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This week's topic: Contemplation.

As with most stereotypical poetry, let's keep the topic a bit spacey this week. Do you have something on your mind? Have you had these weird recurring thoughts? This might be the week for you. Show me something you've been deeply thinking about. 

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This week's optional requirement: Write an elegy.

Elegies are generally defined as poems with a somber tone. And that's about all that I can tell you with regards to the definition of an elegy. Unless you're writing a poem in Ancient Greek or Latin (which I'll definitely give you bonus points for), elegies in the English language are pretty badly defined. Ranging from strict definitions as lamentations for dead person, to just generally really sad poems, different poets tend to have different definitions of the form. 

However, apart from the general sadness, the most common feature of an elegy is that it describes a moment of contemplation, in relation to for example regret or loss in the past or future. Apart from general descriptions, an elegy therefore heavily focuses on the feelings of the poet. For example, in one of the more famous elegies,Thomas Grey describes a churchyard and its dead, and link that to his own thoughts on mortality, regrets, and the general suckiness of death. 

With regards to form, elegies have no strict requirements. However, generally speaking, as elegies are seen as a more classic form of poetry, most authors incorporate a rhyming scheme, and some form of metre. Length and such are completely up to the writer. Though I will therefore not necessarily look at the form of your poem for this week's exercise, an (honestly quite bad) example of part of an elegy not related to death could be: 

Final partings, solemn vows,
Fleeting promises to meet again.
Sullen handshakes, shallow bows, 
Fleeting mem'ries of a splendid reign.

Will loneliness its mantle spread
O'er Future's brightly shining light? 
(...)

I thereby used a trochaic metre for the first stanza, and a iambic metre for the second one. I would advise you to use some degree of fixed form (e.g. similar syllable counts in each line, rhyme, metre, etc.) in your poems, as it might be a bit easier for the reader to follow, but that's completely up to you. 

So, in summary: 

Elegy: A contemplative poem, usually in relation to loss or regret, and often quite sad.

Have fun writing!  

 

@Bannerlord @Crescentstar @Orange @Mizal @Lancelot @Mayana @Betaband @Kwism1127 @Leoscales7 @bbshark @Drew8521 @BerkaZerka 

Here's the updated point list, please correct me if anything's wrong. I'll probably give feedback on last week's exercise somewhere in the following days. 

Orange:     11
Bannerlord:    6
Crescentstar:    6
Leoscales7:    6
Mayana:        5
Drew8521:    3
Kwism1127:    2
Bbshark:    1
BerkaZerka:    1
Betaband:    1
Lancelot:    1

As always, giving feedback is encouraged, but please don't reply to the entries directly if they're not edit-locked, so people can still change them if they want to.

The pitter patter of the rain

Only adds to my growing pain.

I feel like I'm held up in chains.

Or is that me just going insane.

 

My breaking heart shatters at an instant.

Haunting memories are still reminiscent.

Wrath and anger in me is always consistent.

Yet my sanity is still persistent.

 

There she stood in the sun.

She seemed like she'd never scold or shun.

She looked at me and I was stunned.

And I began to think she was the one.

 

We began to go to the meadow every day.

So we could sit, chat, eat, and play.

One time, she asked me if I would stay.

So I let her have her way.

 

Then, for marriage, we set out.

I said yes without a doubt.

I needed her love like water in a drought.

She was the one I couldn't live without.

 

Then one day, it smelled like burnt tire.

The smell kept rising higher and higher.

Little did we know, there was a fire.

I survived, but the blaze went to fry her.

 

My mind sits back as I mourn

For the loss of my love reborn.

I sit here and shout and scourn.

As my heart is ripped and torn.

 

Here I am now, trying to disvow.

What my head is trying to allow.

My soul and my heart want to know how

I can take my life right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I composed this to the Rains of Castamere in my mind, not sure what the meter for that is. The | is indicative of a pause for breath.


And now, he’s gone,
A long life lived,
And all of us, are left

He was our light,
Our child | hood friend,
The one we all forgot

He was one,
Who shook his head,
When all else | was wrong

And so, he went,
And we saw not
The world he left be | hind

And though the days
Still move the same,
The air that blows is still

For each face that saw his face
Will never see him live
For he was one
Who gave us joy
The one | we all lived

This is a song,
For all we’ve lost,
For the innocence of childhood,
We tried.

