by Christine Swint
When I was in college I gained the reputation of being a poet of occasional verse, which is not to say I wrote only sometimes, but rather I wrote poems to mark specific events. If a friend were having a birthday, I’d write a poem about her, or in her honor. When the holidays rolled around, I’d write short poems to accompany gifts as hints to what the package contained.
Now that I’m older, I find myself returning to the custom of writing out of a desire to highlight significant moments in my life. The births of my sons, their rites of passage, the passing away of loved ones, and even the changing of seasons, both literally and figuratively. There is always a reason to write, if I think about it.
Below are a few examples of occasion poems you might want to work into your writing calendar. In your writer’s journal you could keep a list of friends whose birthdays you’d like to remember with a poem, upcoming weddings, anniversaries, historic dates, and times of year that have special meaning to you.
The trick is to find your own personal meaning in the occasion. As individuals, when we try to speak for everyone, we end up sounding like we’re writing greeting card poems. To write a universal poem, it’s important to reach inside for your own authentic way of viewing a person or an event.
- Epithalamium, from the ancient Greek, meaning upon the bridal chamber, is a song in honor of a bride and groom. A beautiful example of a wedding song with a modern sensibility is epithalamium, by Matthew Rohrer. (You can also read Dana’s interview with Matthew Rohrer here.)
- The elegy, from the ancient Greek elegos is a poem reflecting on life of someone who has died, the death of love, or on death and sorrow in general. It can also be a poem to mark the anniversary of a tragic event, such as Walt Whitman’s famous poem, When Lilac’s Last in the Dooryard Bloomed, written upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In Christina Rossetti’s Dream Land, the narrator equates death of a friend with her eternal sleep.
- Historical poems abound in English literature. Under the category of Labor Day on The Poetry Foundation there is The Factory, by Charles Simic, in which the narrator describes his time in an abandoned factory where workers once stood.
What sorts of occasions move you to write? Do you have any writing rituals that involve holidays, birthdays, weddings, or funerals? What about poets who are known for commemorating historical events? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
[...] long as you’re at read write poem, you can also read my post about occasion poems. That is if you’re looking for a reason to write something. Aren’t we [...]
This one is tough… I guess I tend to write a whole lot more poignant pieces around anything sad (catharsis indeed!). For me, poetry has always been therapeutic since it is my solace and home.
I do need to try, however, to write poems centered around much happier occasions if I can. That would be a definite challenge for me!
Auden’s “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” is one of my favorite poems of all time. It has the great line “The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living.” At one point in my life I wanted that as a tattoo.
I wrote a poem for Memorial Day once but that ’s the only occasional verse I’ve ever tried. I like the idea of writing for birthdays and weddings and occasions like that. It should happen more often.
A~Lotus, I know what you mean about the sad part, I could stand to write some poems for happier occasions myself. Laughter can go a long way, and for me, it would be a great challenge to include more humor.
Nathan, that would make one helluva tattoo, especially across your abs! Just kidding. You are such a prolific writer (and of quality verse), writing for a special occasion would be a cake walk for you. It’s all a matter of what inspires, isn’t it?
A bit irreverent, I must confess, but my favorite “occasional” poems are for things like International Talk Like A Pirate Day (Sep 19) and Bad Poetry Day (Aug 18).
throwshiswords, now that is really interesting! Maybe if I start writing poems around silly days like that, it would give me “happier’ poems.
Do you mind giving us a poem written to salute those kinds of days, throwshiswords?
Sure! Here’s my blog post for last year’s International Talk Like A Pirate Day:
http://throwshiswords.wordpress.com/2007/09/19/talk-like-a-pirate-day/
I must say that this is one of the poems I’ve written of which I’m most proud
And here are my poems in honor of last year’s Bad Poetry Day:
http://throwshiswords.wordpress.com/2007/08/18/bad-poetry-day/
Click the link at your own risk
LOL. Yay!! Thanks for sharing. ‘Twas a good laugh!
[...] themselves view them, on a personal level. For an overview of occasional verse, you can refer to ‘get the lead out: mark your calendars!’, my article from a few weeks [...]