Here is the poem I selected to be featured as the poem that best expressed line break, the theme of last week’s lesson. Examples of fine line break include: Living the dream/of the many while dreaming… and soft droplets of morning/sun crystallize pools of… a leaf breaks/from the/highest tree…
Living the dream
of the many while dreaming
the dream of the few
soft droplets of morning
sun crystallize pools of
sweet grassy dew
a leaf breaks
from the
highest tree
a thought bounces from
every sweet neuron
as if to say
I’M HERE
SET ME FREE
I shiver (wondering)
what becomes of the arrow
if she never leaves
Her quiver
By – Grayson Sierra Highfield
There is something very comforting and inclusive about repetition. Whether it’s a refrain in a song, or a rhythm that keeps repeating in the background, we feel an invitation to become part of the creative experience, to sing or move along.
There are ways to create that same sense of connection, in poetry. And one of those ways is alliteration, “…the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables (such as wild and woolly, threatening throngs)”
When I’m using alliteration in a poem, I often go even further and repeat the same letter multiple times.
Example:
the sad and solemn shadows
spread like a sigh
over the silent passing
of that last
summer day
I believe that alliteration is one of the least challenging, and most fun to use, poetic devices. There are times, when I simply sit at my computer and speak out loud as many “s” words or “p” words or, whatever letter I’m thinking of using in my poem – enjoying the sound of it and beginning to feel how it will become the mood of my poem. If you’re like me, you sense that certain sounds project certain feelings. There are letters that tend to create a happy mood and other letters, that lean more towards sadness. This gives you an additional tool with which to create the mood and meaning of your poem.
More Examples of Alliteration:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, —
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping.
- Edgar Allen Poe
The Raven
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
-Maya Angelou
The Caged Bird
I would like to invite you to experiment with alliteration and, if you feel so inclined, please send in (through our chat room – https://poetladykatz.com/poetry-talk/) a poem, no more than ten lines. I’ll read all the poems and select one that really highlights the power and purpose of alliteration and publish it at the beginning of my next Lesson, giving credit to the poet, of course.
Thanks so much for being a part of Poet Lady Katz,
Susan