The poems that we like Jeff Green (cricketjeff) with Sue Cardwell
\nby cricketjeff on December 29, 2007.\u00a0 \u00a9 Jeff Green, All rights reserved
\nSue and I could be called old fashioned poets, well if it wasn’t that these
\ndays free verse is just as old fashioned!
\nIt is going on for 100 years since a writer (who I shall not name for two
\nreasons, one because why give an idiot the credit of using his name and two I
\ncan’t remember it) declared that rhyme and metre were dead. Since then we have
\nhad the great, truly great, poets of the First World War and a whole succession
\nof others who wrote with perfect rhyme and flow.
\nRead Dylan Thomas’s “Rage against the dying of the light” and you are reading a
\nVillanelle, yet for many people the form and the rhyme simply go unnoticed,
\nthat is part of a great poem for me, the technique should be hidden and all
\nthat is left should be the sound and the sense of the poem.<\/p>\n
To get back to directly what we are looking for, we want poems that rhyme and
\nflow, where the structure of the poem adds to the contents, doesn’t cut across
\nit. We both at times admire clever shaped or form poetry but for us,
\nparticularly in these contests, that should be secondary, if you want to win
\npour your passion into the contents, then make sure that the rhyme is perfect
\nand when you read it aloud (you do always read your poems aloud, don’t you?)
\nthe flow is totally natural. The words stress where they need to to make the
\npoem work and you haven’t twisted English to fit the words in. “This is the
\nsort of thing up with which we will not put.”<\/p>\n
Rhyme.<\/p>\n
Especially for these contests we are very strict on what we mean by rhyme. For
\ninstance; rests and best do not rhyme, low and cow do not rhyme and me and
\ndream do not rhyme.
\nSome rhymes only work in some accents, I was pulled up on hearth and path which
\nrhyme perfectly in Southern England but not the North and on taught and sport
\nwhich only rhyme in Old England not in New, if you think any of your rhymes
\nneed the right accent then let the reader know!<\/p>\n
We also largely mean end of line rhyme. Nothing against good internal rhymes, I
\nlove them, but what we are looking for here is “old fashioned” end rhyme.
\nFinally for rhyme to work well it needs a rhyming scheme. Random lines that
\nhappen to rhyme simply wont cut it.<\/p>\n
Flow<\/p>\n
You cannot judge flow as you read to yourself, or as you write. It is
\nessentially aural.
\nIs your poem easy to read aloud? No traps for the tongue? No squeezing in of an
\nextra beat? No sentences that run from one line to the next without a natural
\npause?<\/p>\n
And finally the contents<\/p>\n
Are YOU in the poem? Does it read as though you believe every syllable? Does it
\npaint a delicious picture? Does any reader know exactly what the poet was
\nthinking, or rather what the poet wanted the reader to think he was thinking. A
\nlove poem should make every reader melt, a poem about a mountain view should
\nhave you scared to step forward, about a tragedy should have you crying
\nbuckets.
\nOf course as well as all that, it has to at least try to fit the theme!
\nAlso we do not like “nasty” poetry, don’t give us poems about murder maiming or
\nsuicide, any of those things can be in your poem, but neither of us want to
\nread a guide on the best place to stab someone, or how to get the most blood
\nout of your own veins.<\/p>\n
Get all three of those right and you will write what we consider a great poem.
\nWe aren’t looking for clever or difficult poems, they can be wonderful but so
\ncan a perfect rhyming quatrain (just 4 lines of poetry) or even a limerick.<\/p>\n
If you’re writing a poem to win
\nThen think of a way to begin
\nThen make it all rhyme
\nAnd stick close to time
\nAnd try to give readers a grin!<\/p>\n
or<\/p>\n
Let us know the way that you feel
\nLet all your phrases fit the theme
\nMake all your images seem real
\nFlow like a dream<\/p>\n
Make each stanza rhyme and scan
\nMake your lines stand on their own
\nDo the very best a writer can
\nAnd we won’t moan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The poems that we like Jeff Green (cricketjeff) with Sue Cardwell by cricketjeff on December 29, 2007.\u00a0 \u00a9 Jeff Green, All rights reserved Sue and I could be called old fashioned poets, well if it wasn’t that these days free verse is just as old fashioned! It is going on for 100 years since a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9742,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2208","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9300,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2208\/revisions\/9300"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}