Poetic devices 15: Paradox

Life is complex and full of contradictions. As poets, we try to represent life in all its complexity and we can call upon an extraordinarily diverse range of devices to achieve their goals. One of the least understood, but perhaps most appropriate devices to illustrate our complex and contradictory lives is paradox. The poet can create tension that represents turmoil, confusion and even hypocrisy. Take the example of the line by William Shakespeare in Hamlet 'I must be cruel only to be kind.' It's a paradox. 

Paradox should not be confused with oxymoron. An oxymoron commonly uses just two word to create a contradiction - bitter sweet, awfully good, police intelligence (the last one is a joke, don't @ me). A paradox, by comparison can take up a full sentence or even an entire stanza. The following example by English romantic poet William Wordsworth is a great example of paradox:

my heart leaps up when I behold
a rainbow in the sky:
so was it when my life began;
so is it now I am a man;
so be it when I shall grow old,
or let me die!
the child is father of the man;
and I could wish my days to be
bound each to each by natural piety

The line 'the child is father of the man' is clearly paradoxical, but interestingly is a profound statement about how childhood shapes character in later life. It was so deep that Sigmund Freud stole the idea and used it to develop his philosophy in the development of psychotherapy. 

Paradox is not easy to achieve, but if you can do it, it's a neat yet effective way to add some depth to your poetry, so have a try!

Steve Wheeler

Image source

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

Poetic devices 8: Rhythm and Tempo

If you're asked about tempo or rhythm in poetry it's likely you'll think about Rap. Appropriate really, because RAP stands for Rhythm And Poetry. Dig down into the history of Rap and you'll see it has its roots in the nightclub scene of 1970s New York City. MCs - or DJs - would talk rhythmically in between songs against a beat backdrop. From this, the idea of creating rhythmic spoken word came into being. 

Arguably, Rap goes back even further... and certainly there is a long history of the spoken word set to a beat. Listen for example to the political poetry of Gil Scott-Heron in the 60s, and try to tell me it didn't have an influence on Rap. 

Here's an example...it's from 1969 and it's called Whitey on the Moon

Rhythm in poetry is not limited to Rap, of course. In a previous post I argued that certain poetic devices can create a rhythm in a poem because of the sounds they produce, either when spoken out loud, or via internal self-vocalisation when reading the text. It's all about the beat, and the pace of the poem. For example, in the written word there are stressed syllables (long sounding) and unstressed syllables (short sounding). An iamb such as Today is a two syllable word where the first is unstressed (short) followed by the second stressed syllable (long): toDAY. 

Sonnets derive their rhythm from iambic pentameter (an iamb is a two syllable phrase) - words that are stressed and unstressed in pentameter - five beats or steps per line. Shakespeare knew how to do this:

[shall I] [comPARE] [thee TO] [a SUM][mer's DAY]

You get the idea how it works. Change the stress of the syllables - and the beat and pace of the poem changes. 

Have a go at creating different rhythms in your poetry by using different steps within your stanzas and lines. You can read up more about rhythm and metre in poetry at this link.

Steve Wheeler

Other posts in the Poetic Devices Series:

1. Simile

2. Metaphor

3. Repetition and refrains

4. Alliteration

5. Assonance

6. End Rhymes

7. Internal Rhymes

Live Poets Society

Remember that fabulous film with Robin Williams as a teacher of English literature at a stuffy American private school? What was it called...? Ah yes. Dead Poets Society. They studied poets like Walt Whitman (wait, what man?), who was long since in his grave, never to pen another poem again. Dead poets.

American poets such as Whitman, Edgar Poe, Emily Dickinson and Henry Longfellow blazed a trail across the United States ... from Robert Frost through to the notable Beat Poets of the fifties and sixties such as Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and latterly Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the blessed Maya Angelou. 

They are all dead. Their quills will squeak on parchment no more. Their typewriters are silent. They are ex-poets. Shuffled off this mortal coil (William Shakespeare of course)... and gone to join the heavenly choir in the sky (Monty Python). OK. I'll shut up.

All I want to draw your attention to is this...  There are plenty of us still alive. We are poets and we are writing poetry even today. Let's give it a voice, a platform, an audience. Let's make a live television show where all of your wonderful poetry can be read out... nay performed... live on Facebook. 

Oh, wait. We are already doing it. Every Friday, live on Invisible Poets, at 7pm UK time. 

It's an event you don't want to miss. Oh sure, you can watch it on playback later if you wish, on several groups including Passion of Poetry, Wheelsong Poetry, Pure Poetry, and Poetry UK to name a few. But there's nothing quite like a live performance to rattle your muse. There's nothing like a live poetry reading to get the literary juices flowing. It's inspirational. It's wonderful. It's.... and... it's yours. That's just one more reason to join Invisible Poets Facebook group as soon as you possibly can. Or sooner.

Steve Wheeler

You can join Invisible Poets by following this link.

Image from Wikimedia Commons