Is that not how you take your eggs?

Maybe it’s not the eggs. For you it could be the dog or the rosebush, the children skipping into kindergarten, or the drone of the behemoth copy machine. We live in a world ready with image.

How Images are Made

Images are brought into the fabric of a piece of writing in several different ways.

• Simile uses “like” or “as” to link the thing to its representative other thing, building an image through explicit comparison.

• Metaphor shows an implicit connection between two things

Metaphor is often the trickier device of the two. Of metaphor, Mary Oliver writes, “the two things compared often seem very different, and the linkage often surprises and delights even as it enlightens.” Both metaphor and simile can provide linkages that enlighten the reader, as they build tension and point the reader toward an intangible thing—this is how we wring emotion and mood from our writing. Not by saying “I’m worried and amazed,” but by showing it.

Here is a great example from “First Anniversary, With Monkeys” of an image that shows a tension as it explores the complexities of relationships in the context of a hot, sweaty jungle:

There is no crumbly frozen cake to thaw.

Today, we are in the jungle. I mean mosquito. I mean

tigers and elephants sludging their way

to the lake for a drink and Don’t make sudden moves

or snakes startled from an afternoon nap

will greet you fang first. I think we are lost. Too hot

for any cold confection to survive. Even my tube

of sunblock is as warm as a baby’s bottle. . . .  [emphasis added]

The jungle animals, the snakes who “will greet you fang first” are in alarming juxtaposition to a warm baby’s bottle—how did such a thing appear suddenly in the poem? Through the jungle, the speaker carries something essential, sunblock, but in her mind’s eye and in the eye of the poem it is “as warm as” a baby’s bottle. The “as” indicates a simile is being used to draw a link between two things. The link is between the essential and the precious. Exaggerated by the information we already have about the speaker, this is her first wedding anniversary with her husband.

Beyond the Metaphor

Here are some other ways to build images in your writing.

1) Extended metaphor

Using an extended metaphor can prolong the world of the metaphor and create an alternate environment. In W.S. Merwin’s “Bread”, for example, the poem opens with the image “Each face in the street is a slice of bread” and continues to craft the world of bread, “hung with the hollow marks of their groping” and “the ragged tunnels they dreamed of following in out of the light”, to the “heart of bread” until the final lines where, still within the shroud of the metaphor, we emerge:

to find themselves alone   

before a wheat field

raising its radiance to the moon

2) Personification

Personification is the attribution of human characteristics to something nonhuman In “Golden Retrievals” by Mary Doty, you’ll notice something different about the speaker of the poem:

Fetch? Balls and sticks capture my attention

seconds at a time. Catch? I don’t think so.

Bunny, tumbling leaf, a squirrel who’s—oh

joy—actually scared. Sniff the wind, then

I’m off again: muck, pond, ditch, residue

of any thrillingly dead thing… [emphasis added]

First, we notice that the dog is the speaker of the poem. In this first half of the poem he retains his dog-like thoughts, he is concerned with the things that would concern a dog: squirrels, balls, sticks, getting dirty, etc. But in the second half of the poem, the dog contemplates his human, using the thoughts and language of a human:

…And you?

Either you’re sunk in the past, half our walk,

thinking of what you never can bring back,

or else you’re off in some fog concerning

—tomorrow, is that what you call it? 

On the surface this poem seems fairly innocuous, but the deeper you go the more you realize the image of a dog in the park with a contemplative master is digging us towards the core of this poem; it’s about grief. Something is gone, someone is missing from the scene, and there is a solace, only it’s not the human who realizes it:

…My work:

to unsnare time’s warp (and woof!), retrieving,

my haze-headed friend, you. This shining bark,

a Zen master’s bronzy gong, calls you here,

entirely, now: bow-wow, bow-wow, bow-wow.

3) Allusion

Allusion is a brief and intentional reference to a mythic, historical, or literary person, place, event, or movement. A great example of a literary allusion is Louise Glück’s “Parable of the Hostages,” can you guess what the allusion is to from these first lines?

