As you may know, although Dickinson is now considered one of the most original and finest poets the United States has produced, she was not recognized in her own time. One reason her poems took a while to gain a favorable reception is their slippery, dash-filled lines. Those dashes baffled her readers so much that the 1924 edition of her complete poems replaced some with commas, and did away with others completely. Today’s exercise asks you to do something similar, but in the interests of creativity, rather than ill-conceived “correction.” Find an Emily Dickinson poem – preferably one you’ve never previously read – and take out all the dashes and line breaks. Make it just one big block of prose. Now, rebreak the lines. Add words where you want. Take out some words. Make your own poem out of it! (Not sure where to find some Dickinson poems? You’ll find oodles at the bottom of this page).
My Prompt:
One of my favourite collections that made me fall in love with poetry was Carol Ann Duffy’s “The World’s Wife”. In which Duffy explores famous female characters (or, in some cases, the counterparts to male ones) with her witty, acerbic style. And today I want you to attempt the same! Choose a female character from history or literature and write your own World’s Wife poem!
Lucky Dip:
Highway
No comments:
Post a Comment