Weaving magic with words
SHREEKUMAR VARMA
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What is it with poetry that irks some, but brings untold joy to others? Of all creative writing, poetry is the easiest, yet the most difficult to understand. Why?
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Poetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away. Carl Sandburg
Give wing to your thoughts, your emotion, your feelings....write a poem. Be descriptive, be adventurous, open up your mind and let your thoughts flow.
Photo : AFP
Help them grow : Lest freedom flags.
Poetry is the art of weaving magic with words. Words come alive when you write them down with feeling. And that’s how you write poetry — with feeling. Everything in verse form — from that cute little nursery rhyme you recited in your KG class to the Ramayana and Mahabharata that churn and turn like a mighty river — is poetry. But poetry isn’t confined to verse alone; any arrangement of words that conveys a hidden or open meaning can become poe
try. With practice and love, you will learn to identify and understand it.
Of all creative writing, poetry is at once the easiest and the most difficult to understand. Some people are confused by poetry, so they leave it alone; others love it. There’s actually no need to be afraid of poetry. It’s like learning to swim. Just jump in and get used to the water. You might become an Olympic swimmer!
Bring to life
So even while you’re trying to read and understand the great poets, take some time off and write your own poem. Attempt something small first. Just make sure that you breathe life into the words. Look at this little verse I once wrote:
“Trees are freedom flags;
we often hack them down, and
freeze, as freedom flags.”
The whole message of global warming — that if we keep cutting down trees, one day the climate change will destroy us — is provided in these three short lines. Here, each small word has to carry a big meaning because the space is limited. (And that’s the essential nature of poetry: small words carrying big meanings!) In the first line, trees are proud symbols of our freedom. But we cut them down. And when the climate changes because of our thoughtless actions, we freeze! In the last line the word “flags” gets a different meaning. It means droop, or sag, or sink. In short, we lose our freedom.
People think that anything written in a certain order automatically becomes poetry. They strain to make each line rhyme, thinking that is poetry. But poetry is more than that. The selection and arrangement of words, the rhythm — it’s all an art. But it’s a natural art! If you strain too much, your poem might break! The trick is to keep reading and writing poetry. With practice, you’ll develop a love for writing poems. And your poems will become better. And then, there’s no looking back!
The difference
Why is one poet remembered through the ages, while another is forgotten soon after he’s read? How am I different from Wordsworth, Keats and Kalidasa?
Okay, what’s the difference between an ordinary actor and a superstar, between your friend who runs in the Marathon and P. T. Usha?
You might think it’s all about God-given talent and that mysterious thing people call “Genius”. Maybe it is. But it’s also about work. And how sincere you are. About how much of yourself you put into your work. And about how hard you work.
The poet needs Awareness (to really see things around him), Inner spark (to feel what he sees), and a Love of words (to express what he feels). In all great poems, the idea, words and structure are complete. You feel there’s nothing you can change. That’s the difference between good and great poetry. You can’t put your finger on it, but your mind says: “Yes!” When generations of people down the ages continue to say “Yes!”, it means the poem has stood the test of time!
Some points
Finally, it’s the poem, not the poet, that’s important. That’s why there are so many unknown poems by great poets. And so many anonymous poems that people still remember!
A poem must be simple. Even when it looks complicated or tells a difficult tale, the poet must provide a poetic key (a metaphor, conceit or reference) so that the reader can get in and share or experience his thoughts.
Even if the reader can’t share the poet’s thoughts, the poem must at least make him think or wonder on his own —about the subject of the poem, not wonder what the poem is all about!
Recommended reading:
THE PUFFIN BOOK OF POETRY FOR CHILDREN, edited by Eunice de Souza & Melanie Silgardowas, 2005.
GET SMART! WRITING SKILLS, Puffin, 2009
THE SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN KEATS, WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, EDWARD LEAR, SUKUMAR RAY, RABINDRANATH TAGORE AND SAROJINI NAIDU.
Clouds and Waves by Rabindranath Tagore
Mother, the folk who live up in the clouds call out to me-
“We play from the time we wake till the day ends.
We play with the golden dawn, we play with the moon.
“I ask, “But how am I to get up to you ?
“They answer, “Come to the edge of the earth, lift up your
hands to the sky, and you will be taken up into the clouds.
“My mother is waiting for me at home
“I say, “How can I leave her and come?”
Then they smile and float away…
Written While Sailing In A Boat At Evening
by William Wordsworth
How richly glows the water’s breast
Before us, tinged with evening hues,
While, facing thus the crimson west,
The boat her silent course pursues!
And see how dark the backward stream!
A little moment past so smiling!
And still, perhaps, with faithless gleam,
Some other loiterers beguiling...
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