The Greeks are sitting on the beach

wondering what to do when the war ends. No one

wants to go home…

The entire world of Glück’s poem is an allusion to The Odyssey, picking up after the fall of Troy. Without saying his name, Glück specifically calls upon the travels of Odysseus and contemplates the reluctance of the Greeks to return home, without knowing that their journey would take them ten years to complete:

that of their small number

some would be held forever by the dreams of pleasure,

some by sleep, some by music?

Writing Exercises

Now it’s your turn! Try your hand at image-building with one of these devices: simile, metaphor, extended metaphor, personification, or allusion. To make things interesting, imagine yourself stranded on a tropical island. You have only a toaster, three knives, a jumbo package of Pixy Stix and a worn-out copy of Paradise Lost. Here are a few ways you might get started:

Metaphor – You are an island

1) Simile – This island is as hot as…

2) Extended metaphor – You are an island, your mother is the sea, every one of your siblings is a boat that passes by

3) Personification – turn the toaster into your version of Winston and give him human attributes

4) Allusion – incorporate a brief moment from John Milton’s famous work

………….

Danielle Mitchell graduated cum laude from the University of Redlands with a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing, and now lives in Long Beach. In 2010, Danielle was selected as one of ten up-and-coming poets in Pop Art: Anthology of Southern California Poetry published by Moon Tide Press. Later that year, she released her first chapbook, Poem Food. Danielle has been a featured reader at Beyond Baroque, Loyola Marymount University, the San Gabriel Valley Literary Festival, the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, the Small Press Book Festival in Santa Monica, and the Ugly Mug in Orange home of the Two Idiots Peddling Poetry.

In 2013, Danielle founded The Poetry Lab, a bi-monthly writing group for poets in all stages of their careers. She also hosts the Stranded Artist Series, a quarterly poetry event featuring a visiting writer’s workshop and reading. Danielle’s prose poems have appeared in Cease, Cows, East Jasmine Review, and Four Chambers Press, earlier work has appeared in Mixed Fruit  and dirtcakes among others. She hopes to complete work on her full length book of poems in 2014.

The post Image in the World Around You appeared first on DIY MFA.

Verse novels are stories told through un-rhymed poetry. It’s a format that can be intimidating to some readers, so to make the genre feel more accessible, I thought I’d try to demystify them a bit. Here are some things verse novels usually have in common:

Subject matter must be right for poetry.

Some topics lend themselves more easily to poetry than others. Some subjects refuse to be written as prose. Many times an author will use verse to mimic the rhythm of the story. Here are a few books that come to mind:

• Sharon Creech’s HEARTBEAT, about a girl who loves to run
• Karen Hesse’s OUT OF THE DUST, where the spare language reflects the stark Dust Bowl setting
• Lisa Schroeder’s FAR FROM YOU, about a girl who sings and and writes songs

Protagonists must be right for poetry.

Often (though not always) verse novels are told from a very close first-person point of view. Such writing calls for a lot of introspection on the protagonist’s part.  Other times verse is used as a way for multiple voices to be heard, almost like a Greek chorus. Here are some examples:

• Thanhha Lai’s INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN, about a Vietnamese girl’s efforts to understand her new American home
• Karen Hesse’s WITNESS, where the Ku Klux Klan moves into a quiet Vermont town, and citizens reflect on the change they bring

Poems should be able stand alone.

Each poem in a verse novel must capture one moment, scene, idea, mark of change in your character’s life. Poems should also be able to function separately from the rest of the story.

Poems must contribute to the whole.

When I worked through my own verse novel, MAY B., I kept a quilt in mind, treating each poem like its own square of fabric. Each patch had to be able to function separately while at the same time move the story forward. I trusted that if certain patterns and shades in my story quilt were repeated (think themes or story strands), eventually the interconnectedness would surface — a much more organic approach than is normally taken with prose.

Varied poem lengths.

Some scenes flow, some end abruptly. Some thoughts wander, some jab. Without the structure of chapters, verse novels are simultaneously abrupt and fluid — poem lengths can be jagged yet aide the plot in moving through scenes swiftly. It is often difficult to find a place to stop reading, as one poem often bleeds into the next.

