15 September, 2008

Every month, after posting the resource newsletter, I think it's going to be a slow month. At some point, everything that needs to be written about will be written about (and no, we haven't reached that stage yet), and I won't have any updating to do. Convinced that very few resource articles will be written (because something about almost everything has been written), I enter a kind of stupor. And then I wake up realise that there's so much I haven't included in my Resource Central.

You might've noticed that I update my resource journal on the tenth of every month. This time, the journal refused to get updated, leading to much worry and frustration, until I realised that there was just too much content for the update to happen. Therefore, we now have Resource Central: Part One, which has articles relating to writing (prose, poetry, scripts), revision, critique, grammar and publishing; and Resource Central: Part Two, which has information relating to the literature community, its prominent members, and Daily Deviations. Do spread the word!

I would like to commend =DarcKnyt for the wonderful news articles (listed under 'Recent finds' ) he posted this month. I'm sure they will help many young writers.

Onto business --

What you will find in this news article: Figuratively speaking -- A list of resources on poetic imagery | Recent finds | Resource news | Read this | Literature Daily Deviations: July 2008 | I need your feedback

Figuratively speaking

I've been wanting to write about imagery in poetry for a long time, but always felt incapable of putting into words what I wanted to say. Fortunately for me, there are some excellent resources out there, and this writeup consists, for the most part, of quotations from them.

What is imagery?

In Tips For the Novice, !suture says that imagery is the most important element of poetry. The article goes on to explain that imagery is "made up of sense data: color, sound, smell, temperature, the feeling of physical contact." This point is extremely important. We tend to think of images as purely visual. But in the world of poetry, anything sensory or sensual (that is, anything that evokes our senses) is imagery. For a more comprehensive definition, try this:

[...] poetic imagery is something that a) conjures a mental imagery in the reader's mind (whether it be pictorial or descriptional), b) creates those mental imageries by way of rhetoric figures of speech (such as metaphors), and c) as a result of those figures of speech, "invents" a correlation between different elements, and in turn, helps to create from within these correlations, the abovementioned mental imagery.

I took this from "Poeticks: On Imagery" 1 of 3, which is the first part of the most helpful resource on imagery there is on deviantART. This article was written after research in the fields of poetry, philosophy and psychology, and by speaking with several experienced writers on the site. Part 1 attempts to define imagery and to consider whether its use is essential to writing a good poem. The conclusion seems to be that "a poem without "imagery" is possible, yet is highly susceptible to a sacrifice in quality and therefore is extremely difficult to achieve successfully."

The three articles by `poeticks that I am using in this newsletter may seem complicated and unnecessarily technical, but I recommend them anyway. While it is not necessary to know all the terminology, it is important for the writer to know how imagery works, how it enriches the experience of reading the poem. It is this enrichment of the reading experience that we're aiming for. Often, we begin our journey as poets by thinking that a poem is an expression of emotions, and perhaps it is. But for those emotions to be conveyed to the reader, they need to affect him/her in some way. That's where imagery comes in: it helps to articulate your emotions, thoughts and observations in a way that peaks the reader's interest -- in other words, imagery makes the reader feel involved.

The concept of imagery seems to be tied to the Show and tell argument. Consider the following two phrases:

Jesus was sad.
Jesus wept.*

Both communicate the same information, but ever so differently. With the second sentence, you get an image of Jesus weeping (note that "weeping" produces a much greater effect than "crying"), whereas the first sentence is rather abstract. You could say that imagery is a way of showing what you want to say in poetry. It builds atmosphere and evokes sensations. It makes the poem enjoyable -- often meaningful -- to read.

But how does one use imagery?

There are many ways in which you can create images in your poems. The trick is to find the most effective way of writing imagery. Let's first eliminate the ineffective ones: long, elaborate descriptions filled with adjectives and adverbs (also known as modifiers); excessive wordiness of any kind; boring details; clichés; and abstractions, to name a few. The best way to learn what not to do in a poem is to read !suture's Tips for Editing Poetry, which covers everything from excessive modifier usage ("Adjectives and adverbs are fat - some are needed to form contours, but too many tend to sag on the bone of poetry.") to enjambment and rhyme.

