bad poetry and elements of good writing
This is a poem I wrote in about sixth grade, on the occasion of Christmas:
What I Like
Brothers and sisters
But definately not blisters.
Flowers and dolls
Plants and balls
I like gym and games
And my big brother James
Blankets and candy
And a girl named Mandy
I liked to be dismissed
I also like Christmas
I like pheasant
and
Presents
The story of Scrooge and Marley
And bread made with barley
Peaches and pears
And mares
The christmas spirit and
everything near it.
People reading books
Birds and hooks
Dad and mom
A voice on the intercom
But most of all I like the
loving that goes on at Christmas.
Does this sound familiar? I wrote very bad poetry all the time when I was a kid and I was universally praised for it? Why? Because I actually figured out some creative rhymes (barley and Marley) and because I had some sense of rhythm (not much, though). And maybe because I was the only one who would write anything. I have no idea. Perhaps most people have no idea what the difference is between good poetry and bad poetry. Church is sometimes an excruciating example of this, when people read sappy poetry that doesn't scan with tortured rhyme and then weep over it.
I have a pretty liberal idea (I think) of what constitutes good writing. However, I do not go so far as to claim that there is no such thing as good writing and bad writing. I think that any teacher of writing would do well to show bad writing examples to her students as well as good ones so that they have an idea of what not to emulate and what to strive for. I've been thinking for a while about what are the elements of good writing, and here is a beginning list:
1. something of substance to say (notice how that is lacking above)
2. clarity (so often bad writers are trying to fit what they say to form and all clarity is lost, or their thoughts or simply so disorganized that no meaning can be found)
3. uniqueness that sets it apart from everything else
4. quotable (which means there have to be things said in short bits that capture what other people must use a lot more words to say)
5. STORY (perhaps needs to be explained in a post on its own)
6. tragic and comic mixed together (different moods)
7. layers of meaning (there is always something wonderful in going back to a book read years before and seeing something new in it, or rediscovering a children's book as an adult)
8. a sense of mystery (that question--what happens next should keep coming up in the reader's head)
9. some structure, and ideally a plot.
10. necessity (by which I mean a book that you had to write, because of who you are and the time that you live in)
I'm afraid these are not very clear formulations of what I am trying to get at. I feel a bit like I am poking at Plato's ideal things and hoping someone else has bumped against them in the dark so that they say, "Oh, yes, that's familiar--I know what that is."
Any thoughts?
What I Like
Brothers and sisters
But definately not blisters.
Flowers and dolls
Plants and balls
I like gym and games
And my big brother James
Blankets and candy
And a girl named Mandy
I liked to be dismissed
I also like Christmas
I like pheasant
and
Presents
The story of Scrooge and Marley
And bread made with barley
Peaches and pears
And mares
The christmas spirit and
everything near it.
People reading books
Birds and hooks
Dad and mom
A voice on the intercom
But most of all I like the
loving that goes on at Christmas.
Does this sound familiar? I wrote very bad poetry all the time when I was a kid and I was universally praised for it? Why? Because I actually figured out some creative rhymes (barley and Marley) and because I had some sense of rhythm (not much, though). And maybe because I was the only one who would write anything. I have no idea. Perhaps most people have no idea what the difference is between good poetry and bad poetry. Church is sometimes an excruciating example of this, when people read sappy poetry that doesn't scan with tortured rhyme and then weep over it.
I have a pretty liberal idea (I think) of what constitutes good writing. However, I do not go so far as to claim that there is no such thing as good writing and bad writing. I think that any teacher of writing would do well to show bad writing examples to her students as well as good ones so that they have an idea of what not to emulate and what to strive for. I've been thinking for a while about what are the elements of good writing, and here is a beginning list:
1. something of substance to say (notice how that is lacking above)
2. clarity (so often bad writers are trying to fit what they say to form and all clarity is lost, or their thoughts or simply so disorganized that no meaning can be found)
3. uniqueness that sets it apart from everything else
4. quotable (which means there have to be things said in short bits that capture what other people must use a lot more words to say)
5. STORY (perhaps needs to be explained in a post on its own)
6. tragic and comic mixed together (different moods)
7. layers of meaning (there is always something wonderful in going back to a book read years before and seeing something new in it, or rediscovering a children's book as an adult)
8. a sense of mystery (that question--what happens next should keep coming up in the reader's head)
9. some structure, and ideally a plot.
10. necessity (by which I mean a book that you had to write, because of who you are and the time that you live in)
I'm afraid these are not very clear formulations of what I am trying to get at. I feel a bit like I am poking at Plato's ideal things and hoping someone else has bumped against them in the dark so that they say, "Oh, yes, that's familiar--I know what that is."
Any thoughts?