Online poetry lesson

Where to begin?

1) I have a cold. In June. It sucks! My throat is killing me ...

2) I have to study a lot ... really. Slovene literature. 11 days until the exam. And I wanted to share a bit of my new knowledge. :)

3) Since my plan is to be a teacher some day I should combine my knowledge of Slovene lit and teaching in a simple way and give some representative examples.

So here are the

MODERNISTIC SUB-GENRES IN POETRY:

There was a lot happening in that moment (cca 1900) so literature was mostly a response to events at that time. Therefore the theme of this poetry lesson is going to be my current event: sore throat. And mind another thing: This isn't an academic lesson but a lesson for fun. :)

1) IMPRESSIONISM

The point of impressionism is that the subject gets an impression from the nature, and combines it with his / her own feelings. He / she captures the moment. For example:

Warm sun, light wind
a sound of little birds

In my room I sit alone
with a sore throat.

How do you like that, ha? Very impressionistic!

2) DECADENCE

Decadent poets are sick of life, they hate most of all everything. In decadent poetry we can find disgusting figures sometimes eroticism. I have no idea how to connect sore throat and eroticism so we'll just skip that. :P

It's June.
Sore throat is nauseating.
It looks like dead animal
smelling bad and being flown around by flies.

That was kind of gross ... :)

3) NEW ROMANTICISM

... is similar to old romanticism, but less rigid. It is a part of old tradition in the new one. A sonnet is a typical new romantic form, it should have a certain rhyme (ABBA ABBA CDE EDC). There are also some content rules which I didn't obey. I should write about my beloved one, but we set the theme at the beginning so here's my sonnet:

My throat is sore and I feel really bad
It's hot outside but I have got a cold
unusual is that have I been told
I have a cold in June, how weird is that?

But anyway I think I am quite glad,

that's now's the time that I have got a cold.
It's better being young than being old,
an old man dies, survives our little lad.

And most of all this thing is interesting
Because I'm forcing words to form a rhyme
when poetry is really what I hate

I have to read it eventhough it's late,

Although that's really not a perfect time
to let the poems bore you with thy sting.

Dear god, I wrote my first sonnet, yay for me! (it is really bad, though ... doesn't have much sense due to the rhyme thing ... )

4) SYMBOLISM

Symbolists couldn't express everything with words. Words weren't enough for them, so they used symbols for expressing bigger ideas. Hmmm, I don't really know how to form this one but let's say that a scarf is a symbol for a better future regarding my sore throat:

I have a sore throat
(as I already mentioned)
It isn't easy
I can barely live.

But there's a scarf
hanging on the rack
and waiting for me.

See? Scarf is a better future, a salvation! Ok whatever ...

5) NATURALISM

OK this is the easiest one. Do you know what naturalism stands for? It says that everything that a person is, depends on heritability and the environment he / she is in. One cannot change that (at all!) He or she is defined by those circumstances. So my sore throat isn't a coincidence at all:

I have a sore throat.
It runs in the family.

My mother had it
My father too.

I have a sore throat
because it was cold outside that night.
I couldn't do anything to stop it.
So here I am now

With a sore throat.

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So this was my short non-professional explanation of the modernistic sub-genres. Poetry can be fun! How did you like that? I still have to figure out expressionism and constructivism so those two will have to wait. :P

Have fun studying, everyone! :)

Poppy