Varied line lengths.

Verse novelists play with key phrases or words they want to bring to their reader’s attention by the way they arrange words on the page. Line breaks can be used to slow down reading, to draw the eye to important phrases, and to best “speak” the poem.

Emotion and structure.

The structure of a poem often communicates to readers a character’s emotional state. How might fear look structurally?  A verse novelist might use little punctuation or words tightly packed together. Maybe the language of the poem will unfold in short bursts, reminiscent of a child peeking into a darkened room and quickly slamming the door.

Poetic form.

Some verse novelists use specific types of poetry (sonnets, for example), as Pat Brisson did with her book, THE BEST AND HARDEST THING. In writing about Sylvia Plath in YOUR OWN, SLYVIA, author Stephanie Hemphill chose to mirror the format of several of Plath’s poems, giving her readers a sense of the poet’s style, subject matter, intensity, and character.

The visual and the aural.

When I was a teacher, I used to tell my students that poetry should be seen and heard. There is something special that happens when a reader experiences seeing, hearing, and saying a poem all at once — the fullness of the poem is discovered this way.

Verse novels aren’t books with strange line breaks. They are stories best communicated through the language, rhythm, imagery and structure of poetry. Don’t be afraid to give books in this unique genre a try!

To show you some of the techniques mentioned above, I’ve included a sample poem from my verse novel, MAY B.

I play a game inside my head, [1]

counting plum trees that dot a creek bed, [2]

rabbits that scatter at the sound of wagon wheels,

clouds that skirt the sky.

For hours, that is all

and grass

always grass [3]

in different shades and textures [4]

like the braids in a rag rug.

Miss Sanders told us that lines never end,

and numbers go on forever.

Here, [5]

in short-grass country,

I understand infinity. [6] [7]

Caroline Starr Rose is a former middle school English and social studies teacher. Her middle-grade novel, May B., a historical novel-in-verse, releases January 10, 2012  (Schwartz and Wade / Random House Children’s Books).

The post Reading Verse Novels appeared first on DIY MFA.

But where to start?  With all the literary resources out there, where do you go to find resources on poetry?

Never fear! I’ve put together a list with some of my favorite poetry resources and books, to help you get started.

Online Resources

Poets.org

A great website from the Academy of American Poets, with tons of poems, essays and information on craft as well as biographies of poets.  Looking for a poem on a specific theme or topic?  This site also has a great search engine.  What I love about this site, though, is the wealth of resources they have for beginners.  Check out their Poetry 101 section for tips and articles on how to read poetry, book recommendations and more.

The Writer’s Almanac

The website for NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac presents a different poem each day, plus facts about poets and writers, and a podcast.  A great RSS feed to subscribe to.

Poetry 180

A poem per day for the 180 days of the school year.  That’s the concept behind this fabulous website, which includes 180 poems, plus other resources as well.

Poetry Foundation

Another association dedicated to poetry and a great website.  You can search through their database of poets and poems, or read articles and listen to podcasts.

Poetry Society of America (PSA)

And yet another poetry association with a fantastic website.  I’m especially a fan of their collaboration with the MTA (and now public transit systems across the country) called Poetry in Motion, where they place poems in buses and subways to raise readership of both new and established poets.

Suggested Reading

Poetry and Poetic Forms

• Ordinary Genius by Kim Addonizio
• The Making of a Poem by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland
• Teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms edited by Ron Padgett
• Rhyme’s Reason: A Guide to English Verse by John Hollander

Poetry Collections and Anthologies

• Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry by Billy Collins
• Good Poems by Garrison Keillor
• The Poets Laureate Anthology by Elizabeth Hun Schmidt
• The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry by Alan Kaufman and S.A. Griffin
• How to Eat a Poem: A Smorgasbord of Tasty and Delicious Poems for Young Readers by American Poetry & Literacy Project, and Academy of American Poets

The post Poetry Reading List and Resources appeared first on DIY MFA.