Poetry: November 06, 2012 Issue [#5353]
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Poetry


 This week: Please Mr. Postman: Epistle poetry form
  Edited by: Red Writing Hood <3 Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter



"Every poem can be considered in two ways--as what the poet has to say, and as a thing which he makes..."

C. S. Lewis



" Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. "
T. S. Eliot





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Letter from the editor



Please Mr. Postman: Epistle poetry form



What drew me to this form is that, with the dawn of the computer age that brought with it email and texting, the letter is almost a dying art in and of itself. So, I—who have always hated to write letters—am oddly interested in writing a letter poem.


BRIEF HISTORY


This form is around twenty-one hundred years old (New Princeton, 1351). The name comes from Latin origins. “Epistola is the Latin word for letter” (Padgett, 69).


MUST HAVES


--It has to be a letter. That’s it.


COULD HAVES or WHAT IS THE POET’S CHOICE IN ALL THIS?


--Any number of stanzas, syllables, or length.

--Any rhyme or meter.

--Use “Dear __________” as part of the poem, or not—it’s your choice. You can write it to anyone (or anything, for that matter), and by anyone.


SOURCE NOTES:


Padgett, Ron. The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms. 2nd. NY: T & W Books, 2000.

The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Edited by Ales Preminger and T. V. F. Brogan. 1993.



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Editor's Picks



Theme:

 A Soldier's Broken Heart Open in new Window. [E]
I tried my hand at an epistle. It's a soldier writing to his love while overseas.
by Legend Author Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

 Letter to My Husband Open in new Window. [E]
an epistle I wrote for workshop
by Elizabeth Kidd Author Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

 Epistles to Love Open in new Window. [E]
A unique perspective on arranged marriages.
by seneca Author Icon

 
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Word from Writing.Com

Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
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Ask & Answer



Have a question, answer, problem, solution, tip, trick, cheer, jeer, or extra million lying around?

If so, send it through the feedback section at the bottom of this newsletter OR click the little envelope next to my name Red Writing Hood <3 Author IconMail Icon and send it through email.


Comments on last month's newsletter:


By: Thaddeus Buxton Winthrop Author Icon
Comment: DPS is one of my favorite movies also! When Todd has to sound his barbaric YAWP! Loved your newsleter, and I find it difficult to write poems that don't rhyme. Doesn't sound right in my head. But I am trying to write free verse or prose more now. because some words aren't able to rhyme for what I'm trying to convey. Thanks Red!


By: llinenboy Author Icon
Comment: All I can say to your column is amen...


By: Steve blessed November to you (copenator)
"Invalid ItemOpen in new Window.
Comment: I walk the poets path knowing I am not alone. Others have gone before me and still more will follow me in the future. Humble to be able to write something that impacts another in a tangible way. Blessed when they tell me it did through reviews or other means of communication. Not going to climb any trees, but will shout loud and clear that poetry means a lot to me, and that I'm grateful to the Lord for the gift of writing. The item I share is a C-note shop that is being revamped. Proceeds will go toward charitable groups in the WdC on a quarterly basis. 5 viable C-notes up now. Copenator out!


By: monty31802
"Invalid ItemOpen in new Window.
Comment: Already commented on how I liked this Newsletter then new computer froze with Chrome, didn't get my old poem to you.


By: Fyn Author Icon
Comment: All time favorite movie. Bar. None. Patterned the way I taught after it. But before it was my favorite movie quote, it was my favorite poem. 'O Captain, My Captain' by Walt Whitman and it was about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. We had to memorize it in grade school. Still remember much of too! Perhaps you could use a part of it in your next newsletter!!


By: Quick-Quill Author Icon
Comment: I have to say the ending of DPS is my all time favorite. My daughter learned that poem because of the emotion and support that the boys gave to a man they respected no matter what society states. I cry every time I hear the beginning of that Poem.


By: Robert Thomas Atwood, MFA Author Icon
Comment: Life imitates art and art imitates life. I really believe that life is the best inspiration for poetry and I agree with you, seeing things outside your window and reacting to them in poetry, what can be better. Diane Levertov said that organic poetry is the only form of true poetry left. It allows you to observe life and write about life free flowing and organic without prohabitions of rhyme and scheme. In part I agree with Levertov, but without rhyme and scheme the world would be deprived of Byron, Shakespeare and Wordsworth. Again Great Newsletter. I look forward to sharing this with my classes.

Respectfully,

Robert Thomas Atwood, MFA
Adjunct Professor of English
Southern New Hampshire University


Thanks for the great feedback. Keep it coming!





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