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PD30 Day 6: Poets and Parables

September 6, 2008 by J.C. Hewitt 

30 Poems in 30 DaysEnding a poem can be difficult. People feel the need to end on a powerful note. They want to sum up the poem. They want everything that lead up to that final line to feel perfect, and think that this is only possible with the perfect final line. That is a lot of pressure to put on a line of poetry. I’m here to tell you to relax. A great final line won’t save a mediocre poem. On the other hand, a line that pushes too hard to be important or clever or instructional just might ruin a poem.

One of the trickier (but very popular) poem endings is the parable ending. A parable is a story that is designed to illustrate a lesson. Parables stretch back to the Bible and beyond. In many cases the subjects of a parable are animals. The story of the mouse that takes the thorn out of a lion’s foot is a parable. The story of the grasshopper that played while the ants prepared for winter is a parable. In much the same way that you can tack “in bed” to the end of a fortune cookie fortune, you can add “and the moral of the story is…” to the last sentence of a parable poem ending. For example:

And the moral of the story is…

I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
.

The last line of a parable ending to a poem feels like the writer is trying to teach you a lesson. The writer wants to wrap up everything that came before and show you that there is a specific point you need to get out of the poem. A parable ending isn’t necessarily bad, but it is tricky. If you are trying to teach people a lesson and you fail, it shows. A parable ending can go wrong in three ways. It can go wrong if:

  • The lesson is so obvious that it didn’t need to be said
  • The lesson doesn’t feel earned by what came before
  • The lesson feels preachy or heavy-handed

The moral of this article is…

Be careful when you try to teach people lessons.

Today’s Poetry Prompt

Write a poetic parable. Feel free to play with the form. Sometimes it is more interesting when the lesson is just a bit absurd.

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17 Responses to “PD30 Day 6: Poets and Parables”

  1. JoniB on September 6th, 2008 8:16 pm

    Hi John!
    Are we having technical difficulties? The institute site hasn’t “grabbed” this post yet and I’m totally surprised at the lack of comments!
    Just checking….

  2. Sheer on September 7th, 2008 8:18 am

    The Kettle that Saved the Pot

    The pot calling the kettle black
    How dare you
    When you are so black yourself

    The pot called the kettle black
    How could you
    When you are black as well

    The pot calling the kettle black
    Why did the pot
    See only the blackness of the kettle

    The pot called the kettle black
    Why did the pot
    See not the black of itself

    The kettle was called black
    By the pot
    Who was black

    The kettle was called black
    So black
    That the pot
    Saw not it’s own blackness

    The kettle was black
    So black
    That it saved the pot

    From seeing it’s black
    Reflected back from the kettle.

  3. John Hewitt on September 7th, 2008 9:21 am

    I wouldn’t call it technical difficulties so much as an interruption that turned into an all-day distraction. My apologies.

  4. Zoë on September 7th, 2008 10:28 am

    Well said — endings must be earned! Subtlety is wonderful, but not always easy to come by.

    I always find it difficult to create an ending I’m satisfied with, both in poetry and prose. I recently hacked off the last few paragraphs of a short story because they were gratuitous explanation of what the character had gone through.

    I’m off to the private forum now, since I’ve been quite absent…

  5. John Hewitt on September 7th, 2008 1:34 pm

    Pistachios

    There were three pistachios
    Irving
    Isadora
    And Eileen

    Irving was the open sort
    His shell was spread open
    His insides were accessible
    His meat was displayed for all to see
    So Irving got eaten first

    Isadora was less open
    There was only the slightest crack
    With which to get at her sweet inner life
    But someone came along
    And split her open
    Finding the meat to be just as good
    And she was second to be eaten

    Eileen had no opening at all
    There was no easy way to get at her
    She was shut up
    Sealed tight
    Until one day
    Somebody smashed her open with a hammer
    Crushing everything
    Mixing shell with meat
    And eating only a little
    Before throwing the rest of Eileen away

    You have to be nuts
    To read anything into this

  6. James Garner on September 7th, 2008 4:01 pm

    A comical end to an interesting poem.
    There may be something more in it that you suggest.
    But that onl show, I ama likely nuts.

  7. Rosemary Nissen-Wade (aka SnakyPoet) on September 7th, 2008 8:20 pm

    I’m going to cheat this time folks, and post one I wrote a few months ago. Pushed for time at the moment, and this fits the bill and isn’t VERY old.

