Re: Poetry

Jean, What you quote from Tennyson was classed as poetry when it was published but it was really 'Dramatic Monologue' and Shakesperes ' All the world's a stage ' was written as a Monologue.

Poetry should rhyme within four lines other than that it is not true poetry, in my opinion.

If it does not Rhyme then it is just a spoken word like a person discussing everyday things with no specific meaning.
Poetry evolved from folk songs or Ode's which in their true form had some form of rhyming in them.

Joe, if you are going to write lyrics from songs please get them in the right order.

Re: Poetry

I don't disagree that unrhyming poetry exists, I just cannot get a proper explanation as to why it is classed as poetry.

This IS the proper explanation:
It's classed as poetry because it HAS RHYTHM and IS NOT PROSE. Prose does not have regular rhythm.

Oxford Dictionary - Poetry: Literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm (NB - no mention of rhyme).

If you cannot hear the rhythms of Tennyson and Shakespeare's blank verse you probably need to get a good recording of them by someone like Olivier or Gielgud and listen to how they read it.

So you may by all means disagree with the Oxford dictionary and with every professor of English and have your own opinion BUT the fact remains that blank verse is universally accepted as being poetry. You don't have to like it or understand it yourself but others do. If you are not convinced by that, then there is no more to be said.

Re: Poetry

Well, all of my poems and monologues rhyme, but there is a place for poems that don't, but I don't call those poems, but stories which have rhythm, and sometimes it can be difficult to differentiate between the two, unless they're read correctly.

There are lots of lovely and funny poems (and stories) in the Leisure section on here, penned by members, not just mine, but most folk on here tend not to look in there, and they're ignored or over-looked.

Eccles has put some lovely stuff in there, and it can cause sadness when nobody but a very few show some sort of interest in the efforts of those members who are willing to show their work on here and hope for some sort of positive reaction which will spur them on to do more.

I'm not bothered about mine as I've long ago given up, except for the fact that Marian reads my stories and, as she enjoys them, I'll continue to post them. They're not everybody's cup of tea after all.

Re: Poetry

If you want to quote from something then use the full version not the political brownie points scoring one.

po·et·ry
/ˈpōətrē/
Noun

Literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm;...
A quality of beauty and intensity of emotion regarded as characteristic of poems: "poetry and fire are nicely balanced in the music".

Synonyms
verse - poem - poesy - rhyme

Re: Poetry

OK, so the full quote says one simile is rhyme - so poetry CAN be rhymed but that still doesn't mean it HAS to be. It's just one synonym of many. I was just trying to explain that, not trying to score points.

"Poetry should rhyme within four lines other than that it is not true poetry, in my opinion."

That is your opinion but it is not everyone's. It's not mine. As far as I am concerned blank verse is unrhymed poetry and rhymed stanzas are also poems. And Shakespeare's monologues are always classified as blank verse which is a form of poetry.

Ted Hughes, a previous Poet Laureate, wrote a great deal of unrhymed poetry that is considered great and is taught in schools all over the world. Try reading his 'Wind' and ask if that is not poetry.

Re: Poetry

Jean they teach a lot of things at school some which I agree with and some which I don't. I love Wordsworth, Milton, but dislike Hughes, Tennyson.
Verse without Rhyme is not poetry in my opinion no matter what others say and I do know a lot of people feel the same way.

Re: Poetry

As children we were bought up to understand poetry as a rhyming medium.
'I'm a poet and I dont know it'..... as an example...
For me - a matter of preference...

Re: Poetry

Just having a little giggle - so dont take me seriously... but, how would we Cockneys be if our sayings went like this....
'Dog an' bone...... feet !'
'Apples an' pears..... phone !'.......

Re: Poetry

I'm afraid I'm lost for an answer there Barry, poetry does nothing for me although I like some of the clever rhyming stuff and Limericks always make me laugh "There was an old woman God bless her, she threw her leg over the dresser, etc." The serious non rhyming stuff is like someone delivering a speech and doesn't interest me at all.
I take nothing away from the great poets of the World, if that's what some folks like let them have it by all means. I once had a dream about the famous Shelley and Shakespeare, I wasn't dreaming about poetry, I was dreaming about a pub and they happened to be sitting at the bar, I had heard that a true poet can roll off a poem at the drop of a hat if you give them a subject so I decided to put the theory to the test and introduced myself, Shelley being the gentle type was first so I gave him his lead, I asked him to describe in his own mellow tones a bandy man coming home from a tavern, he stroked his chin for a moment then said "O'r the hill and down the road, came a man whose legs were bowed." I thanked him then turned to the not so mellow Shakespeare who thumped the bar counter and bellowed out "What manner of man is this!, who carries his balls in parentheses!

Re: Poetry

I wrote this especially for a religious forum on which I post!

Limerick

There once was a Christian debate forum,
With more heated rows than decorum,
God shouted, “ENOUGH!”
I’ve heard too much of this stuff
The Devil replied, “that’ll floor ‘em!”
RJG