Anyone Can Be a Poet with These Four Simple Steps

Anyone Can Be a Poet with These Four Simple Steps Poetry is elusive and standoffish, somewhat like your high school crush was when they didnt know you existed. Thats why most how to guides or blog pieces seem to miss the mark, giving you suggestions but not quite practical steps in the process of writing poems. Its just hard to do.Dan Chiasson, a poet and contributor to the New Yorker who covers up-and-coming new poets, puts it this way: The writing of poetry is notoriously mystified, almost occult in its resistance to rules or step-by-step methods. If youre a poet, the precision, discipline, and tact of painters or photographers seem enviable indeed. The entire process, by being externalized, seems repeatable, unlike the chance encounters of poets with their muses.Despite a seemingly impossible challenge of breaking down the process of writing poetry into simple steps- steps anyone can take- its possible to do. In fact, Ill go ahead and write the inflammatory words that will make many published poets annoyed: Everyone can be a poet . Yes, that means even you. The same breathtaking results that happened from great poets throughout history following this process can happen to you.Step 1: Pick an experienceUnless you are an established poet with years of experience writing, the first step to writing a poem should be to pick an important experience. The experience should be something that was significant in your life- a great loss, a moment with someone you love(d), an awe-inspiring natural event. These are the types of experiences that will help you write great poetry.Poet and performing artist Leonard Cohen once wrote, Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. This is his (very poetic) way of saying that life experiences are what make poetry what it is, and that any great poet must first have great life experiences before the poetry itself can be written.This is the reason that the experience you pick should be an amazing one. Do you have one in mind? Good†¦n ow on to step two.Step 2: Brainstorm your sensory memory surrounding the experienceTo complete step two, youll need a piece of scratch paper. On that paper, go ahead and write down five categories of senses: Sight, smell, taste, touch, sound. Then close your eyes and take a minute to recall the experience in your mind. Keep your eyes closed for as long as it takes to put yourself back in the moment and remember details. What were you wearing? Was there music playing? Were you inside or outside? What sensations do you remember feeling on your skin? What colors do you remember from the environment?When these details come to mind, start writing them down with as many descriptive adjectives as you can remember. Your list might look something like this:Sight: copper penny, red dress, penny whirling in circles, blue sugarSmell: cotton candy, grease from funnel cake stand, sweatTaste: sugary sweet cotton candy, bitterness of copper penny against lips, taste of blue sugar on his lipsTouch: cool penny against lips, his arms around my shouldersSound: people screaming on nearby rides, thunder of metal wheels rolling on tracksIts important that you dont rush through this step and maybe even return to it often during the writing process if you get stuck at later steps. Its also important to include as many details as you can. The above list is just an example and not complete. For those of you more accustomed to academic writing, consider this brainstorming session to be a kind of unstructured outline for your poem. The more details you include in the outline, the easier it will be to write the first draft.Step 3: Start finding metaphors (and/or similes)Remember back in elementary school when you were introduced to the concept of poetry? Metaphors and similes were introduced around the same time because if there is one literary device that is the absolute, unchanging foundation of poetry- it is metaphor.As a quick review, a metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in drowning in money).Similarly, a simile is a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often introduced by like or as (as in cheeks like roses).So now lets go back to the list you made in step two. Look at some of the clauses you wrote down and start to brainstorm metaphors for them. For example, in my list, I wrote, His arms around my shoulders. To turn this into a metaphor, I might write, His arms around my shoulders are a pythons squeeze. To turn it into a simile, I might write, His arms around my shoulders are like a snakes coil.See how thats done? Now- you try it. Go through your list of sensory memories and change as many as you can into a metaphor or simile. When you are finished with this exercise, move on to step four.Step 4: Find musicality in the metaphorsWhile the heading might make this step seem complicated, it really isnt, so lets break it down. Musicality in this context means the quality or state of being musical : melodiousness.How is language musical you might ask? There are several ways language can have musicality, which in the jargon of the literati, just means it is pleasing to the ear. Rhyme is one way. Assonance and alliteration are others. Science has long studied the effects of repeating patterns on the brain and why the brain is programmed to enjoy it, but what it boils down to this: Find patterns in the sound of your words.Do some of your descriptive clauses repeat a consonant at the beginning of the word? Thats alliteration. Do you see repeating vowels in the words you wrote down? Thats assonance. Is there a rhyme somewhere in what you wrote or can you make a rhyme as you put the words together in stanzas (paragraphs of poems)?Speaking of rhyme- one of the most widely misunderstood traits of poetry is that there must be rhyme. This is simply untrue. In fact, a lot of modern published poet s dont use rhyme at all, but rather choose other ways of bringing musicality into the language (such as alliteration, meter, cadence, etc.).You also dont have to use end rhyme (rhyming at the end of the lines) to use rhyme in poetry. There are other types of rhyme, such as internal rhyme and eye rhyme- all of which are explained in this Poetry Foundation glossary on rhyme.The resultLets look at the results of this process. Jenny Xie is an up-and-coming poet who was just awarded the 2017 Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets for her first collection, Eye Level. As you read through the poem Naturalization, notice where she uses musicality through alliteration (e.g., snacks for snakes), and the senses (what she sees, hears, etc.).NaturalizationBy Jenny XieHis tongue shorn, father confusessnacks for snakes, kitchen for chicken.It is 1992. Weekends, we paw at cheapsilverware at yard sales. I am told by motherto keep our telephone number close,my beaded coin purse closer. I do this.The years are slow to pass, heavy-footed.Because the visits are frequent, we memorizeshames numbing stench. I nurse nosebleeds,run up and down stairways, chew the wind.Such were the times. All of us nearsighted.Grandmother prays for fortuneto keep us around and on a short leash.The new country is ill-fitting, linedwith cheap polyester, soiled at the sleeves.