    The Quest

    I looked for you all my life,
    found you in many places.
    I lusted after your beauty,
    saw it in many faces.

    But each illusion faded
    as the world continued turning.
    The days drew on to sunset.
    I saw the horizon burning.

    ‘That’s fine,’ I said to The Mother,
    ‘If that is how it must be.
    This journey into sorrow
    has held much joy for me.

    ‘I thank you for the pleasures
    and for the lessons learned.’
    And I prayed for a spirit companion
    while still the horizon burned.

    I travelled across the horizon,
    plunging into the dark.
    There was no ground beneath me.
    Ocean and sky turned black.

    Sunrise flames on a new world,
    a horizon flooded with light.
    All names and faces merge as one,
    and I sing on my forward flight.

    14/5/08

    Rosemary Nissen-Wade (aka SnakyPoet)s last blog post..Celebrating Germaine

  8. Rosemary Nissen-Wade (aka SnakyPoet) on September 8th, 2008 7:49 am

    Dear People

    I’m a lot busier than I was when I did this last year, and it’s interfering with projects dearer to my heart, so I have regretfully decided not to post here any more. I’ll keep reading, and I’ll still use the prompts to write poems and will post the results on my poetry blog – but it will be at a much slower pace!

    Thanks again to John for making the opportunity available.

    Happy writing all!

    Rosemary Nissen-Wade (aka SnakyPoet)s last blog post..Celebrating Germaine

  9. James Garner on September 8th, 2008 11:22 am

    I am saddened to hear,
    that you’re leaving us, dear.
    Please, come back when you can
    stay a little past ten.
    (ew, that one did not work.)
    Well, perhaps you could lurk,
    on the forum sometime
    and make comments that rhyme.

  10. Rosemary Nissen-Wade (aka SnakyPoet) on September 8th, 2008 3:57 pm

    Thanks for the giggle James, and the kind words!

    Rosemary Nissen-Wade (aka SnakyPoet)s last blog post..The Quest

  11. John Hewitt on September 9th, 2008 7:21 am

    You will be missed Rosemary

  12. Key on September 11th, 2008 3:20 pm

    I thought writing a parable would be hard, but I ended up really enjoying this. I even put in some rhyme (just to make my life a little harder!).

  13. John Hewitt on September 24th, 2008 5:27 pm

    @ Rosemary

    Come back and finish any time

    @ Key

    Parables can be a lot of fun. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

  14. Akhristin on October 31st, 2008 3:01 pm

    is hope an infringement of life
    where as an inspired metaphore
    depleted a reason to grow

    is hope so defile in life
    that a dream is defered
    upon the wish to succeed
    is only a dream

    is hope so denied
    that every time you try
    you try, try again
    to start all over again

    is hope so bitter
    that your dreams are over looked
    because no one understood you

    is hope a silmile to beleive
    in all hope, life and maturity
    to succeed

    is hope the dream you beleived
    that dream and it became true

  15. Parable Student on April 21st, 2009 3:23 pm

    I love the parable about the nuts being crushed! It illustrates the point of the lesson above – the point of the story is so obvious that the ending is funny by trying to laugh at itself.

  16. Sarah.M on April 21st, 2009 8:51 pm

    One small tree was swaying in the wind,
    When a small seed fell off,
    and planted himself into the soil.

    The seed grows into a tree,
    that blows through the breeze,
    and spreds out more seeds to grow,
    to become beautiful trees.

    The tree lives a long life,
    until one day the trees time comes,
    and a man cuts him down into paper.

    The paper finds its way to the bank,
    Where it’s made into money.

    The bank gave the money to lady,
    That worked two jobs to earn it,
    To care for her son and daughter.

    The money went into a savings account,
    that paid for her sons college.

    Her son grew up to be a doctor
    and saved a young girls life.

    The girl grew up to be a fire fighter,
    that saved a small boys life.

    That boy grew up to be president,
    and all because of one small seed
    that one small tree let go of, on accident.

  17. Angela Khristin Brown on April 24th, 2009 7:45 pm

    the narcisisism in color an adiction
    quota of being lenched
    no one cares to pay attention
    no one trust a basket case
    and as the color exists
    white sheets, black painted faces
    a mere reflection of being whiped
    nobody’s perfect until caught
    it is difficult to speculate risk involved
    the general values of this imposition
    is relative to the pain

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