Part Five:
Content: Beyond Beginner’s Fare
Poems are centered around a very few, very basic themes: Birth, Death,
and
what happens along the way. Moreover, someone else has already written
a
poem about these concepts. There may be “nothing new under the sun,” yet
there are still many ways of approaching these themes that remain unexplored.
Your job as the author is to take these themes and write something new from
your own perspective.
When we talk about metaphors and poems (as extended metaphors), it is helpful
to understand ‘tenor and vehicle.’ The tenor is the “implied meaning”
and the vehicle is the device used to take the reader down the road to comprehending
that meaning. For instance, James Wright wrote a poem entitled
Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio. The
poem uses the vehicle of a high-school football game and the fans to express
a tenor of regret and lost youth.
You can start with a tenor, the basic ‘idea’ of what you would like the
poem to express to the reader and then find an apt vehicle for the poem. “Washing
the Car” could be a vehicle for writing about being angry. “Brushing your
teeth” could be a vehicle for hope. Alternatively, you could make a list
of things that you are familiar with, things you have experienced, the places
you have been, and then consider the tenors that could be expressed through
those vehicles.
There are, however, vehicles better left in the scrap yard. “Beginner
Poems” often approach the same tenors in the same ways. Many
people discover poetry in high school and have written, ‘teen-age angst’
poems, which rail against authority, speak of being misunderstood, and spend
a lot of time dwelling on ‘black souls, shadows, blood and tears.”
There’s the “Daddy Done Me Wrong ” poems modeled after Plath, and don’t forget
the always popular “He/She’s Run off and My Heart’s in Little Bitty
Pieces on the Floor” or those vague, sentimental hymns to pets, darling babies,
and lovers in the first flush of romance.
While such heartfelt lines will impress your significant other, an editor
or well- versed poetry reader is a little more difficult to wow.
They have probably read (and rejected) very similar poems, recently.
If you are serious about your writing, there is no substitute for reading.
It is essential. You must read poems by contemporary writers, poems by the
Masters, free verse, metrical verse, poem you love, poems you hate.
The more you read, the better your understanding of the concepts that others
have used, and the more you’ll be inspired in your own writing.
Read beginner poems too, they are prolific along the information superhighway.
See if you can find examples of ‘stock’ poems and then avoid falling
into the same potholes.
First, focus on writing a poem that is not too broad, and does not read
as if “ just anyone” could have written it. This is where the mantra
“write what you know” is useful. Incorporate familiar detail from
your own experiences, perhaps the smell of a cast iron skillet drying on
the stovetop, or the sensation of snow on the tent-top. Avoid directly
stating the tenor of the poem; let it be inferred from the detail and imagery
of the vehicle.
Next, be mindful of the opposite extreme: a poem that is so specific that
no one else can relate to it at all. These tend to be the “Me” or “I”
poems, which leave the reader with the sense of driving for miles with a self-important
bore in the passenger’s seat. Look again at Wright’s poem, he begins with
the very specific place “Shreve High football Stadium” and continues in the
first section by grounding the poem in the details of a certain town.
Although he begins with a personal comment in line 2, he does not continue
to repeat the “I.” As the poem moves into the next sections,
it opens up an avenue so that the reader, too, can feel a sense of involvement
in the poem. So that each reader can think of their own example, he
writes of “proud fathers’ and “their sons” instead of “Ralph
Pinskey” and “his boy Sam.” It is this blending of personal detail
and accessibility to the reader that helps the poem succeed.
As you continue in writing and revising, be aware of the tenor and vehicle
of your poem. If a certain vehicle is not able to convey a certain
idea or emotion, try another. The subject matter itself is less important
than how you transform it. On this concept, I highly recommend
the interesting essay,“Dull Subjects,” by William Matthew (from his book
of essays, Curosities, 1989). Experiment with different
tenors and vehicles; ground your work in authentic personal detail even if
the poem is not strictly autobiographical. Be aware of writing that
heavily emphasizes the first person, try to take a step back, to get the “I”
out of the spotlight so that it does not distract from the tenor of the poem.
Even though most poetry in general tends to encompass the same few
basic themes, each individual can bring their own life experiences to create
poems
that are intriguing and individually unique.
Next Month: Spotlight on Titles |
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