The Secret of Writing Dead Easy Poetry

Exactly what it says on the packet!

Writing poetry is dead easy if you have two precious documents before your very eyes. The two documents in question are The Divine Comedy; by some 13th century Italian bloke called Dante Aligheri, and any copy of the Iliad that’s lying about the joint. You will also need a full-length mirror, a tin of Brasso and an English/Italian dictionary. When you have assembled this lot you can commence discovering whether or not you are a Dante, or just chancing your luck as a wannabe Homer

 

Having assembled all the necessary paraphernalia, you can begin your quest to become a poet, or discover that you are just another lost soul who wants to copyright spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in order to make a fortune from the literary outpourings of desperate to be Dantes everywhere. (Think about it, that’s not as dumb as it sounds nor is it as dumb as you will be if you attempt it.) That’s your first lesson in Danteness and Homericness. Writing literature is a paradoxical experience, and never a contradiction. So, you may have to shove Hegel out the window and line the floor of your pet hamster’s cage with the complete works of Marx.

 

Now you are approaching the very personal and very revealing bit of this exercise to discover whether you are a potential Dante or not. But, as always, there’s a but: before that, you may wish to check out a few historical precedents. Check out Chaucer Shakespreare. Milton, Pope. Shelley and Keats, and after the death of the Good Lord Byron, you might want to move abroad to Ireland and The USA, to get the best out of literature by having a glance at Yeats, Hopkins, Whitman and Emerson. Then there are a couple of Russian poets: Akhmatova and Ratushinskaya . Africa has the Nobel Laureate Soyinka, who shouldn’t be missed. Rabindrinath Tagore is beyond words

and there is a Chinese poet named Wei Bo who is also a sublime read. World literature is like world music, a surprise around every corner-

 

Now this is the wonderful part of your poetic odyssey. At this point you get to look in the mirror, a lot. But first a word of caution: mirrors can be very strange, if not downright frightening things to see yourself reflected in. Put on your bravest countenance and look straight into the glacial glossy glare, and tell yourself you’re not scared of a piece of silver painted glassery that looks back at you every time you glance at it.   

Author's Note

This is neither a poem, book, or story but the system has no Essay option....Looking forward to your entertaining review!

Reviews

[Norman 223]

Although I could never aspire to the heights of your literary heroes, I will hopefully aspire to your knowledge and humour. An erudite pìece of whimsy that had me chuckling throughout.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

A veritable litany of literary Masters! Superb essay enlightens and enchants...who can aspire to follow in the footsteps of the Greats? One can only write and hope and dream...And drat the darned mirror- ha! Love this Duncan!

[alanwgraham]

A grand tour of the cream of poets but it always comes back to the mirror, mirror on the wall, reflecting back, I think damn all! It's time to get inside our head before we end up old and dead.
Excellent essay Duncan.
Regards, alan