read write prompt #44: rememberances and elegies
by Christine Swint
Poetry is about the grief. Politics is about the grievance.
–Robert Frost
Each culture has within its collective memory those moments which call for heightened awareness. Sometimes we remember historic events with great joy, but all too often the events trigger grief and mourning.
Poets often write ballads, songs, odes, epitaphs, elegies and elegiac verse to commemorate significant historic events, as they 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 ago.
Poets (website for the American Academy of Poets) details the specifics of the elegy, a type of formal verse we inherited from the ancient Greeks that originally was a sad song or verse written in response to the death of a person or group. The Poetry Archive also has a simple explanation of the modern elegy you might like to read, with sample poems.
Over time, in English, the elegy has evolved into what we now call elegiac verse. Poets have disregarded the more formal elements that traditionally were expected, and have instead chosen to write poems about loss, grief and lament, both for specific people, groups — and even the environment — in a wide variety of forms. (For more information on this topic, as well as a list of example poems, you can read about elegiac verse at Poets.)
The prompt this week is to write an elegiac poem for a person, a group, an event, a pet or even for having the blues – anything you choose. The poem can be a tribute, a lament, a farewell song or a remembrance of a past event.
If you’d like to collaborate, you can try one of these suggestions:
- With a partner, choose an event you both want to remember or mourn, and alternate verses.
- Write eight lines about a specific person or event. Your partner also writes eight lines about the same subject. Mix the lines together randomly, then revise to make an integral poem.
- Write a song. One poet can write the verse, the other the refrain.
- Choose a painting about an historic event with another poet, and alternate your lines, writing to the painting.
This week we will give you a little more time to compose your thoughts, to collaborate with a writing partner, to write your remembrances. Come back next Thursday, Sept. 18.
We are making a schedule change during this time, and if you can’t remember the specifics, don’t worry, we’ll leave a note in the sidebar for easy reference.
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get the read write poem badge! 
Wear it loud, wear it proud! Display the Read Write Poem badge on your site. Just click here or on the image above to get the code! read write poem news- yes, yes, here’s another virtual book tour stop for ‘a walk through the memory palace’
February 6, 2010 | 11:37 amFind the latest tour stop for Pamela Johnson Parker’s debut collection, A Walk Through the Memory Palace at Jillypoet, Jill Crammond Wickham’s blog, where you can find an interview with Pamela that discusses how she creates manuscripts.
Previous stops include Daniel Romo at his blog, Peyote Soliloquies and James Brush at his blog, Coyote Mercury.
You can find all our plans for the tour here.
- the best of the web is in our ranks
February 6, 2010 | 11:35 amSarah J. Sloat’s poem,”Attending the Tasting” (published in The Literary Bohemian) has been selected for Best of the Web 2010. Congratulations, Sarah!
- another (w00t!) read write poem member on the joe milford poetry show
February 6, 2010 | 11:34 amOn the Joe Milford Poetry Show tomorrow (Feb. 6): W.F. Roby at 9 AM (PST). Find the show here!
Joe describes Will as a “great language poet and bad-ass.”
- ‘literary podcasting made simple with wordpress.com’
February 6, 2010 | 11:33 amDave Bonta has published a how-to article that might be of interest to WordPress users: “Literary Podcasting Made Simple with WordPress.com,” based on his and Beth Adams’ experience at Qarrtsiluni.
Thanks, Dave, for continuing to help make the community aware of technological resources that can expand our art.
- the latest (virtual) book tour stop for ‘a walk through the memory palace’
February 3, 2010 | 3:53 pmThe latest tour stop has been posted for Pamela Johnson Parker’s debut collection, A Walk Through the Memory Palace. Find out how Daniel Romo responded to the work at his blog, Peyote Soliloquies.
James Brush provided our first tour stop at his blog, Coyote Mercury.
You can find all our plans for the tour here.
- planning for napowrimo in april, and you are invited!
February 2, 2010 | 6:12 pmHello, hello dear Read Write Poem community members! We are in the planning stages for NaPoWriMo. (What? Is that a groan I hear, or an excited exclamation?)
We are planning another prompt-every-day for those folks who love to write a daily poem in April (which is, as most of you know, National Poetry Month in the United States — although there is an international following of writing poetry every day in April, too, so it is not just about the States).
Anyway! This is a call for prompts because we want to run your ideas, one every day, in April. So here’s what to do:
- Prompts must be no more than 250 words, and we will take the first 30 that we receive.
- Include “NaPoWriMo Prompt” in the subject line of your email as well as your username (e.g., the name you use when you log in) so we can match you up with your prompt and give you the link love.
