Join the Neopoet online poetry workshop and community to improve as a writer, meet fellow poets, and showcase your work. Sign up, submit your poetry, and get started.

Respect for words

"She had learned on previous attempts at conversation in the Australian bush to speak slowly and use short sentences. She did not make the mistake of thinking the inhabitants stupid. It was just that they did not talk much and therefore liked to give every word its proper weight. She reflected that a writer might find this touching. Words are seldom given the respect they deserve"
from "The Green Hill Murder" by Kerry Greenwood

Comments

I think it would take a real moron to not understand the importance of words, and not just in poetry or literature. It is words that help us through the hard times and inspire us to do our best...........stan

still blather on yickety yack,
blither-blather about the weather
or whatever
or even use twice as many words as they need in a poem

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

author comment

I respect words so much that I try to let as many into each poem as I can lmao.......stan

except in very short poems, not even The Bard, but they all know how to use it. That's the point.

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

author comment

remember Shakespeare was writing for a stage without any of the special effects modern theatre can access, he had to use words, none of them are actually wasted.

Regarding translation between languages and cultures. That's a whole different subject.

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

author comment

Most babies learn a few words long before they learn separation and association.

Does anyone remember their first words? None of us do, except what we were told by parents and siblings.

It all goes downhill from there. lol.

~A

Timely article from Psychology Today on Einstein On Creative Thinking: Music and the Intuitive Art of Scientific Imagination. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/imagine/201003/einstein-creative-thi...

Quite appropriate for this thread I believe. Some of us rely much on our scientific/academic foray into words/poetry and others rely on our intuitive/artistic ways and means. The important thing, as you made note of it, Jess, is that language/words is a skill that must be honed, like anything else.

And part of that honing, imo is keeping one's options open.

~A

I believe I am pretty much left/right brained, ying/yang, anima/animus balanced in many ways.

Our current workshop, Meter For Everyone, though is very much starting from an arithmetical/logical/scientific viewpoint aiming towards an intuitive/artisitc/creative end.

I felt you were being obstructive when you posted the whole of "The Hollow Men", but I had not made my ends clear.

I expected more trust than I had earned. But come on, the whole of that poem doesn't count as "a few lines" and you must have known it was basicly un-parseable. Yes?

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

author comment

I trust you implicitly Jess. My equal error was in not reading that you wanted a few lines--I offered a poem that imo had all the meter (though not the da dum you wanted) *stuff* I could or would ever want incc a poem, as well as the flesh and bone of it.

So we're equal in our misinterpretation/lack of clarity.

Yours,
Anna

and would you consider editing your 4 lines into iambic pentameter, now knowing my intentions?
To show that you can do it, but more importantly, to progress to the next part of the workshop where we will really look hard at what meter means.

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

author comment
(c) Neopoet.com. No copyright is claimed by Neopoet to original member content.