Hey there!
This entry will be a little bit less formal than the previous ones, and the following of this series will be of the same tone. Why? Because I am going to be updating daily to share with you my progress on writing poetry!
The thing is -- I joined this Tell-Tell Poetry's sort of "challenge" or exercise (which I encourage you to try if you want a new perspective on poetry, especially if you have already attempted writing something), and I'll be posting the results of my process here, firstly, to inspire you, and, secondly, because it's my blog and I wanted to post about it😂Besides, the fact that I have to post about it will force me to avoid procrastinating and actually do it.
DISCLAIMER: this series is not intended to copying or redistributing the content or material that belongs to Tell-Tell Poetry. Its aim is to entertain, inspire and actually direct the audience to the very same page, also encouraging them to sign up for "5 days of poetry" by showing them what it was like for me in my personal experience.
Now, here we go!
DAY 1 ~~~ LOOK AT YOUR LINE BREAKS
My findings:
I found out that I usually break my lines by syntax, i.e., based on grammar and on where I would normally make a pause to breath. My line breaks may also be given by meaning, so sometimes a line refers back, expands upon, or further a line that came before it.
Messing up my poetry:
Here comes the fun part. I picked one of my poems in Spanish and messed up with the line breaks of the first two stanzas. I'll be translating it to English for obvious reasons.
This is the original:
Me seguía un fantasma,
Una sombra en mi caminar;
Una sombra en cadenas,
Que dificultaba mi andar
En mis pies no pude
Pies de gracia y gacela hallar…
¡Sólo pasto que crece
Para mi avance refrenar!
And here's the result...
I was
followed by a
ghost, a shadow, in my
walking, a
shadow in chains that
made my
walking more difficult. In my feet,
I could not feet
of grace and gazelle
find, only grass that
grows to
my advance
stop!
How silly is that!😂 Let's try another one, now breaking in the word before a comma or full stop:
I was followed by a
ghost, a
shadow, in my
walking, a shadow in chains that made my walking more
difficult. In my
feet, I could not feet of grace and gazelle
find, only grass that grows to my advance
stop!
Now with relative clauses!
I was followed by a ghost, a shadow, in my walking, a shadow in chains
that made my walking more difficult. In my feet, I could not feet of grace and gazelle find, only grass
that grows to my advance stop.
Well, all results are very different, and the new line breaks would also alter the rhythm in Spanish, but the whole point is to play around with words. We are not to be afraid of breaking the rules, especially when writing poetry for the sake of writing, which we probably all do at least once in a while (of course I'm talking to those who like writing).
Messing up someone else's poetry:
Yup, this is part of the exercises, too. For this task, I'll mess up the first two stanzas of Edgar Allan Poe's Eldorado. (You can read the full poem, which only has other two stanzas,
here).
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
But he grew old—
This knight so bold—
And o’er his heart a shadow—
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.
Here's my result!
Gaily bednight, a gallant
knight, in sunshine and
in shadow, had
Journeyed long, singing
a song,
in search of
Eldorado. But he
grew old—this knight
so bold—and o'er his heart a shadow—fell
as he found
no spot of ground
that looked like
Eldorado.
CONCLUSION
OK -- that was a lot! I hope you had fun reading how strangely the poems turned out, and that you try Tell-Tell's 5 days to better poems by yourself!
PS: don't be shy! Share your results with me!
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