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ENG 131, CREATIVE WRITING
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IMITATIONS: WHAT, WHY, WHO AND HOW It should be noted that this is NOT a lesson on how to plagiarize! You should give your poem a title and immediately under it, you should put in parenthesis &/or italics, the name of the poet you are imitating. WHAT: You are required to do two poems in imitation of the style you find in my book, Deciduous Poems You may do extra poems for extra credit as well, in imitation of different contemporary authors (and learn more in so doing). WHY: They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. No less than Ralph
Waldo Emerson also said that imitation can be intellectual death! I know that
curling up with a good author can be a super way to learn more. So by
"imitation," I mean that you should become familiar with an exemplary
author's style and in so doing, learn some new tricks. Thus, I'm asking you to study my poems to begin with. I can teach best what I do best, and by studying my style you will, implicitly, know "what I like." But more so, you will learn the prevailing style in American poetry--imagistic poetry. I am predominantly an imagistic poet though I do allow some "abstractions" in my work. I always try to earn the abstractions by surrounding them with images that will not just tell you, but show you what I mean. You may also wish to select any other contemporary (living) author whose work is not just popular but has been judged to be worthy. There are many schools of poetry and as many authors who can't readily be placed in one category or another, but most of the America's poets laureate have been imagistic poets. Most of what you find in academic journals is imagistic. Some is what we call "language poetry" and less is formal. Much of what you find among "unjudged" ezines and periodicals is abstract or "Hallmark" riming [I use the phonetic spelling as it looks/feels better to me!] verse. HOW: Read as much of the poetry in the book as you can to get familiar, even comfortable with the style. Then try to write something the same way that I (or another extra poet you select) would write a poem. The result is a kind of osmotic learning where you absorb style. I am being intentionally "vague" here, which is to say I do not want to impose any specific rules for your attempt at learning from the style of the author you selected. 1. You could be so business-like as to make a list of attributes that help "define" the poet and then use those when you imitate. 2. You could be so literal as to "paraphrase" an existing poem though that is probably an invitation to danger! The last thing I want to do is teach you to plagiarize! Certainly "rewording" or changing just a few words in a poem by someone else does not make it your own. Hence, you need to understand that imitation is not a license to steal! 3. You could be so relaxed as to read a lot of a poet's work and then just
say "Now I'll write like that" and see what comes out. (This happens
to be what I do, myself. I often buy a book by someone and read until I feel I
am ready or even "inspired" enough to write. What comes out is
influenced by them but not closely derivative.) If you do the extra credit work, then send me a sample poem by the author you are imitating, not just the name of the author you are imitating. If you want to be careful, or even more so, to be sure you are honest, you can place this little note in italics under the title of your own poem: (after reading Author's Name). Thus no one can question your integrity and the poem is still your own. Click here for Sample Imitations |
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Copyright (c) 2003-2008 Dr. David B. Axelrod
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