AND THIS IS WHERE THE PARTY STARTS!!!

~PenWieldingPoets - a club for metrical poetry.

If you write metrical poetry, join the group
If you are interested in metrical poetry, well, hopefully this group will become a hub of metricians.

In any case, please support the group in whatever way you can, even if it is only encouragement.


Metre in the Modern Age
Rant regurgitated from a forum thread I posted in. Yes I am lazy.

I believe that there is still creativity and originality to be found in the traditional forms and styles - by altering them within the overall parameters of the style.

Dylan Thomas is as good an example as any with his take on the villanelle, a form usually used for folksy and pastoral poetry, based upon an old french peasant dance (if I recall correctly). 'Do not go gentle into that good night' took the form and gave the power of its repetition new life, making it more acceptable to use the form for non-traditional purposes whilst still calling it a villanelle.

What about Fixed Form hybridisation? Take the Sonnet:

Petrarch made it famous, and for a while the 'unrequited, distant love' sonnet was THE way to do sonnets.
A couple of hundred years later, Surrey made it popular among England's gentlemen poets (Philip Sidney, Fulke Greville, Edmund Spenser) who said 'Hey! what can we do with this?'.
Read some of their works, and you'll notice all sorts of variations upon the themes and forms, such as anti-love sonnets and religious sonnets.

In the end, only three forms survived and became orthodoxy: The Petrarchan, the Spenserian, and the Surreyan (which became known as the Shakespearean when old Bill got his hands on it, and then the 'English' sonnet). However, many sonnetteers of Elizabethan times experimented with using combinations of various sonnet-elements from differing styles - English octaves with Italian sestets; Italian octaves with English sestets; and more besides.

Each was a little revolution in poetic thought for its day.



In modern days, I argue that the new frontier for structural revolution is in how we use metre.

1: Ban metronomic metre - learn to use metre so that it sounds natural, not like clockwork poetry.

2: Relative accentual syllabic metre - Too many scholars worry about just WHAT level of stress each syllable has. All the modern poet needs to know is the comparative level of stress between the syllables of words, and how that fits into an overall metric and rhythmic pattern.

3: Blank verse renaissance: Yes, metre helps make rhyme work. But you know what? Blank verse works better. And blank verse in ALL kinds of metre, not just ye olde iambic pentameter.

4: Old metre, new method: Metre works better with assonance than with rhyme. Metre works wonderfully with enjambment, not just end-stopped lines or rhyming couplets. Metre looks good if you follow the modernist approach to poetry, and DON'T capitalise the start of each line, but follow a more minimalist approach to punctuation.

5: Metric freeform - an oxymoron? possibly - but I'm getting images of a poem that doesn't follow rigid stanza forms, is enjambed in a way more like modern freeverse, but follows a metric pattern all the same. (eg: X feet of iambs + X feet of trochees + X feet of amphibrachs + X feet of iambs).


Anyway, I've been playing these thoughts around my head for a while now, and I plan on working with them more, as and when I can, to see how they fly.




Feel free to have your own ramble on the topic


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Supporting ~PenWieldingPoets

LIST OF MY METRICAL WORKS - these poems are metrical works that aren't bad enough to make me cringe.

Winter
[Probably my first truly worthwhile attempt at metrical poetry. Still a favourite of mine.]

Tapestries
[An experiment in sapphic verse. Technically speaking, it is almost perfect. As a poem, it lacks spirit, and suffers from slightly redundant imagery.]

A Blank Page
[Currently in storage due to being a contest entry.]

Mantra
[My first experiment in open-stanza/freeform metre. Still quite structural in its approach, but is but the first step on this particular path of experiments. Quite close to becoming my favourite metrical piece.]

Battlefeared
[A villanelle. Above average, but nothing too special about it. I like it though.]

She is Daylight
[A sonnet. Written solely to play around with the Elizabethan poetic voice. expect nothing inspiring here, simply another 'ye olde sonnete'.]

The Death March
[I quite like this. The description I left neglects to mention that the first line of the poem does not quite fit in with the metric structure otherwise followed. I'd change the description, but don't want it polluting inboxes again.]

A Lesson in Manners
Loose metre. VERY loose metre. I wasn't fussy about which feet to use for this one - only the sum of stresses per line. It was an interesting experiment.


In any case, that is enough from me for now.

Benedictions!

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A prosemonkey link [link]

*saintartaud has put together what she considered the best ten PROSE deviations of the last year

So, for those of you wanting a break from poetry, click the link, read some prose.

And who said I don't have some form of Christmas/New Year spirit?
I'm even pimping the prosemonkeys!

Benedictions!


DA WRITING COMMUNITY - KEEPING THE FAITH!

I'm a writer - we all know this.
I love DA - this too is an obvious fact.

I also love the idea of a progressive DA writing community, one focused on producing successively more refined and, dare I say it, 'good' writings.

For this reason, I usually try to help and encourage writing groups with that sort of focus. Such groups have risen and fallen, and some have held on. Some have changed focus to a more community-oriented outlook, letting writers get together in a more friendly fashion.

So, I'm going to say a few words for those groups that I know who are primarily interested in increasing the quality of DA writings.


If you are a DA writer, and have never heard of these guys - which stone have you been living under?

Their mission statement is basically to put out collections of what they consider to be good poetry and prose.