So, what works? In my opinion, figures of speech.

Figures of speech are [...] "a tool" in creating poetry. Just as in any other art form, from painting to computer graphics to music to handcraft, knowing which tools are available, and knowing how they work will definitely be an advantage to the artist. Of course for the finished work to excel, it is not sufficient to know your tools, but you must be able to understand how to apply them skillfully.

This definition is from "Poeticks: On Imagery" 2 of 3, which takes a careful look at the figures of speech used in TS Eliot's The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock. Again, highly recommended.

You'll find the article describes several figures of speech: simile, metaphor (and the different kinds of metaphor), personification, anaphora, anadiplosis, aposiopesis, alliteration, assonance, synecdoche and metonymy. And then you have pathetic fallacy, hyperbole, oxymorons, euphemisms and a host of other tropes. If you're starting out, it's best to begin with similes and metaphors.

A simile is a comparison between two objects/sensations/ideas/actions using "like" or "as". Some common ones would be "as cool as a cucumber" or "drinks like a fish". The trick, of course, is not to use commonly heard of similes, but to invent new ones. Talking about the poem, Hamnavoe Market, Matthew Francis says:

[...] Mackay Brown seems to be doing his best to avoid naming things, using metaphor and simile instead. This has the effect of defamiliarising them. We all think we know what a kiss, or candyfloss, is like, but the more familiar you become with such things, the less intensely you feel them. Your first candyfloss, your first kiss, were another matter - they had an intensity that derived in part from their newness and strangeness. It's this intensity that poets like Mackay Brown are trying to recapture.

One way to do this is by using similes. In everyday life we use "like" to make unknown things more familiar. ("It tastes a bit like chicken.") In poetry we use it for precisely the opposite effect. To say a kiss resembles a red dove is no help at all to someone who doesn't know what a kiss is, but if you have got so used to knowing that the experience has lost its freshness, the simile can give you a new way of seeing it. For this device to work, it must articulate a real resemblance, but one that's quite unexpected.

(emphasis my own)

Here are some inventive similes:

"They have propped my head between the pillow and the sheet-cuff// Like an eye between two white lids that will not shut." -- Tulips, Sylvia Plath
"the exact name of the season that stings like a needle of frozen mercury" -- The Ice Storm, John Ashbery
"The still air of the clinic is like smelling salts." -- The Lung Wash, Michael Simmons Roberts
"The fruit salad will bloom on the plate like a bouquet." -- Evening in the Sanitarium, Louise Bogan
"The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun." -- Digging, Seamus Heaney
"His fingertips are wide and rough. They scrape/ like match heads on the underside of your arm." -- Possession, ~kingvitamin
"When you skin a man you’ll find/ he peels like ripening fruit." -- Boris the Manskinner, ~TheHungerArtist

According to Matthew Francis, a metaphor is "nothing more than simile with the "like", "as" or other equivalent words left out". For example:

"The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals, on a wet, black bough." -- In a Station of the Metro, Ezra Pound

Or you can have an extended metaphor that carries on the comparison for a few more lines, or even the entire poem. In the following lines, Shakespeare likens life to a play, but never explicitly says so.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages." -- Seven Ages of Man, William Shakespeare

From these examples, it is clear that originality or freshness is an important quality of good imagery. Like Salvador Dali said, "The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet. The first one to repeat it was possibly an idiot." Your challenge, then, is to write imagery in a way that is surprising and exciting for the reader. No more crimson tears and shattered hearts.

"Poeticks: On Imagery" 3 of 3 discusses the limitations of imagery:

Imagery is a means to an end, a tool; films just filled with special effects, even if they're great special effects, are not emotionally fulfilling, or generally worth watching. One needs to find, as with most creative processes, a perfect compromise between several techniques and effects." A writer adds "when a writer wants to create a memorable experience both unique and consuming - images will usually be their first tool. When weak, it is a crutch to hide that a writer has nothing to say."

I hope you've found this article useful. Imagery is a vast topic, and I've touched upon just a few things. Reading the resources linked should offer a broader, more comprehensive understanding of imagery. If you have any suggestions, corrections or opinions, do let me know. Also, if you've tried to use metaphors or similes in a poem after reading this article, I'd love to read it.

