It is National Poetry Month and my subject today is how they have tortured the English language. They are responsible for such words as “ebon” (really ebony) and “eterne” (eternal), and for turning normally one syllable words like “wreaked” into two syllables by adding an accent mark to cause the reader to pronounce the last and effectively silent last syllable.
The list of abuses is long. Here are some: ‘gainst (against), an’ (and), e’en (evening), e’er (ever), ne’er (never), o’er (over), o’ (of), oft (often), ope (open), heav’n (heaven), ta’en (taken) th’ (the). However you look at it, these shortcuts are cheating. Would they have done any better if they had access to a thesaurus as we do today?
As a poet myself, I understand what led writers in the past to manipulate words in this way. The literary world, like that of dress design, has shifting fashions. When these early writers produced their strangulated word versions, the fashion was for rigid forms requiring rhymes.
So, if you are working with a poem requiring an iambic rhythm for instance (daDUM), the word “eternal” does not fit even if it is perfect for what you want to say. You cheat and shorten it to “eterne”. The reader can figure out what it means from the context of the poem.
Once upon history, the “ed” ending to many past tense verbs was indeed spoken as “ed”, like a person’s name. So, perhaps we can be more lenient in judging the very early poets for assuming the “ed” qualified as a syllable to fit the adopted rhythm of the poem, even though present day speakers swallow the “e” into silence leaving only the “d” to make a noise. Can we not forgive writers of the long past for placing an accent mark over otherwise unaccented syllables?
The present literary world frowns on these methods as do the readers of today. Also, the use of rigid forms and rhyme rather than being the norm has become the exception.
One last word–songs, which use the lyric poetic form, also freely mangle words to suit the music. While purists may cringe at this, lovers of the music are happy to let the abuse slide by. Can we not be as generous with the poetry of earlier years?
#EnglishLanguage #EnglishandPoeticLanguage #PoetryCommentary
TALE TOLD AT SEA’S EDGE
For the fishers of the dawn seas:
Lonely shore
Frail net
A catch of changelings
#Poetry #ShortPoem
YES, POETS DO SOMETIMES BEND ENGLISH
Non-poets lodge many complaints about poets and the way they write. One frequent complaint is that poets often upset the usual pattern of English.
But what is that “usual” pattern? It is true that communication in English depends rather strongly on the order of words. This is different in other languages.
English likes its subject to appear early in a sentence, and to precede any action word (verb) attributed to it—”The subject jumped” (or sang, or wobbled, etc.)
Poets do at times break this order, but they generally do so only when creating suspense or emphasis. Non-poets do not like this, always preferring to change the order into ordinary prose which robs the poetry of its opportunity to make the reader take notice of the thought, the meaning, the importance of the few words just read.
When lyricists do the same thing to the accompaniment of music, non-poets generally accept the “misplaced” word(s) and just sing along. Shouldn’t they allow the same courtesy to poets?
The lyric began as a poetry form, and a poet (not musician or lyricist for a musician) can still write a poem classed as a “lyric”.
Okay, okay, I hear your cries. I admit that some poets might not like to be lumped into the group writing “doo-wop, she-bang, nah, nah, nah” and similar nonsense sounds repeated over and over. This does not change anything.
I say that excellent poets are not torturing English when they choose the occasional inversion of word order. I will not, however, support the unconsidered or over-use of this technique which sometimes occurs in writing that wants to claim the title of “poetry”.
Non-poets and poets alike cringe when encountering such writing. But poets end up burdened with the calumny of this writing, plead though we might our innocence (notice the inversion in this prose sentence?)
#EnglishLanguage #PoetsandEnglish #EnglishandPoeticLicense
Author’s Notes
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
“THE TALE TOLD AT SEA’S EDGE” is the source for the title for the blog,”A CATCH OF CHANGELINGS,” appearing in as the Kaleidoscope feature earlier this month. This poem like ‘THE UNCONTAINED” (appearing earlier this month) describes the act of writing a poem.
KALEIDOSCOPE—a series by Kathleen Roxby
“YES, POETS DO SOMETIMES TORTURE ENGLISH”. Once again the author attempts to defend the perceived “wrongness” that critics stress when speaking about poetry. She and her poet mother, Margaret, often spoke about the language subtleties that were often not understood: why “a” or “the” was preferred, for example. Most people don’t see how the nuance of difference can be important to sense.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“PROSE AND POETRY” was originally written on a napkin while the poet and her mother attended a poetry conference. The sentiment was written to be an alternate to the featured speaker’s position.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Readers who write in response to one of the prompts listed each month in Splintered Glass, may see their work presented here on the last week of that month. Though poems are preferred, short prose work will also be considered for publication.
Guidelines for submission:
Splinters for April 2021
There was an old man with a beard
Who said, “It is just as I feared.
