To Rhyme Or Not To Rhyme
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Tom G
Personally I think use of rhyme is outdated and should be ditched. It makes things sound too twee. Anyone agree?
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sherwood
Depends on the poet. Some are difficult to interpret and therefore twee is not the proper descriptive word. Those poems that are more listener friendly could be described as twee, but what is twee?-
blossom
Depends on the poet. Some are difficult to interpret and therefore twee is not the proper descriptive word. Those poems that are more listener friendly could be described as twee, but what is twee?
Perhaps twee poetry could be defined as 'pretty-pretty', but anyone reading "The Ancient Mariner" would not think so. It's very macho and sinister.-
Jim
I couldn't disagree more. Is Seamus Heaney twee? Is Tony Harrison? Dick Davis? Richard Wilbur? If anything ought to be ditched, it's your notion that rhyme is outdated and twee. 
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Richard Green
Certainly I would not associate the word 'twee' with Tony Harrison. He nearly always uses full rhyme and hammers them home! However, Seamus Heaney, I feel, is much softer in tone but he often avoids full rhyme in favour of half rhyme and consonance.
Tony Harrison is one of the true blank verse poets of our age - There is something to be said for all forms of poetry. I must admit I too like 'blank verse' over rhyme. I do touch on rhyme from time to time. Even blank verse poets like Andrew Motion do to odd bit of rhyme, to keep their hand in. Like I said in another posting on this site; If you are happy with what you do, 'blank verse or rhyme', does it really matter? You read what you like, if you think rhyme is out dated and 'blank verse too modern stick to what you like and 'never the twain shall meet!'
Andy W....
Andy W....
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spencer_broughton
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Bitterangel
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I love rhyme because of the sounds and the possibilities for construction. Rhymes can add a hypnotic quality to a poem, and strong rhymes can jolt the reader from one point to another. They can also be used to suggest fractured thoughts etc etc.
Rhyme is just another tool in the poet's kit. You can't say it's outdated, because you havent outdated it from the language, even if you ban it in poetry words'll still rhyme.
Can be twee yes. I think that rhyme can also be manipulative of the reader, can force his reading to an extent. There are always pros and cons. Depends on the subject matter too. If I'm writing about a folk tale or a legend, I'll often use rhyme because it feels appropriate - older, or as you put it 'twee'. Sometimes I like twee.
(by the way, although my 1st poem posted here rhymes, I don't usually)
Rhyme is just another tool in the poet's kit. You can't say it's outdated, because you havent outdated it from the language, even if you ban it in poetry words'll still rhyme.
Can be twee yes. I think that rhyme can also be manipulative of the reader, can force his reading to an extent. There are always pros and cons. Depends on the subject matter too. If I'm writing about a folk tale or a legend, I'll often use rhyme because it feels appropriate - older, or as you put it 'twee'. Sometimes I like twee.
(by the way, although my 1st poem posted here rhymes, I don't usually)
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Bombadil
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For my part, rhyme has its place, when said rhyme is effortless. A perfect example of this is "Selkie" by Bitterangel. Rhyming when forced is trite and reduces any artistic effort to mere drivel, but when done properly, it is something you look back at the end of a really great piece and say: "Holy shit, I didn't even realize it rhymed!" and then, I think you appreciate the poet that much more.
--A.S.
--A.S.
I believe hatred for rhyme goes back a bit farther than most think:
"...Rhyme being no necessary Adjunct or true Ornament of Poem or good Verse, in longer Works especially, but the Invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter and lame Meter; grac't indeed since by the use of some famous modern Poets, carried away by Custom, but much to their own vexation, hindrance, and constraint to express many things otherwise, and for the most part worse than else they would have exprest them. Not without cause therefore both Italian and Spanish poets of prime note have rejected Rhyme both in longer and shorter Works, as have also long since our best English Tragedies, as a thing to itself, to all judicious ears, trivial and of no musical delight; which consists only in apt Numbers, fit quantity of Syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one Verse into another..."
- John Milton, prefacing Paradise Lost, 1668
Ironic though, because I've seen a lot of rhyming poetry done by Milton. Hypocritical you might say.
"...Rhyme being no necessary Adjunct or true Ornament of Poem or good Verse, in longer Works especially, but the Invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter and lame Meter; grac't indeed since by the use of some famous modern Poets, carried away by Custom, but much to their own vexation, hindrance, and constraint to express many things otherwise, and for the most part worse than else they would have exprest them. Not without cause therefore both Italian and Spanish poets of prime note have rejected Rhyme both in longer and shorter Works, as have also long since our best English Tragedies, as a thing to itself, to all judicious ears, trivial and of no musical delight; which consists only in apt Numbers, fit quantity of Syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one Verse into another..."
- John Milton, prefacing Paradise Lost, 1668
Ironic though, because I've seen a lot of rhyming poetry done by Milton. Hypocritical you might say.
"Don't treat your common sense like an umbrella. When you come into a room to philosophize, don't leave it outside, but bring it in with you." Wittgenstein
I think actually, with the huge emergence of rap, and similar lyrical forms, rhyming can be an integral part of a certain, arguably very modern, poetic style.
Benjamin Zephania comes to mind... or maybe even The Streets and his ilk?
I tink da youts dey call it "urban".
Benjamin Zephania comes to mind... or maybe even The Streets and his ilk?
I tink da youts dey call it "urban".
meh and bah are wonderful words