Some of our best writing
comes when we allow the pen to flow without control, without a goal, just an
image and a message. However, good writing can (and does) come from exact
planning as well. Edgar Allan Poe published an extensive essay on this, called
“The Philosophy of Composition,” wherein he describes the process of writing
“The Raven.” He gives the reader much to consider, but essentially, he planned
every detail of the poem before ever setting his pen to the draft. He claims he
thought through the following in order:
- Length
- Topic
- Tone
- Artistic effect (he chose refrain)
- Character, or sound
- Words containing this sound
- Pretext of refrain (Spoken? Who speaks?)
- The defining embodiment of the topic and tone (to Poe, melancholy beauty was defined by death)
- When is this embodiment most poetic?
- Combine two images: speaker of refrain and the poetic embodiment
- Compose final stanza and work backward
- Seek setting, introduction of characters, and causes and effects leading to culmination of last stanza
A few years ago, in my
college American Literature class, I decided to imitate this process for one of
our weekly journal assignments. If you are in the middle of poetry-writer’s
block, I highly recommend doing this – I had fun, and the pieces just fell into
place. However, you do run the risk of becoming tedious with everything a
perfect meter and rhyme, especially if you have a refrain. Poe’s application is
best used with a long poem. The one I wrote was only 15 lines, so it’s almost
childlike in its simplicity. Here is an excerpt from my journal, along with the
finished poem.
The length will be fifteen lines, which is
enough to address the list but short enough to compose and be read in a short
amount of time. To contrast with Poe’s traditional melancholy, I will address
hope. The tone will be bittersweet. I will mimic his choice of using refrain.
Hope needs sighing, soft sounds with a singsong quality. Melodic vowels are a
short ‘e’ or ‘i’ and long ‘o’ or ‘u.’ Mellow consonants are “s,” “p,” “f,” “w,”
“l,” and “m.” Words that contain these sounds are “whisper,” “spirit,”
“feather,” “pleasure,” “honey,” “forehead,” and “melodious.”
The pretext of the refrain will be a
recurring image that the speaker sees: a floating feather. The embodiment of
bittersweet hope is the birth of a child, which is both painful and marvelous.
This experience is most poetic when the mother dies during delivery. To combine
the refrain with this embodiment, the poem’s speaker will be the newborn baby. Now
to compose the final stanza:
As we hold on, shushed
are my sorrowful sighs.
To my forehead, his eyes
trickle moisture down.
His mouth whispers
melodious lullabies
And through the window,
onto Father’s crown,
The feather floats.
Now that I have the bittersweet ending scene
of a crying father holding his new baby, the symbolism of hope in a floating
feather, and a double meaning with capitalization—a decision made during
composition—I can go back and compose two more verses leading to this final one…
To enhance the revelation of the mother’s
death, I will interrupt the soft sounds in the second stanza [at this
point, I had almost finished writing the poem] with the harsh consonants “g” and “x” and the long vowel “i.” If I
wanted to extend the length, I could stretch the metaphor of the bee into a
conceit, perhaps elaborating how the baby is both honey and the mother’s
“stinger” to the world. As it is, these fifteen lines serve my purpose.
Eyelashes, freshly
opened, slowly flutter.
This new spirit already
longs for pleasure.
The room is silent but a
gust mutters;
The window is asunder
more than a measure.
Outside, a feather floats.
The producer of honey
expires;
She stung the flesh of
the mortal world—
Losing life to enliven a
young crier.
Solid hands embrace me:
the infant girl.
Closer the feather floats.
As we hold on, shushed
are my sorrowful sighs.
To my forehead, his eyes
trickle moisture down.
His mouth whispers
melodious lullabies
And through the window,
onto Father’s crown,
The feather floats.
Today’s deviant ditty:
“Heart of Amsterdam” by The
Gentle Storm
