Almost anyone determined to write a poem can do so. But to write a poem that creates a spark of recognition, delight, or surprise in the reader is a different thing altogether.
At its best, poetry expresses experience in a way that cannot be explained but rather is revealed through the music, language, and voice of the poem. The poet who follows the poem's lead rather than the other way around is likely to end up with a better poem.
John Keats and Negative Capability
John Keats, an English poet, described the quality of what he considered a true poet. In a letter written on December 21, 1871, he defined negative capability as "when man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason." This requires a sort of self-nullification that allows the poet to enter other people or things and speak as and for them. He believed Shakespeare's writing showed this type of capability, and "Ode to a Nightingale" is an example of it in his own work.
How to Write Better Poetry by Writing Into the Unknown
This is harder than it seems, since the natural tendency is to filter the world through conventions of thought and language. How can the poet break out of habitual perceptions? Here are some ways to do it:
- Read poets who use negative capability, including Keats, Wordsworth and Emily Dickinson. In an article written for Salon.com, November 3, 1997, Galway Kinnell cites Dickinson's poem "I heard a fly buzz when I died," as an example of this type of capability: "Dickinson enters, imaginatively, a dying person and goes with her into death....Dickinson had to "die" a moment in imagination, which may be to say that she had actually to die a little in reality."
- Become someone else. Write in the voice of a persona, maybe a mythical, biblical, or historical legend such as Orpheus, Moses, Joan of Arc, or personify an object, a souvenir or artifact. How does this help? A persona can serve as a vessel, giving voice to personal thoughts and feelings and provide a fresh perspective to well-rehearsed content.
- Be receptive to language and the senses. Jot down sights, sounds, or bits of language that are compelling for any reason (sound, sense, rhythm). Sometimes language knows more than the poet. Content may come from dreams, daydreams, diaries, fragments of overheard conversation, or even TV (a compelling scene or line from a movie). The important thing is to be open to the world in ways that bypass categories and preconceptions of experience.
- Write against the grain. Deliberately choose a topic that is unfamiliar or even hard to write about. This helps to get out of the rut of continually writing the same experience in the same way. Consider taking an observer's perspective (real or imagined) of a past event. Write playfully about a serious topic. Instead of retelling a familiar event, tell what happened just before the event, or give it a different outcome. Or try the technique of "writing poetry inside the body."
It may feel awkward or just plain wrong to write in new ways, but the more uncomfortable it feels, the more it's likely to lead to breakthroughs. See this link to writer's block if self-doubt gets in the way.
According to Keats, true poetry is not explained, but carefully observed as revealed through the senses. The poet's job is to be receptive to a different type of reality, one in which uncertainties and mysteries cannot be resolved or explained. The art of negative capability is a way of writing into the unknown. The reward is poetry that resonates at a deeper level with the reader, and surprises even the poet.
Elizabeth Harrington - Poet, Freelance Writer, Marketing Research Professional, Blogger (www.allaboutqualitative.com)
