THE ANATOMY OF A POEM

There should never be a need to dissect and explain one’s poetry; it should be accessible to the reader as is. This is not a view I would share in the preface of a published collection, but it is useful to be able to offer an analysis of your own work. An analysis is in no way a justification for what you have written, or indeed the style in which you have written; it serves to reaffirm to yourself exactly why what you have written is actually poetry rather than prose.

​

Writing poetry to any form demands more than an ability to simply make lines rhyme. Likewise, mastery of free verse demands more than fancy words in a seemingly haphazard fashion because it looks impressive to the writer or may in turn look impressive to the reader.

​

Poetry is art, but so too can prose be art rather than a mere form of communication. So the question is, what separates poetry from prose?

​

I believe the answer comes down to crafted language. By crafted language, I mean words that transcend mere semantics through a combination of poetic and rhetorical devices such as tone, stress, specific phonemic patterning, anaphora and oxymoron etc. These devices are the tools with which the poet accomplishes the task of converting prose into poetry and like any tools we must handle them with care and use them properly.

​

My English teachers at school would tell me in no uncertain terms what great authors and poets were thinking about or intending to accomplish in their works, but how did they know? Were they just using examples that they were taught when they were students? I can only speak about my own work with any knowledge or authority so permit me to use examples of my own work to accompany this essay. While I would never compare my musings to the works of past masters, I would hope my literary intentions were no less sincere.

​

For example, the sprung rhythm in the opening stanza of ’Liberty’ is intended as a physical resemblance of a feather.

​

What at first glance appears to be blank verse in 'Oblivion' is actually envelope rhyme which serves to convey a view that we are closing in on oblivion whilst the central line provides the ultimate explanation.

​

The simple language of ’Return to Eden’ is a physical reflection of longing to return to a simple life whilst the tabulated text is designed to mirror the river pushing on regardless of the changes witnessed.

​

The excessive sibilance in ’Valediction’, one of my very rare forays into free verse, is intended to resemble the biting bronchial wind.

​

In the poem, ‘Poetry’, I am using what one might term poetic words – gossamer, candlelight, mellifluous etc to define the craft with each stanza representing a different stage of the process.

​

‘Entrée’ depicts the story of the Snow Queen in Haiku with a seasonal kigo for all four seasons present.

​

In short, the words I use are not forced.They are very deliberate.

​

Titles can also enhance a poem. In the sonnet ‘Vanessa’ the title refers to the Latin word for butterfly whilst the title of the triolet ‘Umbrella’ refers to the gelatinous disc of a jellyfish which it contracts and expands to move through the water. I think a title should be relevant to the overall piece but if it adds an extra layer for the reader then so much the better.

Let me attempt to demonstrate poetic device by using the opening stanza to Return to Eden as an example as it is conducive to a quick and interesting exercise for the benefit of any aspiring poet.

​

​

The trees don’t seem as tall

As I recall from childhood days

Though memory takes its toll;

Still the river flows

   Onwards, expanding

​

By studying the opening stanza we can see how, beyond the slant rhyme (tall/toll) and stressed beat pattern (three to a line save the last), some poetic device occurs in every line:

​

In the first line there is assonance– trees/seem before the line enjambs with an internal rhyme to begin the second line –tall as I recall. The alliterative ‘takes its toll’ stands out in the third line before the oxymoronic fourth line – ‘Still, the river flows’. We end with what could be tautology or rhetoric – ‘Onwards, expanding’. This is perhaps not obvious at first but both words are used in the sense of progressing. The fact poetic device occurs in every line does not make it a good poem – that is for individual readers to decide, but it is undoubtedly a poem.

​

​

Let us take a close look at Liberty.
 

An acrobatic, waspish, wisp
In the whispering current that carries the scent
Of daffodils, tulips and wild hyacinth,
Flits and flutters without concern;
Its hollow rachis filled with flair,
Teasing the breeze through the barbs of its vane
And looping the loop in a figure of eight.

