Poetry and Function
The consolidation of an artist's thoughts emerges in many ways. Through poetry, writers express themselves in the most lyrical and, more often, most concise way. All have carefully picked over the diction and structure of their pieces in order to precisely articulate their intention. The conventional forms, such as a sonnet, leave the poet with certain methods to emphasize their meanings. Nowadays, free verse is the more popular type of poem, as it gives the poet leave to mess with or completely disregard grammar, pattern, and rhyme. The poem, “Jabberwocky”, by Lewis Carroll is a ballad with regular rhyme scheme and meter, and while it is in a conventional form, its words are anything but. Conversely, T.S. Eliot's poem “Hysteria” is written like prose, with no rhyme. Relative to its title, Eliot uses free verse to closely emulate the emotions being conveyed. Both poets focus on crafting their poems through the formation of words and sentences, creating impacting works of art.
“Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll is a well known poem from his famous work, Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The piece is a tale about the slaying of a monster called “the Jabberwock” (line 5). In a fairy tale manner, the story of a young boy unfolds. He is told of various monsters to be wary of, and then goes on a quest to defeat his “maxome foe”(line 10), the Jabberwock. In apparent ease, he slays the monster and brings back its head in triumph.
Carroll uses a conventional ballad form to construct the poem. He makes a traditional combination of an ABAB rhyme scheme, quatrains, a repeated chorus, and dialogues in his ballad. The first stanza is the chorus of the ballad, and the last stan...
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...asis help to convey the messages poets intend to depict. Emotions and thoughts cannot be easily portrayed. Through poetry, a long string of heady words, or the simple combination of three or four hit close to the mark for the intangible. Poems also serve to tell tales, and to entertain. Both Lewis Carroll and T.S. Eliot do so in their poems, “Jabberwocky” and “Hysteria”.
Works Cited
Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Borders Classics. Ann Arbor, MI: Borders Group, Inc., Ann Arbor Media Group, LLC., 2007. 169. Print.
Carroll, Lewis. “Jabberwocky.” The Seagull Reader Poems: Second Edition. 'Ed'. Joseph Kelly. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. 61. Print.
Eliot, T.S. “Hysteria.” Poems by T. S. Eliot. Poetry Archive. 3 March 2011.
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The poems make for a simple addition to the narrative and allows for a much more meaningful experience for a reader and makes for a much more engrossing story, thus adding to the experience as a whole.
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Poetry is more than just a correlation of words; poetry contains power. Poetry works by sculpting the English language in such a way that it produces sound, while endeavoring to recreate experiences. I really grasped this concept when we read Dulcem Et Decorum Est, by Wilfred Owen. Among other things, this poem contains haunting imagery, and a rhythm that produces the sound of being in the trenches. While reading this poem, Wilfred Owen’s words made me fearful and paranoid. The slightest sound could hold my attention. I also noticed how silent the room felt after we finished the poem. We were all struck and disturbed by the old phrase Dulcem Et Decorum Est.
My writing is my medium, to impart my values, my beliefs, my ideas, my messages, everything to you. The ability to convey such things is beautiful. But for you to discover and interpret the beauty, to mould the beauty into a new being, is the true beauty of poetry.
In poems, imagery is used to help get the writers’ message across in a language that is extremely visual. The poet wants
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scheme (AABB) in order to keep his readers interested and the poem is consistent. By using