[xikayParticipant]

Many poets find it difficult to write consistent rhymes and still maintain the good qualities of a poem. In most cases, the poem is watered down to make perfect rhymes.
Now, Blank verses are usually easier to write [for the new poets], becaue you just say what you want to say and break up the line.

However, the reality is that Blank Verses are quite difficult. Why. Simple. In Rhymes, you get distracted to the fine rhyme patters and may forget to look out for the other element but in a Blank Verse, the individual words make the poem.

As a poet, I started with Rhymes and later discovered the beauty of Blank Verses.

What is your style, why and how do you go about it?

[layriteParticipant]

This is a very good idea, @xikay. I will put up my thought soon.

[shaifamilyParticipant]

As some of you will av noticed I prefer the rhymed pattern.
It might be the internal rhymes or end rhymes, and the reason for this is simply because it gives a certain cadence to the piece. When it is read the way it is structured, the beauty is more appreciated.
Blank verses have also shown up a few times in my works though. So…no biggie for me.

[xikayParticipant]

@layrite, we are waiting for you.
@shai so you prefer Rhymes…what would you say about it getting watered down, to secure the rhyme?

[shaifamilyParticipant]

Well it happens. If one is however careful enough to craft the appropriate words u still come out wif a beautiful piece.
Watering-down is the function of the skill of the poet – their mastery of techniques and words. Watering-down can happen in any genre….so?

[xikayParticipant]

@shai, you do have a point…the skill.

[JefsaraurmaxParticipant]

@xikay, at school I learned poems from Charles Baudelaire and Victor Hugo which rhyme.When I was older, I discovered Paul Eluard who wrote poems that didn’t rhyme and used words in a complete different ways (ex: earth is blue like an orange). I think it opened my mind to new possibilities. When I write a poem, I try to give a rendition of the feelings I want to express, like going inside a house and describing the interior. I follow my inner rhythm and I like to use repetitions and pauses. Sometimes the words happen to rhyme, most of the time they don’t. I believe poems need to convey a feeling or an impression and if they do,it doesn’t matter if it is done by rhyming or not.I have read poems in either style that have touched me very much.I think it is just a matter of style preference for the writer.

[shaifamilyParticipant]

This guy Charles Baudelaire again!!! @jefsaraurmax

[shaifamilyParticipant]

@jefsaraurmax u av got a keen taste. I don’t blame you though. Living down this side of the world, not enough people have time to appreciate the little beautiful tinz of life.(I know I will get hammered for ds one).

If you have seen another forum thread on poetry…whether it should be hard or *soft8 or something like dt anyways, then you will understand how difficult it will be for some people down this side of the world to appreciate poetry the way u appreciate that Elouard* chap.
My point, the skill of the poet is all that counts. If the poet has a higher skill proficiency he is able to carry along a larger % of the audience whether writing blank verses or rhymed ones…hard or soft poetry.

[JefsaraurmaxParticipant]

@Shay, Baudelaire is a classic in France and you have to learn it at school, same thing with Apollinaire ,Hugo, Verlaine, Rimbaud etc. It is not a matter of taste.
In my opinion poetry is something that more people can relate to versus other forms of writings because it deals with primary feelings that we all share like love or pain. Art is for everyone as is beauty. What can get in the way though sometimes is the words people are not used to see. This is why I try to keep my poems simple as much as I can.
This is “My two daughters”, it’s a poem that Victor Hugo wrote about his girls (translation is below).I think that feeling of the love of a father is universal and it doesn’t matter if he died more than 100 years ago. It is still something people can relate to.
Dans le frais clair-obscur du soir charmant qui tombe,
L’une pareille au cygne et l’autre à la colombe,
Belle, et toutes deux joyeuses, ô douceur !
Voyez, la grande soeur et la petite soeur
Sont assises au seuil du jardin, et sur elles
Un bouquet d’oeillets blancs aux longues tiges frêles,
Dans une urne de marbre agité par le vent,
Se penche, et les regarde, immobile et vivant,
Et frissonne dans l’ombre, et semble, au bord du vase,
Un vol de papillons arrêté dans l’extase.

In pleasant evening’s fresh-clear darkness,
One seems a swan, the other a dove,
Both joyous, both lovely, O sweetness!
See, the elder and younger move
At the garden’s edge, and beside them
White carnations with long frail stems,
Stirred by the wind, in a marble urn,
Lean, watching them, live and motionless,
And, trembling with shade there, seem to be
Butterflies caught in flight, frozen ecstasy.

[JefsaraurmaxParticipant]

@shay, I realized I meant to say that I agree with you.The skills of the poet matter.I will add that the poem has to be about something that the audience can relate to. The background can be set in a different culture/country/way of life but the main part has to be universal.

[JefsaraurmaxParticipant]

@shai and I just mistyped you name twice, not a good start in the day! My excuse is that I went to see the Avengers last night and I got home really late so this morning (it is 9:38 here), I am very tired.

[shaifamilyParticipant]

@jefsaraurmax I quite understand what you are saying. But do you really, really understand what I am *saying*?

[shaifamilyParticipant]

Guess that last post came inn late….we understand each other then.

[xikayParticipant]

@jefsaraurmax I agree with you totally Baudelaire was one helluva poet and I read him growing up with the interest of poetry. The reason I started with rhymes was because I started on Shakespeare’s’ Sonnets, no 64 to be precise.
I love rhymes but nothing can give me the freedom of a blank verse. It allows me to use deep words without restriction of rhymes…though a well rhymed poem [especially one with rhythm] is a joy.

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