
naught much else when
push comes to shove 
What shone at the top of the stairs
a blinding white light on the morn
was merely a glimmer of hope
which climbing that crucible 
had worn 

The promise and glimmer of hope sprinkled within this poem exhibit an unbridled exuberance to overcome the most difficult obstacles, to challenge “the gambit” of life, and come out ahead. It reflects dark and light in such a way as to cover the reader in honest shades of brilliant reality… leaving them forearmed to face the day. Such an amazing inspiration! It’s reassuring to know poets such as Imelda are out there interpreting reality for us!!!

                                          —

This is a blog for writers by writers. So I have to ask… What do you find inspiring? Does it aid in your writing? How so? Please feel free to comment below! I love hearing from you! 

Thank you for reading, and until next time… write on!! And inspire!

Matt Elmore