Thursday, February 10, 2011

Cool Challenge

OK, so the AllPoetry user Shadowy Embrace issued a challenge in the Poets in Training group. If anyone wants to give it a try, just join the group and respond to his topic and give the link to your poem. It's that simple! So, I know I'd mess it up if I tried to tell you the challenge lol so I'll let Shadowy Embrace tell you in his own words:

"I'm proposing a challenge to those in this group.

I'm going to start with something semi-simple with a quatern. A normal quatern consists of 8-syllable lines and 4 quatrains. The first line of the first stanza is a refrain that is repeated in line 2 of the second stanza, line 3 of the third stanza and line 4 of the fourth stanza. The rhyme scheme can be done one of two ways:

Abab, cAca, adAd, eaeA where A is the refrain, or:

Aabb, aAcc, ddAa, eeaA, personally, I prefer the former.

My latest quatern I actually wrote with 12 syllables, which, strictly speaking doesn't make it a quatern, but a variation of a quatern. The challenge I'm presenting to you is this, write me a quatern or variation of a quatern with consistent syllable count and great flow.

Good luck, and have fun!

If you need any help, please feel free to ask. If I am slow on getting back to you, please be patient with me as this is a crazy time for my family and I. Thank you."

Give it a try! I might even make a new page for challenges and post your poems there!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Our First Contest!!!

Hey guys. I'm hosting the first Young Poet's Corner contest on Allpoetry. If you're not a member, just sign up HERE and then go HERE to enter the contest. It's that easy :) Here's how the contest works:

All you have to do is go to the "Inspiration" page. Just pick a song and write whatever it inspires

All forms allowed but stay under 50 lines please.

The winner will get 600 AP points and be featured here on the Young Poets Corner blog!

Also, if you have a song you want to use for this contest and you'd like to see it on the "Inspiration" page, use it and put the title in the Author's Notes and I'll probably add it to the list, but IT HAS TO BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES!!!!!

OK... Everyone hates rules but here they are:

1. This contest is for young poets up to 17 years old

2. No abusing the shift key

3. Use proper grammar and spelling (or at least try lol)

4. Put your song choice in the Author's Notes

5. Anything inappropriate will be DQ'd

6. HAVE FUN!!!


So, what are you waiting for? ENTER THE CONTEST!!!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Adrian Reviews "The Jabberwocky" by Lewis Caroll

Hello again! One thing I'd like to do with this blog is post some reviews of classical poets. FallenWingz tried this in the Poets In Training group and I thought it was a lot of fun. Here's how it works -

Pick a classical poet (if you don't know of any or you just want a refresher, go HERE) Make sure nobody else has picked that person. Choose your favorite poem by that person, and review it. Break it down some. What is your view on the poem? Also, look at the poem technically. How did it flow? Did the poet send their message well?

If you have a review you'd like to do just comment here or send me a message and let me know! It might even get posted on the blog. The best way to send me a message is to sign up for a FREE All Poetry account and go to My Page.

Here's my review for "The Jabberwocky" by Lewis Caroll:


Lewis Caroll's poem about the fearsome Jabberwock and one man's battle and eventual victory over the beast has captivated readers since it was penned in 1871. I hear about this poem often, but had never read it until tonight. So, does it measure up to the hype?

When reviewing a poem such as this, there is definitely the temptation to focus solely and immediately on its absurdity. I'll get to that, but lets get some of the boring stuff out of the way first.

I thought the poem had a pretty good flow. The meter wasn't perfect, but then again, I doubt very much that Lewis Caroll cared enough about that to stay hunched over his work long into the night just to make sure each corresponding line from every stanza had an identical syllable count.

The length of the piece is just about perfect. Were it much shorter, it would have been pointless silliness, which isn't always a bad thing, but in this case, would have made the poem far less impactful. Also, it would have been incredibly easy to keep droning on and on, making The Jabberwocky a two hundred line train wreck. It's a mistake that I would have likely made. Thankfully, Lewis Caroll was capable of showing more restraint than I could have.

It's a bit strange to me, really. Even though there are unexplained, nonsensical words and names all throughout this poem, I never really felt lost. Caroll was such a brilliant wordsmith that I still got a beautiful picture of the scenes and story portrayed in the poem. His hand-crafted words helped to create a very unique feel.

Another thing that stands out in my mind is Caroll's use of wildly imaginative descriptors. Even though most of the words themselves went far over my head, they were crafted in such a way that I still understood fully the goings on in every scene. I'm amazed that a poet can keep from losing me in a poem where something burbles as it whiffles through the tulgey wood.

Does The Jabberwocky meet the hype? Absolutely. Lewis Caroll's off the wall delivery and quirky style lend themselves well to creating this strange little masterpiece that I'll enjoy reading (in slight bewilderment) again and again.



- You guys don't have to go all crazy like I did. I just really like this poem and I'm a big nerd :P Just send your thoughts on a poem and it might end up here on the blog!

Adrian

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Welcome to the Young Poet's Corner!

Hey. What's up everybody? Adrian here. Welcome to Young Poet's Corner! I'm really excited to get to work on this new section of the Poets In Training blog. We've got a lot of really cool stuff planned like poetry contests, reviews, spotlight on the arts and a whole lot more! We'll post poetry sites and other learning resources so you can have all the help you need to let your poetry shine!

Be sure to check out the Inspiration page of the blog. Maybe some of the music there can help inspire you to pick up your pens!

One more thing. If you haven't already, go check out
All Poetry. Its free to sign up and you can post your poems, get advice and meet all kinds of cool people! Once you're there, look for the group called Poets In Training. They're the ones who made the Young Poets Corner possible. Check them out.

Well, I guess that's enough for now. Got a lot of work to do. Thanks for stopping by and I can't wait to get some more members so we can get started!

Poet in training,
Adrian