Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The vote is in!

So, should poetry rhyme? That was the question. The answer, according to the very unscientific poll conducted on this website was...

DEPENDS

No surprises there, I'm sure. Because, most of the people who voted are involved in the contemporary poetry scene. They might look at this matter in the same way I do - different styles for different poems. Personally, I find the poem picks the style, most of the time.

If I was setting out to write a limerick, the rhyming is the uppermost point to the poem. I would never try to write a limerick about 'The lady whose hair was orange...'
Because there ain't no rhyme! lol. So the limerick is a poetic style that needs to rhymes, I'd say the villanelle is another form that needs to rhyme, in a particular way. Ballads also require rhyme.

What was my point in running this poll?

I was hoping to start a bit of a discussion on this part of poetry, to have poets think about the whole thing and enlighten me, and other readers of this blog, as to their take on the whole thing.

I've posted the comments from people who emailed me, rather than post comments to the blogsite, and very interesting comments they are too. I am still very open to receiving further comment on this subject, and any poetic subject in fact.

I also welcome anybody who can make it to Mallala on the 28th February 2009. 2pm is when we will be announcing the winners of the Tracks and Trails poetry competition, and there will be an open mic session there afterwards.

2 comments:

Tiffany said...

Thanks for visiting my blog. My daughter and i were just having a conversation about poems and if they should ryhme. I can't write ryhmes. And I prefer poetry that doesn't ryhme. I think it can get sing-songy sometimes.

Carolyn Cordon said...

Tiffany, thank you for visiting my blog.
Rhyming poetry done well should have rhymes you don't even notice the first time you read the poem. Bad rhyming poetry is tedious and obvious and should be removed from the world!
Unfortunately People who pen painful doggerel are usually unaware of the pain they cause, and insist on rhyming 'moon' and 'june' and other terrible obvious words that have had their poetry sucked out.
Sometimes my poems cry out for rhyme, and sometimes free verse is the best way to go - I usually leave it to the poem to show me the best way.
I strenuously agree with you about the sing-songy nature of some rhyming poetry.