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Mar. 30th, 2013 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seekingferretFerret's ranking of the most difficult constrained poetic forms
1)Sonnet. Okay, it's actually pretty easy to write a bad sonnet, but there are no crutches when you're writing a sonnet. The poem's lyricism needs to stand on its own, you can't rely on cheap rhythmic trickery to make the poem more entertaining. I've probably written a dozen sonnets, and nary a good one.
2)Paradelle. It's excruciating to compose, and nigh impossible to edit. Any change affects multiple places in the poem, and the original composition has to anticipate future use in multiple places. I'm not sure it's actually possible to write a good one, which on the one hand affirms its difficulty, but on the other hand makes it easier to deal with than the sonnet, where you know it's possible to write a good one because you've read Shakespeare and Milton. You read a bad paradelle, you just say, well, it was a paradelle, of course it sucked.
3)Sestina. It's possible to write a good sestina, it's just really hard to juggle. Everything hinges on picking the right word bank. You have to balance interesting words and simple words, words with multiple meanings with words whose single meaning can be reused and repurposed. If you can figure out the right word bank, the sestina falls into place.
4)Pantoum. Is not so hard to write, but is tricky as anything to edit. Any edit requires you to read it forwards and backwards at the same time to make sure you haven't broken something.
4)Villanelle. Like a sonnet, but the repetitions mean that the lyricism of each individual line doesn't need to be as delicate. If you do it right, the rhythm carries the poem.
5)Haiku. Super easy to do badly, moderately easy to do moderately well.
6)Double Dactyl. The hard part's finding the single word double dactyl. For the rest, just be goofy and you're fine.
7)Clerihew. Actually, I'm not sure I've ever written a clerihew, but it seems easy.
8)Limerick. Super easy. Super boring.
Today is the fifth day of the Omer
1)Sonnet. Okay, it's actually pretty easy to write a bad sonnet, but there are no crutches when you're writing a sonnet. The poem's lyricism needs to stand on its own, you can't rely on cheap rhythmic trickery to make the poem more entertaining. I've probably written a dozen sonnets, and nary a good one.
2)Paradelle. It's excruciating to compose, and nigh impossible to edit. Any change affects multiple places in the poem, and the original composition has to anticipate future use in multiple places. I'm not sure it's actually possible to write a good one, which on the one hand affirms its difficulty, but on the other hand makes it easier to deal with than the sonnet, where you know it's possible to write a good one because you've read Shakespeare and Milton. You read a bad paradelle, you just say, well, it was a paradelle, of course it sucked.
3)Sestina. It's possible to write a good sestina, it's just really hard to juggle. Everything hinges on picking the right word bank. You have to balance interesting words and simple words, words with multiple meanings with words whose single meaning can be reused and repurposed. If you can figure out the right word bank, the sestina falls into place.
4)Pantoum. Is not so hard to write, but is tricky as anything to edit. Any edit requires you to read it forwards and backwards at the same time to make sure you haven't broken something.
4)Villanelle. Like a sonnet, but the repetitions mean that the lyricism of each individual line doesn't need to be as delicate. If you do it right, the rhythm carries the poem.
5)Haiku. Super easy to do badly, moderately easy to do moderately well.
6)Double Dactyl. The hard part's finding the single word double dactyl. For the rest, just be goofy and you're fine.
7)Clerihew. Actually, I'm not sure I've ever written a clerihew, but it seems easy.
8)Limerick. Super easy. Super boring.
Today is the fifth day of the Omer
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Date: 2013-03-31 11:37 am (UTC)I love sestinas, in a probably over-the-top way. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-31 02:52 pm (UTC)This post brought about by the revelation of the results of Ben Lehman's rpg villanelle competition, which challenged writers to design a complete rpg whose rules could be laid out in a villanelle: https://plus.google.com/s/%23villanelleRPG
I couldn't resist. With apologies to the Grateful Dead, et al
Date: 2013-04-01 10:29 pm (UTC)I know you rider gonna miss me when I'm gone.
Gonna miss your baby from rollin' in your arms.
Gonna miss your baby from rollin' in your arms.
I know your arms gonna miss me, gonna miss baby
rollin' in when I'm gone from you, rider.
Lay down last night, Lord, I could not take my rest.
Lay down last night, Lord, I could not take my rest.
My mind was wandering like the wild geese in the West.
My mind was wandering like the wild geese in the West.
Take my last wild night in: I could not mind my geese.
Lord was wandering West. The rest lay like the down.
The sun's gonna shine in my back door some day
The sun's gonna shine in my back door some day
March winds gonna come and blow my blues away
March winds gonna come and blow my blues away
Day: my backblow blues gonna march in. The sun's my
door: some winds, and the shine gonna come away.
Rollin' down the west march, the Lord, geese, miss
Rest in my arms: your winds-rider, from last wandering.
I could not miss when you come in my door like some sun's shine.
Gone was my blues lay and my wild night.
Baby, take me back. In the day, I know I'm
gonna gonna gonna gonna blow your mind away.
Well, that was fun, if of dubious literary merit - hard to say if I added anything in meaning. I wonder if jumping off from folk lyrics counts as cheating.
Re: I couldn't resist. With apologies to the Grateful Dead, et al
Date: 2013-04-01 11:36 pm (UTC)Re: I couldn't resist. With apologies to the Grateful Dead, et al
Date: 2013-04-03 01:55 pm (UTC)