...being another of my attempts to write a poem in a forme fixe, and how a cheeky Lancashire comedian of yore came to my rescue when things weren’t turning out quite right.
I started out writing formal verse, and churned out over forty Shakespearean sonnets (decasyllabic, occasionally iambic), but the rhyming form broke me Mike.
By poem number fifty I could no longer do it. It was something of a ball ache, and funnily enough I wrote a poem in rhyme soon after the end of sonnet writing about my prosthetic after testicular cancer. Then came free verse, and I never looked back. 😎
I shared some of my poetry with a work colleague recently. She read it, and said that she liked it, but it wasn't poetry because it didn't rhyme. I went on to tell her that poetry didn't have to rhyme, bus she refused to budge fromm her point of view..
You’ll be glad perhaps I’m too pooped to comment at length. The article let me realise its language I like, hence free forms. And I like Plath for economy. Just today I read that Huxley said of Edith Sitwell and her ‘Dadaist’ verse, the sense is governed by the rhyme. Which is like greenwashing tyres cos you ran out of white.
Again hence free verse. It must be how the (gormless) mind works: I can rebuild engines cos of how they bolt together. But there’s no Haynes manual of poetry cos it’s something you create: not the rule book whatever.
I imagine somebody once wrote in whatever style because it came naturally.Subsequently people copied and you can tell. When writing songs I often abandoned them trying to rhyme and follow metre. It might be clever in s Pam Ayers way, but it’s what one might rank as low brow like tabloid headlines.
My poor brain even fails to make sense reading it. Perhaps I hide my fickniss in my sesquisyllabic symposia?
This expresses exactly how I feel about writing in formal verse! I haven't come across the rondo double before so very much enjoyed yours - I will have to give it a go. Inspiration can come from the most unlikely of sources - why not George Formby?
I started out writing formal verse, and churned out over forty Shakespearean sonnets (decasyllabic, occasionally iambic), but the rhyming form broke me Mike.
By poem number fifty I could no longer do it. It was something of a ball ache, and funnily enough I wrote a poem in rhyme soon after the end of sonnet writing about my prosthetic after testicular cancer. Then came free verse, and I never looked back. 😎
I shared some of my poetry with a work colleague recently. She read it, and said that she liked it, but it wasn't poetry because it didn't rhyme. I went on to tell her that poetry didn't have to rhyme, bus she refused to budge fromm her point of view..
I like to shift between free and formal. Smart/casual probably suits me best
You’ll be glad perhaps I’m too pooped to comment at length. The article let me realise its language I like, hence free forms. And I like Plath for economy. Just today I read that Huxley said of Edith Sitwell and her ‘Dadaist’ verse, the sense is governed by the rhyme. Which is like greenwashing tyres cos you ran out of white.
Again hence free verse. It must be how the (gormless) mind works: I can rebuild engines cos of how they bolt together. But there’s no Haynes manual of poetry cos it’s something you create: not the rule book whatever.
I imagine somebody once wrote in whatever style because it came naturally.Subsequently people copied and you can tell. When writing songs I often abandoned them trying to rhyme and follow metre. It might be clever in s Pam Ayers way, but it’s what one might rank as low brow like tabloid headlines.
My poor brain even fails to make sense reading it. Perhaps I hide my fickniss in my sesquisyllabic symposia?
Entertaining read in my momentary lucidity.🤑👍
This expresses exactly how I feel about writing in formal verse! I haven't come across the rondo double before so very much enjoyed yours - I will have to give it a go. Inspiration can come from the most unlikely of sources - why not George Formby?
Thank you. I really hope to see your rondeau doublé on substack at some point.