Prosody 101

When they taught me that what mattered most
was not the strict iambic line goose-stepping
over the page but the variations
in that line and the tension produced
on the ear by the surprise of difference,
I understood yet didn't understand
exactly, until just now, years later
in spring, with the trees already lacy
and camellias blowsy with middle age,
I looked out and saw what a cold front had done
to the garden, sweeping in like common language,
unexpected in the sensuous
extravagance of a Maryland spring.
There was a dark edge around each flower
as if it had been outlined in ink
instead of frost, and the tension I felt
between the expected and actual
was like that time I came to you, ready
to say goodbye for good, for you had been
a cold front yourself lately, and as I walked in
you laughed and lifted me up in your arms
as if I too were lacy with spring
instead of middle aged like the camellias,
and I thought: so this is Poetry!

wy is yer mad at muy gramhar fer?



aparently i ar smrt?


GO SENS GO

Originally Posted by whywefight i would but your username is really racist

Originally Posted by BottleOfSmoke Hey, that could be his real name for all you know.

Originally Posted by cemges And tell, how come you became idiot enough

Originally Posted by captainsnazz brot pls

Originally Posted by ch1ng_chung What literary elements does the dude use to do what she wants to do? This is very important

Originally Posted by jimmy hendrix 2 Don't argue with my new deity.

Originally Posted by Dirge Humani Oh look someone pretending to be chung.

Originally Posted by goest And now I'm crying with laughter.

Originally Posted by Fat Lard Once I couldn't remember the word wrist so I told my friend I had hurt my hand ankle

Marijuana: Not even once

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Poetry isn't about fancy or flower language, nor is it all about holding proper meter and diction. Utilizing common language as well as more superfluous language gives you variation and tension. Tension and release, like in music, is very important in literature. Having a poem that's very lyrical and has complex language in the beginning can be improved by common language. The change can accent and bring attention to certain lines or words. The expectation of more complex language clashes with what is actually happening, common language, and makes you read some things differently as well as cause tension. tl;dr poetry isn't about being proper and complex. It takes variation and careful crafting.

Originally Posted by ch1ng_chung Just got back, and what have we here? An entire thread dedicated to insulting me? How polite of the UG forum! Wow, I'm horrible with poetry. What does the part that says "and the tension I felt between the expected and actual was like that time I came to you, ready to say goodbye for good, for you had been a cold front yourself lately, and as I walked in you laughed and lifted me up in your arms as if I too were lacy with spring instead of middle aged like the camellias, and I thought: so this is Poetry!" mean? By the way, this is for the SAT II Literature Test, which tests high-school students on their ability to comprehend archaic poetry and stuff like that, and I couldn't find any explanation for this poem, which appears almost every time on the test.

Originally Posted by cemges And tell, how come you became idiot enough

Originally Posted by captainsnazz brot pls