Like many others, I viewed poetry as an art you "accidentally" create. Somehow, through unintentional word choice and random line breaks, an author creates a musical piece thats deeper that its surface. However, I realise now that none of that is true; in fact, it is very false. Steve Kowit has been a handy mentor into the formulation of poetry over the last few weeks, and there have been numerous amounts of important information that has changed how I used to view many aspects of writing poetry. Musicality is one of the literary devices that is most recognised in poetry; however, it goes beyond just end-rhymes. There's an internal rhyme that is subtly yet skilfully preconceived in order to change how a reader reads the poem. For example, assonance is the use of repetitive sounds, typically identical vowel sounds, so the reader can formulate the same sounds in words and, possibly, connect them–such as, the "awe" in "fallen" and "drawer". Another usage of internal rhyme is the use of alliteration; however, instead of just using it via the first letter of every word, you introduce terminal alliteration(also known as partial assonance). Through this technique, the author denotes the identity of the final consonant sounds in several words within a line–such as "en" in "golden" and "garden". Though this technique is considered inevitable, to carefully choose which words will be used to form a relation and interpretation between them creates intentional symbolism. As well as, Kowit has resurfaced the importance of figurative language that goes beyond for analytical and college essays, but to play a vital role in bringing about central imagery and comparisons in a poem. For example, how some poems are known in the form of a "controlling metaphor", where a singular metaphor extends to the entirety of the poem, bringing about fantasies to be literal and explore complex personalities(reveal an individual truth). Even further, a common misconception is how to break lines in a poem. Though, originally, I thought you can break lines wherever you feel would be best for they don't play an important role in the poem; however, that is also greatly incorrect. Various forms have various ways of breaking lines–free verse poems have 14 different ways of breaking lines–, though there aren't strict "rules" on the matter. Line breaks can be used for punctuation, word emphasis, pacing, aesthetic appearance, for irony, by what feels right by you, and so much more. What many don't realise is how every little detail you can imagine that is incorporated into a poem is more diligently planned and vital to interpretation and presentation to a poem than we know, and that is what I have learned over the last few weeks.