How to Use the PHP Is_Numeric() Function

How to Use the PHP Is_Numeric() Function The is_numeric() function in the  PHP programming language is used to evaluate whether a value is a number or numeric string. Numeric strings contain any number of digits, optional signs such as or -, an optional decimal, and an optional exponential. Therefore, 234.5e6 is a valid numeric string. Binary notation and hexadecimal notation are not allowed.   The  is_numeric()  function can be used within an if() statement to treat numbers in one way and non-numbers in another. It returns true or false. Examples of the Is_Numeric() Function For example: ?php if (is_numeric(887)) { echo Yes; } else { echo No; } ? Because 887 is a number, this echos Yes. However: ?php if (is_numeric(cake)) { echo Yes; } else { echo No; } ? Because cake is not a number, this echos No. Similar Functions A similar function, ctype-digit(), also checks for numeric characters, but only for digits- no optional signs, decimals, or exponents allowed. Every character in the string text must be a decimal digit for the return to be true. Otherwise, the function  returns false. Other similar functions include: is_null() – Finds whether a variable is NULLis_float() – Finds whether the type of a variable is floatis_int() – Find whether the type of a variable is integeris_string() – Find whether the type of a variable is stringis_object() – Finds whether a variable is an objectis_array() – Finds whether a variable is an arrayis_bool()  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Finds out whether a variable is a boolean About PHP PHP is an abbreviation for Hypertext Preprocessor. It is an open-source HTML-friendly scripting language that is  used by website owners to write dynamically generated pages. The code is executed on the server and generates HTML, which is then sent to the client. PHP is a popular server-side language that can be deployed on almost every operating system and platform.

Bus 22 db thanksgiving Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Bus 22 db thanksgiving - Essay Example This mode of communication is not appropriate since some members fail to get the message, or they are reached by distorted information. The process of information used in the club can be improved by embracing the new information technology. For instance, all the members of the club are members in various social sites such as Facebook and twitter. The club management should create a Facebook page so that communication of important issues can be made easier. In addition, almost every person can easily access the internet and a computer, in this regard, video conferencing can be used for communication, especially when members are on personal vacation. In essence, appropriate application of information technology is the most efficient means of improving communication in an organization (Ling & Campbell, 2011). In summary, leaders of various organizations should apply communication processes that fit all members of the organization for effective