I still haven't mastered the art of producing poetry on demand. Yeah, go ahead and tell me to produce a couplet. No problem. I'll produce something that is totally stupid, but is still totally a couplet. To the skeptics "You see this? Is anyone here prepared to argue that this is not in fact two lines that rhyme? I rest my case."
Couplets aren't that hard. You can mass-produce those little buggers. But you definitely can't tell me to produce a sonnet. Of course, sonnets don't come about naturally anyway. I've never been just sitting on my bed (my preferred poetry workstation) casually writing a poem and suddenly realize that, lo and behold, I've been writing a sonnet. "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle. Hey check this out - it's a sonnet! What should I call it?"
I am a self-motivated person. Which basically means that when I don't want to do something, I don't do it. What I need to do is realize that I really, deep down want to write a sonnet. There is nothing in the world I wish for more, than to write 14 lines -three quatrains and a couplet - in iambic pentameter using the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg.
Oh well, the couplet will be easy.
P.S. Couplets can be hard if you do them right
Beerbohm
6 years ago
I think we find the writing process hard,
ReplyDeleteFor such must be the lot of human brains.
You try to write a sonnet, but it's marred
By cacophonious sound, which brings you pains.
And sadly, effort only makes it worse,
And makes you beat your head against the wall
And wonder why you merited this curse
So potent, though it seems to be so small.
Some far off day, when your first sonnet's done,
You'll laugh and sing as in your happy past,
But now, you look with longing at the sun,
And at your laptop angry glances cast.
And so I leave you to your weary task,
And for this comment your forgiveness ask.
That's disgusting (and also quite impressive). I should be hopeful though, because I got my first quatrain done and it took only 30 minutes. That means, if the process is consistent (which it won't be), that I've got about 75 minutes left.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry but I don't know what to say
ReplyDeleteReading flabbergastery again was fun
Despite not having done so til today
Since all the way since third term was done.
I've found the last few posts you've made a wheeze
Especially the one about the book
The one Rob wrote in when he hated peas
(When he was eight that's how I think he'd look)
I'm sorry for the suck of these here lines;
They'll likely make you want to choke a bit.
I know I should have learned to dig the mines
Of writing nice, though I seem like a rabbit
That's chewing on some grass and rocks and leaves
But I don't feel like it. Eaves.