Two owls and a hen
A lark and a wren
Have all built a nest in my beard.
Author’s Notes
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
The poem “THE TALE TOLD AT SEA’S EDGE”, like ‘THE INSTRUMENT” (appearing earlier this month) describes the act of writing a poem. This poem is the source for the title for the blog under Kaleidoscope which appeared earlier this month and also “THE UNCONTAINED” which appeared earlier this month..
KALEIDOSCOPE—a series by Kathleen Roxby
“YES, POETS DO SOMETIMES TORTURE ENGLISH”. Once again the author attempts to defend the perceived “wrongness” that critics stress when speaking about poetry. She and her poet mother, Margaret, often spoke about the language subtleties that were often not understood: why “a” or “the” was preferred, for example. Most people don’t see how the nuance of difference can be important to sense.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“PROSE AND POETRY” was originally written on a napkin while the poet and her mother attended a poetry conference. The sentiment was written to be an alternate to the featured speaker’s position.
Denial Favors Anapest
Denial is a natural for the anapest.
The tongue and mind in a one-two sprint
To the sudden, slam-burst of sound:
i did Not!
Blast and echo
Is the pattern
Of an accusation
Meant to turn the ear
From an anapest defense
To the dactyl of offense:
HE did it!
In two quick steps
The unshakably stubborn
Will push you out the door
With their anapestic vigor:
i will Not!
But the whiner will whimper
With the torture of iambs
elongated horribly, terribly,
i C A A A N’T,
i D O O O N’T.
The liar, ‘not ME’
And the doubter, “not HIM”
Will also favor the short iamb.
To stun and numb
Belligerence delivers the dare
With a one-two trochee punch:
TRY me.
MAKE me.
But for the truly outraged
under unfair accusation,
the choice will forever be
the shock wave of the anapest:
i am NOT!
#PoeticMeter #Poetry
POET’S LAMENT
We struggle with the
Metaphor
We mail it out and
Head it for
That unknown gent the
Editor
Who wonders what we
Said it for,
And what, in fact, he
Read it for.
#PoetsandRejection #PoetryHumor #Poetry
POETS AND MANGLED WORDS, A Case for Absolution
It is National Poetry Month and my subject today is how they have tortured the English language. They are responsible for such words as “ebon” (really ebony) and “eterne” (eternal), and for turning normally one syllable words like “wreaked” into two syllables by adding an accent mark to cause the reader to pronounce the last and effectively silent last syllable.
The list of abuses is long. Here are some: ‘gainst (against), an’ (and), e’en (evening), e’er (ever), ne’er (never), o’er (over), o’ (of), oft (often), ope (open), heav’n (heaven), ta’en (taken) th’ (the). However you look at it, these shortcuts are cheating. Would they have done any better if they had access to a thesaurus as we do today?
As a poet myself, I understand what led writers in the past to manipulate words in this way. The literary world, like that of dress design, has shifting fashions. When these early writers produced their strangulated word versions, the fashion was for rigid forms requiring rhymes.
So, if you are working with a poem requiring an iambic rhythm for instance (daDUM), the word “eternal” does not fit even if it is perfect for what you want to say. You cheat and shorten it to “eterne”. The reader can figure out what it means from the context of the poem.
Once upon history, the “ed” ending to many past tense verbs was indeed spoken as “ed”, like a person’s name. So, perhaps we can be more lenient in judging the very early poets for assuming the “ed” qualified as a syllable to fit the adopted rhythm of the poem, even though present day speakers swallow the “e” into silence leaving only the “d” to make a noise. Can we not forgive writers of the long past for placing an accent mark over otherwise unaccented syllables?
The present literary world frowns on these methods as do the readers of today. Also, the use of rigid forms and rhyme rather than being the norm has become the exception.
One last word–songs, which use the lyric poetic form, also freely mangle words to suit the music. While purists may cringe at this, lovers of the music are happy to let the abuse slide by. Can we not be as generous with the poetry of earlier years?
#EnglishLanguage #EnglishandPoeticLanguage #PoetryCommentary
Author’s Notes
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
The poem “POET’S LAMENT” was written to share with her poet friends.
KALEIDOSCOPE—a series by Kathleen Roxby
“POETS AND MANGLED WORDS, A Case for Absolution” by Kathleen Roxby. The author, like many other young readers, questioned the “misspelled” words in the poems her mother read to her or those she read at school. In college many of the poets who abuse the language in this way were strongly disparaged. Their poetry had been shuffled into the file labeled “old-fashioned”, “stuffy” or just “bad”. But, some of those same poems were favorites of the author. She has always felt a responsibility to defend them.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“DENIAL FAVORS ANAPEST” was written in response to a poetry class assignment.