New club is here: The Poetry with Meter Club
Which version of the poem sounds better to you?
Version #1
Very beautiful is the whippoorwill
and so unique is his call.
He sits there singing upon my windowsill,
holding me tightly in his thrall.
Version #2
How lovely is the whippoorwill
and so unique his call.
He’s singing on my windowsill
and holding me in thrall.
Most people would say #2 sounds better. Why? Because it’s written with a distinct rhythm or meter—the thing that makes poetry flow beautifully and sound musical. The human brain likes to hear patterns and a steady beat. That’s what many of us enjoy in music too. It soothes the soul when music is rhythmic and steady.
If you’ve ever struggled to write a poem with beautiful rhythm that sounds polished and professional but have a hard time figuring out what’s wrong, then this club is for you.
The Poetry with Meter Club will be run like a class, and each week will feature a new lesson on an aspect of meter. It will start simply, and you will be given principles to follow to hone your skills. There will be an assignment to write a short poem using the lesson of the week.
The lessons will appear in the discussion forum feature available on the Poetry with Meter Club pages. That’s also where you will post some of your assignments rather than in the main FanStory poetry forum. I will critique each entry in the discussion thread and give suggestions for improvement when warranted.
You will be able to join the class and start with Lesson 1 at any time, as well as skip any lessons. I will monitor these lesson discussion threads and critique any poems added to previous lessons as well as the current one.
Some of the lessons and assignments will be devoted to fixing meter that is off, and a number of techniques for this will be explored.
There is no doubt that writing a rhyming poem with good meter is a worthy goal that will make your poetry stand out. It requires more time and effort to do well, but I assure you this effort will be worthwhile, and you will take a lot of pride in the finished product. Others who are reviewing your poems will notice, too, and will enjoy reading them even more. As an analogy, if you would like to learn to paint a picture like Norman Rockwell instead of Jackson Pollock, then this class is for you.
Ready to join? Simply click or tap on the Social tab at the top of the screen, then the Clubs entry in the dropdown list. You will see a page of different clubs, including the Poetry with Meter Club. Click or tap on the title, then OK to join.
The first event (Lesson 1) will be posted on Monday, May 26.
