30 Poems in 30 Days: Repetition
September 17, 2007 by John Hewitt
This is Day 14 of 30 Poems in 30 Days
Repeating Yourself
One of the central concepts of poetry, especially poetry in forms, is repetition. As poets we repeat sounds, syllables, words, syntax, meters, lines and stanzas. The use of repetition is one of the qualities of poetry that separates it from prose. In prose, repetition is rare and usually done to either increase clarity or to make a single point.
Repetition creates patterns. Whether the patterns are phonetic or syntactic, when people encounter these patterns they recognize them and respond to them. If you repeat the same word or line over and over again, the reader will assume that it has significance. If you repeat a sound (rhyme, alliteration, consonance) it links words or lines together. If you repeat a meter, it moves the poem forward and adds a musical quality to the poem. If you repeat syntax, it allows different ideas either form links or create contrasts.
Repetition is a tool. If used well, it adds to a poem through the links and patterns it creates. If used badly, it can become too obvious, creating predictability. Like any poetic tool, it should be used carefully and with intent. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish by using repetition, there’s a good chance you will misuse it.
Today’s Poetic Assignment
Write a poem that uses at least two different forms of repetition. Try to embrace at least one form of repetition that you don’t ordinarily use.
Today’s Recommended Poet
As a poet, Melissa Morphew is first and foremost an excellent storyteller. She writes mostly in a narrative voice about fictional and fictionalized subjects. Her descriptive skills are wonderful and her stories are surreal and beautiful. Be sure to read her newspaper interview, it is an excellent introduction into the world of poetry publishing and contests.
Latest Book
Fathom
Poetry on the Web
Four More Poems by Melissa Morphew
Ms Morphew’s pretty darned amazing, too. Her poems cast ripples in my imagination, which go on widening out even after I finish reading.
I was pretty sure you would like her. Right up your alley.
DOWN THE RIVER …
the River of No Return,
a movie starring Marilyn –
fantasy Marilyn, lost girl, pretty girl,
sad girl singing a sad song.
“I lost my love,”
she mouthed prettily
in that sweet-child voice,
“down the River of No Return.
No return, no return.
He’ll never return to me.”
Oh Marilyn. Pretty girl, lost girl.
Elton, singing his sad song,
wasn’t the only one
to fall for Norma Jean.
Norma Jean, Norma Jean,
who will never return.
We all loved you.
Fantasy girl:
the graceful points
of your bare breasts
and the waterfall of hair,
on that famous calendar.
I can almost smell
your Chanel No. 5.
The sad infant, hinted
in your wide-eyed, sweet-child face,
wide eyes that begged,
“Protect me!” and then,
“Besmirch me!”
But above all they begged,
“Love me!”
You lost your love
over and over, down that river
of no return – lost father,
mother, lost yourself,
lost husbands, lovers,
lost your way, your life
lost … forever …
no return, no return … sold
down the river …
goodbye, Norma Jean.
We will never forget Norma Jean, like Elvis — she was probably her most versatile self in the River of No Return — interesting use of repetitions, singular words repeated as well as phrases; I’m thinking of paying more attention to various types of repetitions. So we have words, phrases, line length, punctuation, syntax, like the development section in a sonata, motifs repeated in different keys, even rhthms, call it repetitive variantions . . . interesting. Another might be the Rhondo form (ABA with the A repeated to end the piece) — the last section (A) a repetition of the 1st and in the final execution, a final ending. Ok then, let the fun begin, I’m in.
I was trying for some sound repetitions too: “fantasy, Marilyn, sad”; “infant, hinted”; “smell, Chanel” and so on.
Rosemary, I think your sound repetitions were excellent. You really embraced the challenge. This could have just as easily been in the elegy section. Nice work.
Ah, with all this poeticising, the subconscious is fully engaged by now! I didn’t have any notion of topic, but as soon as I turned my attention to the idea of repetition, up welled the song, “River of No Return” with all its repetitions, and I was away. I think I’ve been unconsciously waiting decades to write this one! (Ever since Elton - or was that Bernie Taupin? - beat me to it in the first place.)
The Week
Sleeping and Sleeping
In bed since work ended
Waiting to work again
Sleeping then following
This day into the next
Pushing and Pushing
Establishing patterns
A pattern before breakfast
Another by lunch
Pushing through afternoon
One hour into the next
Talking and Talking
Conversations take time
Time to keep passing
Forty hours in four days
Then three days away
Home and back and home
I look, I talk but I never do,
Am I noble and principled or
am I just scared ?
I want, I talk but I never do,
Am i holding out for what is right or
am i just making excuses ?
I dream, I talk but i never do,
Am I protecting my children or
am I just hiding behind them ?
Who knew: This is good, but the last verse makes me want to know much more about the situation!
Rosemary - yes it is rather obscure to everyone on the planet but me.I really should expand if I want to write things that people other will read.
I cheated and used something I wrote some years ago. I was exploring how much of a fraud I felt I was, as compared to the strong, well adjusted, honourable single mother I was widely perceived to be.
Thanks
Who Knew: Oh, your meaning is very clear! I was just curious to know more specific details because you got me interested.
Snail
Desiring the exhilarations of changes:
The draw of a circle of light on a dark thrush,
A dark thrush thrumming with denser darks-
Where you yourself would not be quite yourself-
Long straight vertical climb up,
Up the long slats of speckled black.
The obscure moon lighting an obscure world
Reveals a single iridescent orange streak,
A single snail caught in ascent
Along the unpainted universe of a trash can.
Saul Nadatas last blog post..Snail
Here is my poem experimenting with repetition:
Checkpoint Charlie
A is for Alpha and the bold allied forces.
B is for Bravo and Berlin torn in two.
C is for Charlie, the bleak cold war
and the critical crossing where
a tank clash crudely endorses
the violent longing to leave
in each bitter face in the queue.