No moulted plumage here, I fear
That death gave life to lifeless down;
O’ battle-weary souvenir
The irony is most profound.
How many borders did you cross,
How many nests were torn and tossed
Before the greatest fight was lost?


I assume – rightly or wrongly – that most readers would depict an image of a feather at first reading but how many might notice the poem is in two halves of seven lines and is actually a sonnet?

This is confirmed by the volta in the second part. The first part is all about the freedom of the feather. The second part is about what set it free i.e. death.

If we look again we can see that the top half has four beats to the line but no strict metre - this is, as I referred to earlier, to physically resemble the carefree manner of the feather floating randomly but never-the-less elegantly.

 

The bottom half has perfect metre because I am no longer describing the carefree manner of the feather. I am now focussing on the more serious issue of death and the possibility of an afterlife.

 
Subsequent reads will reveal obvious poetic devices like assonance, alliteration, oxymoron, the odd metaphor but let’s examine a few lines and ask a few questions about them in order to see why particular words were chosen.

 

Looping the loop in a figure of eight suggests a continuous motion i.e. eternity. The feather is a symbol of an afterlife but if the afterlife is a life in itself then how can death give life to lifeless down?

It is because feathers are lifeless - they do not grow continuously like fingernails. They are more like milk teeth. They push through and are then replaced by another set (summer coat/winter coat) so when a feather is full-grown it is in effect lifeless.

Why mention the scent of daffodils, tulips and wild hyacinth?

Because it is spring! This is what gives reason to suspecting the feather is not moulted plumage because birds do not moult in the spring - or extremely few.

How many borders did you cross - how many migrations - how old was this bird? Did it have a full life?

But this gives a double meaning of entering enemy territory suggesting conflict and struggle and questions are asked of those struggles ’How many nests were torn and tossed’ before the greatest struggle of all, the constant fight to survive, was finally over.

These are the sort of things the serious reader understands about poetry and exactly the sort of things anyone wishing to take up the craft must be able to grasp before simply pouring their heart out on paper; the words first, the primary meaning, any secondary meaning. You must enjoy the construction and the devices. Every time you read it you want it to improve.

 

If your work is not accessible to the reader it should remain personal and not be presented to the public - it does not have to be accessible on every level because it is up to the reader to decide how much they want to look into the work, for example, to reveal ‘Stars’ as an acrostic sonnet at the onset would be condescending to the reader and detract from any actual poetry present, but try to leave the cryptic stuff to the crossword compiler.

​

Aspiring poets ought to go out from their premise: write what seems right, then go over it and make changes, edit out mistakes of grammar, punctuation, rhythm and inappropriate words. Read it aloud several times to ascertain if any superfluity or ambiguity remains. If so, remove it!

​

I do think rhyme is underrated for there are several categories of rhyme and it takes skill to master them. Anyone can write lines that rhyme and call it poetry just because there are rhymes but everyone knows well enough that roses are red and violets are blue is not poetry by any stretch of imagination.
 

If you analyze your own writings and are of the opinion they are indeed poetic then no doubt you will see that the points I make here are present in your work. A true poet either displays the qualities that make poetry because they are present in their very nature, or they have acquired them through study of prosody. In any case, knowing what separates poetry from prose is essential when practicing the craft.

Having a huge pile of discarded writings is part of the package. It not only takes practice but discernment to see what is salvageable and what needs to be tossed. Having a few tools of the right kind definitely helps. You wouldn’t build a house with a sewing machine and a food processor, and using only your hands and brute strength might get the job done, but the lack of excellence will be apparent. Common sense will make you pick the correct implements.

​

Poetry is a matter of taste and readers are obliged to decide upon how much time or effort they wish to devote to the text. However, when we read poetry I think the key is that we don’t judge verses that rhyme or adhere to a strict meter as old hat and we don’t judge the more seemingly abstract as arrant nonsense until we have attempted to make sense of the images and metaphors presented.

Similarly, when writing poetry we need to be certain in our own minds of the metaphors and images we create because if critics raise justifiable questions then we really must come up with good explanations - as I hope I have here.

​