Rhythmic Imitation Poems
Student Poetry This Project: WR245 More Home		Objectives: To explore the rhythm that enhances the meaning of a piece To use stress and unstress in an irregular way To feel another poetic element in the body To layer the subtlety of rhythm into the impact of the poem Although Rhythmic Imitation is not a specific form, it is an exercise used in almost all poetry writing classes to help students understand how rhythm can be a very real part of the structure of a poem. Some poems often imitated are The Red Wagon by William Carlos Williams, Dolor by Theodore Roethke and Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas. All three poems have specific meter/syllable/stress and unstressed words and lines. Students in Poetry classes are often required to write in the “style” of a specific poet and e.e. cummings is probably the most frequently used because his style is so distinctive. Rhythmic Imitation, however, goes further than copying a style. It copies the exact stressed and unstressed syllables of each line. The first challenge is understanding those stresses to see if there is a meter or “cadence” to the lines. For students wishing to delve even deeper into a piece, copying the poets word choices within the rhythm provides an even greater challenge . . . verb for verb, noun for noun, etc. because those word choices lend meaning to the rhythm that is established. For this class, students were asked to write a rhythmic imitation of one of the following poems using their own choice of topic but attempting to adhere to their chosen individual themes: My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke if everything happens that can’t be done by e.e. cummings Blues on Yellow by Marilyn Chin Improvisation excerpt by Ntozake Shange The results were surprising, and some a lot of fun, but we found the process difficult and for good reasons, many of us chose to revise with our own choice of rhythm and voice. It was this form of writing, however, that prompted discussions regarding the “form” or framework of poetry and what makes something a poem rather than just prose chopped into shorter or random lines. Although we had already been evaluating poetry on the basis of other elements that set it apart, it was this exercise that provided more clarity to the process. Here are some of the elements of evaluation that we used as criteria for critiquing others’ work and our own poems as we chose them for inclusion and placement in our portfolios: Images (metaphor, tangible evidence – showing, not telling) Sounds (alliteration/repetition, assonance) Words (active verbs, solid nouns) Rhythm/meter (stressed/unstressed syllables) Line breaks (end-stops/punctuation) Enjambment Codes (hidden messages/meanings) Logic (does it make sense?) Music (language/diction/dialogue) Appearance (shape on the page/line lengths) Readability (awkward places?)
		Links for student examples: if whenever straightens that thing he has by Jon Peterson Lost Soul Lament by Rose Lefebvre Bullfrog by Margaret Doran
		Student Poetry for this Project 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 Copyright © 2005 The Students of WR245 Spring Term 2005. All rights reserved. Clackamas Community College, Oregon City, Oregon Web design by Doran Web Works.