Peter Harris Fall 2002
Office Hrs: (ML228) Office phone: 3294
T, Th: 1:15-4:00 & by appt. Home Phone: 873-5587
Office: Miller 228 pbharris@colby.edu

WHAT'S AT ISSUE? Does the poem have a center? Has the poet discovered its theme or themes? Is that theme realized? Is it focused? Is it complete? Does it satisfy our sense of human complexity? (Keep in mind Auden's dictum: "Poetry is the clear expression of mixed emotions.")

IMAGES, METAPHORS, AND SIMILES: Images and figures are the flesh of poetry.
--They should be fresh, not stock, not borrowed from the great hoard of exhausted poeticisms ("sighing trees whose dark, skeletal arms clutch"). Do they provide surprises?
--Are they precise or vague? Do you just say "heavy" or "heavy as the lid of a rich man's tomb"?
--Does the poem appeal to our senses? Which ones?
--Do the images work for the poem, contribute to its completeness, connect symphonic ally with the other elements?
--Do they seem real, the product of someone's actual observation? Or are they just props.

TONE: Tone is the emotional attitude in the voice we hear when reading. Through tone, and changes in tone, we gather the speaker's feelings, we divine his or her outlook on the subject. Tone also gives us clues about how speakers feel about themselves, and their audiences.
--Is the poem angry, sad, elated, frightened, full of loathing, contemptuous, respectful, adoring, playful? Does it have more than just one emotional attitude? Do the attitudes fit the subject?
--Tone is an indication of the speaker's emotional stake in the poem. A good basic question to ask is, "What are the feelings in this line?" In a successful poem, others should be able to infer your feelings through your tone.

SETTING: It's a good idea to have poems take place somewhere. The setting helps establish what's at issue. So ask yourself, is the poem anchored in some actual-seeming place? Asking that literal-minded question may help you understand where the poem is coming from (and going to), may help you get at your vocation in a given poem. Wallace Stevens says, "A poem is the cry of an occasion."

DICTION: Or word choice. Is it fresh or trite? Is it sufficiently concrete and precise? Is it slangy or learned, pithy or polysyllabic, or in-between? Is it consistent, or inconsistent to a purpose? Does it have energy and gristle or are there too many blank cartridges (articles, prepositions, conjunctions and pronouns)?

SOUND: Does the poem read gracefully or awkwardly? Does it have a rhythmic principle--number of beats to a line, an iambic beat? Assonance and consonance? Does it sound good to the ear and to the gut? Is the sound related to the sense?

LINE BREAK: Line is the basic unit of poetry. Does the poem make good use of line to forward meaning? Are the lines end-stopped or enjambed? Is there variation? Would this poem be harmed if it were typed as prose? Does each line forward the poem? Does a given line haul freight or hot air?

STANZA: Are there natural breaks in the poem? Do they coincide with the stanzas? Is the poem written in a regular stanza form? Do those stanzas conform to natural units of sense?

STRUCTURE AND PACING. Structure is both the skeleton of a poem and the movement of that skeleton., The pattern of its unfolding. Pacing is the rate at which that structure unfolds, the space is given to each image and event.
--Does something happen, develop, evolve, unfold? Even the most lyrical, purely emotional poems, trace an arc, have some element of narrative. Is there a "turn" in the poem where perspective, tone, or subject matter shifts? Frost says, "No surprise for the writer, not surprise for the reader."
--Does the poem embody a vital unity? Are the all the elements necessary? Do they all work together? Is the order the necessary order? Do we have all the information we need?

Cardinal rules of poetry: (1) use fresh language and (2) show, don't tell, (3) make something happen and (4) make us care by showing care.