Line Breaks, Syllables, Organization

Careful use of line breaks can alter a poem's rhythm, tone, and meaning.  The poem below is full of imagery that can be grouped and broken to change the entire feel of the poem.  You might have to pull out the old dictionary to find the meaning of some of the words.  As you read the poem, think about how you would change the line breaks or reorganize the words.  Read the original below and then my "rewrite" is after the jump.

"Silent Poem" by Robert Francis

backroad leafmold stonewall chipmunk
underbrush grapevine woodchuck shadblow

woodsmoke cowbarn honeysuckle woodpile
sawhorse bucksaw outhouse wellsweep

backdoor flagstone bulkhead buttermilk
candlestick ragrug firedog brownbread

hilltop outcrop cowbell buttercup
whetstone thunderstorm pitchfork steeplebush

gristmill millstone cornmeal waterwheel
watercress buckwheat firefly jewelweed

gravestone groundpine windbreak bedrock
weathercock snowfall starlight cockcrow

My Version of "Silent Poem"

Backroad leafmold
    stonewall

chipmunk underbrush
grapevine woodchuck
    shadblow

woodsmoke cowbarn
    honeysuckle

woodpile sawhorse bucksaw
outhouse wellsweep backdoor
flagstone bulkhead
  
buttermilk
   candlestick
      ragrug
         firedog
            brownbread

hilltop outcrop
cowbell
    buttercup

whetstone thunderstorm pitchfork
     steeplebush
gristmill millstone cornmeal waterwheel
    watercress buckwheat

firefly jewelweed
gravestone groundpine
windbreak bedrock

weathercock
    snowfall
        starlight

            cockcrow


In my reinvention, I intentionally looked at the items with a wide lense and then brought in the focus to certain elements by imaging the scene.  For instance, with the lines

buttermilk
   candlestick
      ragrug
         firedog
            brownbread

I imagined someone carrying a pitcher of buttermilk, passing by the candle light to sit on the ragrug in front of the fireplace (firedog: the metal supports for logs in a fireplace) and enjoy a snack of bread and milk.  The original author oriented it differently, painting the picture differently through his line breaks and organization.  At the end of the poem, I specifically utilized white space (the literal white, empty space around the poem), line breaks, and line spacing to reverse my wide to narrow focus and introduce the fading of starlight and dawning of a new day (cockrow: the time when cocks first crow, or early morning).  There are so many ways to "play" with this poem and each of them is unique and interesting.

As evidenced by this exercise, one of the beautiful aspects of poetry is its flexibility.  You can change the entire meaning and tone of a poem through use of line breaks, organization, and white space.  Don't be afraid to experiment.  Poetry gives you the freedom to throw normal sentence conventions out the window and create something all your own.  Take advantage of it!

A Beginning Poet's Assets

Poetry takes many different forms.  Meter, syllable count, rhythm, and literal shapes are combined in endless ways, or even avoided completely, to create poetic pieces.  Line breaks, organization, and white space can be used to change or create meaning in a poem.  Although my main goal is to write fiction, I find poetry writing a great exercise because it often heavily utilizes many literary devices that are beneficial to both forms.  During a recent poetry writing workshop with Southern New Hampshire University, I found the following resources most important to my writing process.


The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
A full spectrum of poetry information sorted alphabetically for easy navigation.  From poetic movements to terminology, the site a great first resource for poetry knowledge.

Shadow Poetry - A Poet's Writing Resource
Shadow Poetry explores poetic figures of speech, forms, mechanics, and terms.  The site provides definitions and examples, a poetry guide, a poetry handbook, and a word challenge poetry competition.  The numerous forms of poetry discussed and explained will prove a great resource to a poet looking to stretch out of their comfort zone, challenge their abilities, or simply learn new forms by which to express their poetic ability.

Rhymer by WriteExpress
A free rhyming dictionary that allows you to search for rhyming words by beginning rhyme, end rhyme, first syllable rhyme, last syllable rhyme, and double rhyme.  The free online version is limited, but very helpful.

Thesaurus
Find synonyms and antonyms for words.  The search breaks words down by definition, part of speech, and the directly related synonyms and antonyms for each one.  A simple click of one word will bring you to the same break down for the selected word.  Sometimes in poetry you need to express things differently from your initial wording and a thesaurus is necessary to really explore your options unless, of course, you're a walking dictionary and thesaurus.

VirtualSalt: A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
A list of 60 rhetorical devices to spice up your writing with definitions and examples for terms such as alliteration, anaphora, assonance, oxymoron, metaphor, personification, etc. 

How Many Syllables
Simple syllable counter for those words you aren't too sure about.