Alice Friman on Poetry Part 2

First, I’m happy to announce that FORCE OF HABIT, my sf/cop/farce novel, is FREE for Kindle for another four days, 12/23-27, 2012. Go get it!

Here is (are?) the rest of my notes on Alice Friman’s Poetry presentation:

Mechanics

Rewriting–has two basic purposes:

To take these unconsious images and make them make sense

To evoke feeling–try to make the reader feel what you felt

Poems are about feelings–they are invisible–only experienced through language.

Say there is a ghost in the room; invisible. You have to throw a sheet over it in order to see it. The ghost is the POEM; the underlying emotion. The sheet is the language, the shape that shows the form beneath. The lighter the sheet, the clearer the form. Every word in a written poem must hold up a meaning or it overloads, blunts, suffocates the ghost.

The title also is working language.

Rhyme: Most people think of rhyme as end stop rhyme–where the phrase stops at the end of the line with exact rhyme.

Enjambment is when the phrase passes the end of the line and stops inside another line. The rhymes are sometimes imperfect.

Interior rhyme lends a lyric quality to the poem.

Assonance is rhyme or near-rhyme of vowel sounds.

Consonance is “rhyme” of consonants: murder/dream/drama/moored are rhymes like this.

l is lovely s is ugly d and hard th are final: death

Line length: the longer the line, the faster you read. The shorter the line, the slower and more purposefully you read.

For a philosophical, lyrical, romantic, thoughtful effect, use “ing” forms of verbs

For a strong and punchy effect, use stem of verb

Exercise: Finish these sentences:

1. The keys want

2. I wish you would

3. The sea has showers of

4. The clock hears

5. What is it that the piano loves?

Poems are made up of adjectives, nouns and verbs. Pick two of each from a thesaurus and make yourself use them in a poem.

Again, I, Marian, tell you that these exercises are as useful for prose as they are for poetry.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Do Friman’s exercises.

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “Alice Friman on Poetry Part 2

  1. Jane

    December 24, 2012 at 11:28am

    These are awesome notes. Ms Friman is amazing–and so are you to have captured all this concentrated thinking. Thank you, ma’am.

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  2. Joy

    December 27, 2012 at 10:05am

    Job well done! It was so informative and I think I would not see any poet better that Alice Friman. Your points are informative and entertaining to read too. Thanks for sharing this to us. I love it!

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      December 27, 2012 at 12:30pm

      Ms. Friman is absolutely one of my favorite writers. Glad you enjoyed the post. ๐Ÿ™‚

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  3. Emilia

    December 28, 2012 at 9:36am

    These are some great thoughts. Thanks for taking note on what Ms. Friman has today regarding poetry. Have a nice day!

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    • Author
  4. Veronica

    December 29, 2012 at 12:57am

    Cool post about Alice Friman and such amazing and informative notes!!! I loved it! Kudos ๐Ÿ™‚

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  5. Calra

    December 29, 2012 at 5:27am

    This is a wonderful insight. I love reading poetry and sometimes write too. Best poetry is when your reader can feel exactly what you have wriiiten with the same emotions. Thanks for sharing.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      December 29, 2012 at 7:59am

      Alice Friman is great at doing that. Then, if you read more closely, you get an idea of what she’s THINKING. That’s amazing!

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