- Email your submission (in the body of the email — no attachments please) to prompts (at) readwritepoem (dot) org!
We’ll let you know when we’ve got the 30, but don’t delay because it takes a lot of time to format the posts and we want to be ready come April Fools’ Day. Woohoo!
- new senior contributors at read write poem
February 2, 2010 | 11:51 amWe are thrilled to announce that Ren Powell and Dave Jarecki are moving into the senior contributor role at Read Write Poem. Both have been writing feverishly for the site, as well as providing ideas for content and for the community as a whole. In short, they make this site a more lively, and better, place.
Ren and Dave will fill the roles vacated by Carolee Sherwood and Jill Crammond Wickham, who have moved into the manager role.
Everyone please thank Ren and Dave for their hard work and commitment to Read Write Poem.
- rounding out the virtual book tour of sarah j. sloat’s ‘in the voice of a minor saint’
January 31, 2010 | 1:53 pmOur last stop on the Virtual Book Tour of Sarah J. Sloat’s In the Voice of a Minor Saint is with Ren Powell. Find Ren’s review at More Babel.
Joseph Harker provided our first stop in December, and you can find David Moolten’s review at Edible Detritus. David’s was followed by Dave Jarecki’s. Dave’s review is at his blog. Find Jill Crammond Wickham’s at Jillypoet: Mom Trying to Write.
In case you missed the introduction, we are (virtually) hosting Sarah J. Sloat’s In the Voice of a Minor Saint. For complete tour information, such as how you can get your own copy of the collection or how you can get involved in future tours, read this post.
- make your own book: get off the computer and onto the paper
January 30, 2010 | 4:19 pmBeth Adams has posted her latest project at The Cassandra Pages. “A Handmade Book” may not explicate all the details of bookbinding, but Beth shows readers the “Secret Belgian Binding.” It’s a beautiful as well as inspiring post.
If you would like more detailed instructions, Google “secret Belgian bookbinding” and find sites such as this one. Or look for a local book arts class for hands-on instruction.
As Beth says, ” … it did me good to get away from the computer and feel my hands at work!”
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[...] well into the shock, the numbness, the void was silence This weeks writing assignment: read write prompt #44: rememberances and elegies [...]
This was in the works, ready to post.
http://gameover709.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/was-silence/
jorc
empty garden
Be sure to come back, jorc, and post your comment w/ your link in the 9/18 GYPO.
[...] 10, 2008 Over time, in English, the elegy has evolved into what we now call elegiac verse. Poets have disrega… addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fmygorgeoussomewhere.org%2F2008%2F09%2F10%2Fexplore-the-elegy%2F’; [...]
I’ll (probably) post something else for Monday. But this has to be posted today.
Well I might have some resolve from that really tough prompt. I got one together. I am really liking everyone writing out here.
Tiel, thanks for posting the link to that poem. I’m going to save that! There are a few lines I really like.
I have written this in last October but I think it would fit here.
http://musingsbytrinath.blogspot.com/2007/10/silent-witness.html
[...] publication resources « read write prompt #44: rememberances and elegies [...]
[...] was written for Read Write Poem prompt #44: Elegies and Rememberances. [...]
I am not surpr?s?ng to anything. But thanks..
http://filteredprecipitates.blogspot.com/2008/09/paper-planes.html
a friend who died so young
http://hummingbunny.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/when-at-last-we-rest/
“Fortune Lies”
I started to write this after reading Gautami’s post about terrorism and their innocent victims. I open the newspaper today in my way to work and amid the Wall Street crisis and election blah, blah I am reading about another attack in the Delhi area.
This is about Israel, but it is meant for all the victims:
http://amidweststory.blogspot.com/2008/09/innocent-readwritepoem44.html
I know we are supposed to come back here on thursday. But I am stil posting it here:
http://firmlyrooted.blogspot.com/2008/09/undead-for-eternity.html
I might write another one for Thursday.
Sorry I haven’t really participated in a long time. The internet is broken at the school, and we think somebody’s waiting to see if we’ll bribe them to fix it more quickly. I’m buying time at a local youth center right now to check in with RWP and see how everyone’s doing (and let my dad know that I’m not dead and he doesn’t need to call the embassy to recover my body …), and I hope I’ll be able to get back in the swing of things soon!
Good luck with all your poeming, until then.
[...] gave the RWP community a prompt about elegies and remembrances a couple of weeks [...]
Hi Katherine,
Good to read you. It must be so frustrating to not have reliable connections. We’re glad you stopped by, though probably not as glad as your dad!!