Brooke E. Wayne: Romance with a Kiss of Humor

CLASSIC POET’S CORNER: Alfred Lord Tennyson

A Lesson in ALLITERATION

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Loaded with all kinds of poetic devices and layers upon layers of secrets within its surface meaning, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s shortest poem could fill a book with all its depth. We’ll keep this lesson short and sweet though, just like the poem if you only read into it like it’s about a hungry bird.

The spotlight this round is ALLITERATION—that snazzy poetic device that requires two or more words in a verse to begin with the same consonant and sound.

Society loves alliteration. We shake this poetic device all over everything liberally like we’re salting the snowy earth with it after a severe storm. (See what I did there. Bam!) We like our Taco Tuesdays, Breakfast Bonanzas, and our Fun Fridays, don’t we? Whether it’s a book club, quilting circle, or a Facebook group, I betcha the squad’s name is composed of a cluster of words that all start with the same consonant and clip off the tongue when pronouncing it. (Now, read that line out loud for extra fun!) I’m not even going to hide the fact that I went all alliterative with the catch phrase “Classic Poet’s Corner,” when, in fact, some of the poets I use for this writerly segment are not even from the Classic Era. I just liked the way it sounded. So far, no one seems to mind.

Alliteration is a beautiful thing. It creates a melody in our heads when we read lines of poetry harboring this little gem. It gives free verse poetry rhythm while it’s lacking rhyme. It also makes memorizing poetry a cinch.

Here is an extensive list of alliterative words that you can shake into your own poetry:

Amazing, Adorable, Awful, Aching , Adamant, Austere, Awesome

Boisterous, Bossy, Bad, Beautiful, Becoming, Bright, Brilliant, Blushed

Crisp, Crunchy, Crackly,  Clever, Clipped, Cloudy, Crystal, Clear

Dry, Dripping, Drought, Dusty, Dank, Dark, Deadly, Doomed, Destined

Energetic, Expressive, Ecstasy, Elated, Enchantment, Enthralled

Fond, Futile, Feverish, Fresh, Flourishing, Frightened, Freakish, Fun

Gross, Grand, Grisly, Garish, Ghostly, Gorgeous, Great, Gritty

Heavenly, Heated, Helpful, Hurtful, Hyper, Hysterical, Happy

Icky, Irritable, Irked , Iridescent, Ironic, Inspirational, Insipid, Instant

Justify, Jargon, Joyful,  Jittery, Jumpy, Jovial, Jointed, Jerk

Kinship, Keeping, Kinetic, Knot, Kind, Kiss, Kaleidoscope

Love, Like, Lust, Lilting, Lofty, Liquid, Lazy, Laboring

Magnificent, Marry, Momentous, Majestic, Meticulous

Nocturnal, New, Narrow, Naughty, Narrative, Narrow, Nice

Overly, Obvious, Oblivious, Off, Obnoxious, Opposing

Perfect, Pretty, Pity, Precipitous, Precocious, Proper, Precious

Quivering, Quilted, Quiet, Quest, Quintessential, Quaint

Robust, Rotund, Rot, Ripe, Ruddy, Resplendent, Radiant

Steamy, Stylish, Secretive, Solid, Sassy, Secure, Seductive

Taunting, Teasing, Tumultuous, Timid, Texture, Timely

Upon, Underrated, Undeniable, Understated, Utopia, Uppity

Verified, Vanilla, Veritable, Vast, Void, Vulnerable, Vixen

Wizened, Wisdom, Whimsical, Wish, Wonderful, Wanderer, Wet

Xerox … I got nothin’ without Googling a bunch of weird words neither of us would use. :-/ Maybe try some silly made-up onomatopoeias?!)

Zephyr, Zoo, Zoom, Zap, Zigzag, Zany, Zesty, Zip, Zebra

Now, go forth and buckle up buttercup; you’ve got to get that gorgeous poetry written. I can’t wait for you to share your poetry with me!

~Brooke E. Wayne

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Brooke E. Wayne: Romance with a Kiss of Humor

CLASSIC POET’S CORNER: Edgar Allan Poe

A Lesson in ONOMATOPOEIA

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CLASSIC POET'S CORNER: Edgar Allan Poe A Lesson in ONOMATOPOEIA

Onomatopoeias fall under the poetic device of Imagery, which taps into all five senses. The star of the show for this term is sound. This device uses words that actually imitate the sound they’re describing. Using words as sound effects makes for an imaginative playground in your head. Wrap some SLAM poetry around a handful of onomatopoeias, and your competition doesn’t stand a chance the minute you step up to the mic. This poetic device beckons to be spoken aloud. But, if you’re the silent type, that’s okay. You do you. Just feel free to load up your poems with words that trickle off the tongue with every intention of evoking emotion, or at least let others whisper them while they read your work.