_{*I read somewhere that "Jesus wept" is the shortest, most powerful sentence in the Bible.True? False?}

Recent finds

Poetry

Sound Devices by `SparrowSong, posted at *Writers-Workshop
Haikai no Renga by ~SOLARTS

Prose

The Use of Adverbs in Fiction Writing by =DarcKnyt
An Overview on Point o' View by =DarcKnyt
So, You Think You Can Romance? by `GeneratingHype
Flash Fiction by *SRSmith, posted at *Writers-Workshop

Grammar and Punctuation

YOU LIE!! -- Or do you Lay?? by =DarcKnyt
Dots and Dashes -- The Em Dash and Ellipsis by =DarcKnyt

Resource news

My interview with `GeneratingHype turned out to be very popular. You can read it here. This month I will be interviewing `SparrowSong, so look out for that.

*TheObviousChild is working on a Revolutionary new resource for emerging writers. Definitely worth checking out.

A publishing-related article that I think you will be excited to read: Harper Collins + Internet = Writers Win. Thank you, `Jon-Law, for that update!

As mentioned above, Resource Central: Part One and Resource Central: Part Two have been updated.

For more lit news, read Literature Gallery Update (3 September).

Read this

Here are a few resources related to imagery that are not available on deviantART.

Imagery by Vince Gotera

Mattew Francis's workshop on sensual imagery at [link] -- This workshop is closed, but do try the exercise anyway.

Literature Daily Deviations: August 2008

Poetry - Open

Candle-Induced Euphoria by ~ahbegorrah (Human Nature)
Twinkle by ~Amy--Louise (Children's)
Glass, a Movement to the West by *kafawlith (Narrative)
Operation Searchlight: Birth Of A Nation by =K-Sajid (Sociopolitical)
salt by *Negated (Nature)
Snows of November by ~neoHephaestus (Mature Romance)
To Read You by *poisonedrose (Other Romance)
You Wear His Ring by ~pro-nunc (Family Life)
Essays On Metamorphosis by *queenhrosie (Humant Nature)
After Life: To Hell, Not Back by ~SusurrusInGrass (Horror & Macabre)
Still blue by `tmpst24myst (Sociopolitical)
Why there is Dust in Attics by =yourpleasantdarkness (Horror & Macabre)

Poetry - Eastern

Yellow haiku by *diamondie (Nature)
The Origin of Meteors by *HaikuKitty (Scraps)

Poetry - Fixed

No-one forgets a good teacher by ~LazyLinePainterJohn (Humour)
Poison Apple Book Preview by *sadwonderland (Humour)

Poetry - Visual

And Us Going Bald by =bo88y
Ma Belle Dame Immortelle by *peterdawes

Prose - Fiction

I Will Fight You by ~AnonDesu (Horror)
A Death in Literature by ~Blizz-Kid (Perspectives)
Jl. 10 Honeydew Dreams by ~forWinds (General Romance)
Barfly Memories by ~Midnight-neko (Perspectives)
the lwwd by `rebelchic (General)
Maurice Eugene Dobson by ~renaissance1912 (General)
Written On the Stall by ~RhondaElizabeth (Sociopolitical)

Prose - Non-fiction

It comes in threes by *sisterjanet (Biographies)
So You Wanna Be a Writer? by *WordCount (Editorials)

Theatre & Scripts

Jazz for Fools by *Amberlouie
The Players' Epilogue by *orphicfiddler

Some of these Daily Deviations were suggested by *apocathary, `Beccalicious, *fallenidle, ~Gilkinnilk, ~Iscariot-Priest, =leoraigarath, *Mizu-dragon, ~Nymphrodite, ~rubberbudgie, =TEC-ThePenOfMerlin, *TheFavoritesProject and =the-speedpaint-tard

_{Sorry if I have missed anyone out. It was not intentional. Let me know and I will rectify the mistake.}

Write #1: Proof it! | Write #2: Why haiku? | Write #3: To publish or not to publish

I need your feedback.

How can this news article be improved? What topics should I tackle next? Is my resource central missing certain articles? Have you a question or answer for me? Note me! -- ^lovetodeviate