They are an eclectic bunch, so no matter whether you swing to freeverse poetry, structural poetry, prose, etc, Chances are you will find something you like in one of their 5 volumes so far.

They also have a comprehensive list of writing groups that can be found on DA.
They may be a narky bunch at times, but these folks live 'community spirit' in regards to DA literature.

You may not have heard of these guys, but you probably will soon.

This anonymous collective of writers pursues the ideals of the Comment Revolution by actively commenting on literary works with an apparent focus on depth of analysis, and aid in technical improval.

Poetry, prose, articles, critique by request - they do it all.

Back up and running.

This group has one purpose - to provide a regular 'Critique-by-request' service for poetry and prose writers. Give them a chance to get back in action - it can only benefit the community at large.
IF YOU CAN WRITE A DECENT CRITIQUE, PLEASE HELP OUT!

Allowing writers to learn from other writers. After a long hiatus, the group is up-and-running at a basic level of service once more.

This group is a bit of a mystery, but it is a hardworking one. Collecting opinions from a multitude of DA writers, they collate essays on various aspects and issues in regards to poetry.

I found them by chance. They need more promotion.
Lit-Source is basically a nexus for literature-related articles and groups that can be found on DA. They are an EXCELLENT source of DA-literature based information.

This group doesn't get anywhere as much attention as I think it should.
It is my firm belief (and those who know me know I won't shut up on the subject), that no poet who truly takes pride in their craft should ignore any aspect of poetry. Structural poets should try freeverse, and Freeverse poets should try structure.

And that is what this group provides - A selection of easy-to-understand write-ups on various poetic forms with examples.

This group's IRC channel has become a congregating place for writers of all ages who have an interest in the improvement of their craft.
Of special interest are their 'Open Mic' nights, using the internet miracles of a computer microphone, soundcard, and a program called 'TeamSpeak'. Check it out, hear the funny accents.

An ever-expanding online writers group that provides regular releases of themed writings. Go check them out, they are a very friendly crew. The releases are all of high quality as well.




Join the Comment Revolution This is an initiative to make DA a more constructive environment.



Visit the Writers Forum - and remember to wear your best sense of humour with a flame retardant lining




Check all of these people out, and give them some love.

For all those other groups I haven't mentioned - Go to =suture or *Lit-Source. Find the groups. Click the links. Check them out. There's a bucketload of them.



Introducing the current Literature Admins!!!
All the opinions, waffle and nonsense presented in this section are entirely unofficial, and thus should certainly be taken as absolute truth.
These people are the three hands of the devil. They perform the Literature-tier juggling acts that keep us all entertained


^ndifference is a hundred years old. It's true I tell you!
'Gramps' is probably the most solid and reliable of the admins.
Currently, I recommend sending your POETRY recommendations for Daily Deviations to him (remember to include 'why' you suggest it).
Ndiff can be bribed with Tullamore Dew, as fine an Irish whiskey as you'll ever come across (so I am told).

Ol' man ^MinorKey is the up-and-coming competition for Grampa Ndiff in the senility stakes.
When he and Ndiff aren't dueling it out with Zimmer Frames, Minorkey is wandering the literature tier as a confessed and confirmed Prosemonkey.
Currently, I recommend sending your PROSE recommendations to him (remember to include 'why' you suggest it).
Minorkey can be bribed with an outing to an expensive teahouse playing good piano music. I think. Someone let me know if that actually works.

^imperfect is the latest and prettiest addition to the literature tier admins. She brings style, class, and the cutest British accent I've ever heard to DAlit. Go and give her some love!
Toni is the Artists Relations facet of our GD team, and is interested in all DA writers. She can be bribed with all things pink. You can also send poetry DD recommendations to her (remember to include the usual writeup).


FORMER LIT ADMINS:

The lamented `inennui was our resident 'Evil Bastard who hates you all'.
He doesn't, really. Just don't make a mess on his carpet.
Best known for his work in the forums and in the creation of interesting news articles. He did more than that, but he hid the bodies well.
His Ramen recipe is to die for (Which is why I suggest only the suicidal try it).

`Astrophel is currently busy being an all-around nice guy.
When he wasn't using a cleaver to make his bemohawked point, he was working behind the scenes doing things that we only heard rumours of. He used to be an Illuminati recruit, furthering their evil and socially progressive plans for world hegemony, or something - but has now donned the hawaiian shirt of relaxation.


Our Lit Admins have a passion for writing unsurpassed by most, and work long hours to ensure things run relatively smoothly.
Have some sympathy for them, folks - organising writers is like trying to herd cats on speed.


To sum up - DA is a large community comprising of a myriad plethora of smaller communities.
I see myself as part of the writing community. If you are a writer, you fit in there somewhere too.

Keep the faith, keep writing.

Benedictions all!


[link] - this journal of mine is an example of what a year of utilising DA's literary resources can potentially do for you. Have a look.

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Poems I am willing to call good [Narcissus that I am]:

Standing In Dust

A Blank Page

Tales in Read

Half a Glass

Shades of Sleep

Winter

Tapestries

Blue

Anything else in my main gallery is of average or slightly above-average quality.
Quite a few pieces are on the back-burner until I think of a way to fix them, or decide to scrap them.
Anything in my scraps section is either a picture, or a piece of writing that I find unworthy of being in the main gallery.

Benedictions