/A Contemplation on Innocence/

Waddup Stryker

Hello BlackDragon, I don't believe we've met before

Hey Stryker, Im just a new user who's just seen you a lot around creative corner

It's a pleasure to meet you, if you have any questions, kindly PM me (let's keep this thread related to Poetry). I'd suggest you introduce yourself in Newbie Central while you're at it.

I'm in an exceedingly rare mind for poetry, this one's set to Interstellar's

Soft - Rising
Soft - Rising
Deeper - Rising

Meter. Again, | is for a slight pause between the sounds

Will link the exact song if I can

To the
Time that
We left

We have
On|ly
The time

That we
Can change
Our past

We have
On|ly
The time

For us
To live
As the

Last of
Our selves
And we

Will face
That which
We made

What we
Came from
What we
Made from
What we
Make with

Our time
That we
Have left

We are
Motes in
The Wind

That we
Have to
Live with

With out
Know|ing
Where we
Are
Hea|ding
And with
The thought
That we
Will be

The last
The last
The last

/Eulogy for time/

A soft October breeze wisps her stawberry scented hair back,
The void of silence filled by the sound of water pouring down,
His hunger for her lips felt like an attack,
Their hearts pounded as they became one underneath the cloudy night sky,

 

His delicate digits caressed circles on her near translucent skin,
His eyes ablaze with a bright blue flame,
She swears she memorized every line within,
But little did she know these feelings were a game,

 

His hair of raven feathers ruffled by her trembling fingers,
A scent of home gently laced into every squeeze of his empty embrace,
The spirit of the once broken boy lingers,
But he is now gone without a trace,

 

The days begun to grow colder,
The lighting crackled and ripped through the town,
The girl used to depend on his shoulder,
For fears of thunder were impossible to drown,

 

They fought over little things,
She had begun to lose him to another whirl wind of love,
His phone illuminated as they hear soft pings,
While he was no angel he was up above,

 

Meteoric is how appeared in her life,
A random encounter of chance and choice,
She carried with her a personal strife, 
Though she was quiet he had still herd her voice,

 

Their words were not forgiving as they screamed out for each other,
The I miss you became resentment for connection,
So one day she began searching for another,
But she always will end up in his direction.

You hide your face behind a mask
But I don't even need to ask
Figuring who you are isn't even a task
You're just another clever guy
Who uses lies as a disguise 

It truly isn't hard to see
That you are exactly like me
Is this all you'll ever be? 
You try to kill to hide the truth
You remind me of my youth

You have come to take my life
With your small assassins knife 
Aren't you worrying your wife?
I can see her now, she's so sad
Your child crying, "where's my dad?"

Here you are, I guess it's your job 
To take out this unloved snob
You may kill but you don't rob
You think my life is worth much less
I am friendless I confess

Back when I was just like you
I thought  lives were worthless too
I really never even knew
My victims names or their crime
The only life that mattered was mine

But you are young, you can change
This idea might be strange
But I will offer you an exchange
Change your ways, that's all I ask
But first finish your assassins task

I am old and made mistakes
My mind and body always ache
At night my guilt keeps me awake
Go and make a new fresh start
Stab me in my blackened heart

I've thought this through all the way
For my crimes, please let me pay
Go the right path, please don't stray
Save yourself before it's too late
And like me, you're at Hell's gate

@Orange :D Another very interesting poem! Awwww... So what happened to the guy in the past?

@Palepaper ;-; That was good. :) Brush up on the flow and (maybe even) grammar. Also, you spelled "heard" wrong.

As I lock my doubts and pains and thoughts away,
The chalkboard in my stupid brain blanks.
I don't have to remember memories from our before;
I don't have to remember our dreams together anymore.

I knew I should have never ever lied.
Our friendships had so quickly dried and died.
Now the people in the world I love the most
I can never again hold them close.

I wish I knew you had been grieving.
I wish you knew how I felt.
I wish these miscommunications
Showed the soul, for you, I will always sell.

As the sun shines in it's glory,
I'm left to ponder my mistakes.
The words I had written on those pages
And all the moves I had ever made.

I knew I should have never left you.
I didn't mean to leave you by yourself.
Now all I can do is pick up the memories
And put them all up on the shelf.

I wish I knew you had been alone.
I wish you could read my thoughts.
I wish my adoration
Wouldn't be left here in this cell to rot.

And now that you're gone...
I've never felt so alone.
And now that you're gone.
Let all these words be written on my stone.