Photo by Mike Tinnion on Unsplash Modified by me Using Photoshop
Hi fellow poets of The Ink Well community. This is @raj808 here to provide a spark of inspiration in the dark fallow fields of the current steem political battleground.
If you're bored with the drama
and want to breath a sigh of relief,
why not set yourself free,
jump on board and sail away
to shores evergreen.
Fill your glass and drink
the sweet mead of poetry.
The first of these weekly poetry prompts will be a double edged challenge containing a word prompt, and a suggested traditional poetic form in which to write your poem.
I wanted to provide flexibility in this challenge offering the choice to take the more structured path of writing in a poetic form, or if you feel this would inhibit your creativity please don't hesitate to write in freeverse.
The only thing I would ask is that you use the prompt word to inspire memories, thoughts and ideas on which to base your poem.
This week's prompt word is: legend
This could take you down any path, there is no limit other than your imagination.
You could write a poem based on a local legend in your country.
Your poem could describe a personal legend - a set of circumstances or life story that effected you deeply, making you who you are today.
Your poem could describe a legend set in a fantastical world of your own imagination.
Let your imagination run wild... the sky is the limit.
An optional challenge - write a ballad based on the word prompt.
The ballad is one of the most well known forms in the English poetic tradition. This poetic form follows an end of line rhyming structure and traditionally also adheres to a meter called common meter, which consists of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter (eight syllables) with lines of iambic trimeter (six syllables).
Don't worry too much about studying how to construct perfect meter unless you want to do this research. The link in the previous sentence will take you to a great site to study the ballad's traditional form in more detail.
To be honest it is enough to know that the rhythm when you read your poem should flow in a da-dum, da-dum, da-dum type pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Often poets find that they write in this way naturally, so really don't fret too much over it.
Modern ballads tend to sacrifice the need to stay exactly to the traditional meter and syllabic structure in favor of focusing on concise modern word choice and strong imagery. A pet hate of mine is the, o'er hills yonder type poems which use archaic language in modern times when it is completely inappropriate. Try to avoid this if you can. Both my poetry tutor at university and an editor I know agreed with this sentiment, contemporary poetry should be contemporary.
Ballads are often plot-driven, with one or more characters unfurling the story through events that lead to a dramatic conclusion. A ballad should not tell the reader what is happening. As with all forms of creative writing you should show the reader events that are happening through description to construct the story.
Ballads can vary in their verse structure, but I tend to write at least three quatrains (four line verses) or more, but as you can see in the example below, Edgar Allan Poe wrote his famous poem Annabel Lee in Sestets (six line verses).
Experimentation is encouraged but try to keep most of the form's conventions consistent. There is a big difference between experimental deviation and simply throwing away the rule book. The rhyme scheme for ballads follow a pattern of ABCB or ABCBDB (with rhyming words at the end of lines two, four and perhaps six if you write in sestets), and the ballad needs to tell a story.
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
Modern poetry tends to deviate away from strict form, replacing end of line rhymes with internal rhyme structures while focusing on other rhythmic uses of poetic technique such as assonance.
I personally find there is huge benefit in writing poems to a strict form as it helps the poet tighten up their choice of words and slows down the thought process while seeking end of line rhymes. I have found writing various forms of poetry really stretches me as I naturally write in freeverse. Tackling form is a great teacher... plus it's satisfying and can be great fun.
For those who are considering writing a ballad, but are still a little unsure I would like to provide an example of a poem I wrote about a Cornish legend that fits this prompt perfectly. Hopefully this will encourage you, and I promise that once you get into the rhythm of rhyming it will flow like water.
The Ballad of Morveren
Dim light cast through stained glass,
plays across the tiled floor,
while warm wind-blown waving grass
dances at the door.
In the church at Easter mass
they sing a joyous song,
a sudden still hush descends
upon the reverent throng.
The pastor's son, Mathey Trewella,
stands up in choral praise,
uplifts his voice in joyous canticle,
as he casts aloft his gaze
to hallowed beams of ships wood,
plain in carpenter’s skill,
his sweet song lifts up the morn,
winging Swifts’ across the hill.
As tremulous song echoes
in heaven's hall aloft,
the soft sound of footfall,
en-spells the swaying flock.
At the door mirror-skinned
haloed by the sun,
golden haired Morveren
sings forth to everyone.
Her feet beveled pearls
shod in sparkling scales,
as gilt and gilded silk unfurls
from gown of cinereal shale.
As if a dream had caught them
in the mingling of the voice,
all follow as she leaves the porch
bereft of will and choice.
Hamlen-like she leads them on
along a lonely path,
never once looking back,
then with a joyous laugh,
leads Mathey out to sea
as the waves cry out loud,
she fades from the tear stained eyes
of the weary milling crowd.
Every seven years or so
she returns to sing in waves,
but never seems to age a day
and her memory never fades.
As you can see from my ballad I have deviated from the rhyme scheme a little by rhyming line one and three in the first verse, but the essential rhyme lines remain mainly consistent. I deviate from the accepted rhyme scheme in verse five and eleven where I use half rhymes. This exemplifies what I mean by experimental deviation in form. In those instances I could find no end rhyme that would maintain the narrative of the poem. In that instance half rhymes were an acceptable alternative as they don't disrupt the rhythm set up by the rhyming structure.
This challenge will run for seven days until next Thursday when I shall provide another poetic prompt and challenge.
I hope you guys have fun writing around the theme of 'legend' and I look forward to reading all of your poems.
Thanks for reading.
If you would like to delegate to @theinkwell and help support creative writing on steem you can do so by clicking on any of the following links for the amount you would like to delegate:
@raj808 here to provide a spark of inspiration in the dark fallow fields of the current steem political battleground.
@theinkwell and help support creative writing on steem you can do so by clicking on any of the following links for the amount you would like to delegate:
@riverflows 500 Steem power delegation, thank you.