Lots of people think of words like, “pow,” “zoom,” “boink,”–or any other 1960s-Batman-television-show variety–when they think of onomatopoeias. Those are fine. Maybe even a little, meh. I challenge you to level up with some better choices that serve a stronger purpose in the poems you write. Choose onomatopoeias that actually have meaning and provoke sound imagery within a setting you’ve created in your poem that includes other senses, too. My workbook and journal has an extensive list of words to use for every sense. You should take a peek, and use as many as you want.

If the example provided by Poe doesn’t do it for you, check out the complete version of his poem, “The Bells.” I wanted to use the full poem, but since it’s super long—I took a pass worried that my readers would lose interest and want to get right down to writing instead of reading the whole thing. “The Bells,” though, is the quintessential example of all things onomatopoeia, so when you have the time of day (or night—this is Poe we’re talking about, night is a good time to set the mood), then do an Internet search for it and enjoy hearing all the different sounds of the types of bells he celebrates in his poem.

For this exercise, here’s a list of onomatopoeias that would love to hang out in a verse that comes to life with other sensory details:

Trickle          Sputter         Squeak         Crackle            Clap             Squeal

Hush             Howl               Sizzle              Rev                  Woof             Mumble

Gurgle          Warble            Smash             Ring                Splash           Click

Stutter         Whisper          Whine             Fizz                Tick-Tock       Thud

Gulp             Chug              Slurp               Rattle              Slosh               Clip

Here are some scenarios to bring to life with a few sound descriptors:

A lifeboat with two survivors drifting on the turbulent sea, pitch black, nothing but stars …

A hungry wolf stalking its prey, ribbons of neon green flowing above them, the full moon dances with the Northern Lights …

A field of tulips in every color imaginable, a swarm of bees feast on all the nectar …

A man stands in the rain outside her window, drench, shaking, wondering if she knows …

A shark cruises the shoreline, his fin slicing the undulating waves, a surfer mounts his board …

Now, go forth, my word-whisperer, and make some noise all up in those sweeeet poems of yours. I can’t wait for you to share your work with me!

~Brooke E. Wayne

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Brooke E. Wayne: Romance with a Kiss of Humor

CLASSIC POET’S CORNER: William Wordsworth

A Lesson in Personification

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Personification is the party animal of the poetic devices. It takes a boring, stationary object that lacks personality and charisma and breathes life into it. Suddenly that ‘thing’ becomes a ‘her’ and she’s all kinds of sexy with a little smidgen of swagger and a whole lotta charm. What if she was a brick red tube of lipstick? See what I mean? Alive. Telling a story. Living the dream.

William Wordsworth had it all going on when kicking back on his couch, daydreaming of the good stuff. You can almost hear all those daffodils in harmony singing their little hearts out about all that sunshine and happiness. Loaded with similes, too, let this jovial poem inspire you. Search through your existing poems, and find objects you could set in motion, then edit your work to include phrases with humanlike actions, or at least switch up the pronouns, and set the objects free from their inanimate dungeon.

You can also make a list of objects and actions or feeling for these new items to experience then throw them into a circumstance. Now, write some phrases and toss them into a new poem, like the rockstar poet you know you are.

Here, I’ve started a list for you:

OBJECTS and ACTIONS:

Rain—–Caress, Tickle, Pinch                                                                 

Rainbow—–Sing, Whisper, Rejoice                                                        

Ocean—–Cradle, Rage, Call                                                                    

Ferrari —–Purr, Calculate, She                                                                   

Bed—–Beckon, Moan, Embrace                                                                                

Wedding ring—– Speak, Secure, Promise

Garden—– Celebrate, Mentor, Please

Finally, you can bring living-like action to objects and emotions, too. But, just so you know, this technique straddles the poetic device of implied metaphor depending on what it’s being compared to. Think, “Does it have a heartbeat?” then, we’ll let it slide and call it personification for this exercise. If it’s alive but doesn’t have a heartbeat, then it’s probably safer to stick it in the metaphor bubble. You can even hit up my Categories list on my home page for more of these Classic Poet’s Corner blogs to find the one on Metaphors and go from there if you don’t have Come Write with Me: POETRY Workbook & Journal (For Teens & Adults). If you have the book—cool—you can flip ahead and check out the Metaphor page then come back here later.

Comparative Examples:

The torrid lava clawed its way to the edge of the city, obliterating all things in its vengeful path. (Personification—The action and emotion embodied in the lava could be construed as animalistic or human (a super scary human!)

Love wound its tentacles around my heart and dragged it into the depths of all things hearts and flowers. (Implied Metaphor—Love is an octopus.)

Bitterness pricked my heart, leaving it wounded and oozing with pain. (Implied Metaphor—Bitterness is a thorn.)

And, hear me out, you can even bend the rules a bit and put living characteristics to an inanimate object or emotion that aren’t necessarily human.

Now, go forth, you crafter of creativity, and let out all that eager poetry knocking on your heart’s door. I can’t wait for you to share your poetry with me!

~Brooke E. Wayne

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