To Rhyme is not a Crime by Evangeline Auld

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To Rhyme is not a Crime
by Evangeline Auld

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(388 words)

I have a confession to make. I love reading poetry,
but when I hear it read aloud I am filled with
embarrassment, so much so that I squirm and suffer
until the reading is over. It is nothing to do with
the reader - it is just me. Why should this be, I
wonder. Shakespeare’s plays don’t affect me
this way, but almost everything else does.
Perhaps someone can explain this.

I try to write a little poetry myself and dread anyone
reading it in my presence because of the
embarrassment factor.

Now that is off my chest, I would like to talk about
modern rhyming poetry. In my view, this is
considered far too often as the poor relation of
free verse ‘real’ poetry. So many of the most
highly commended and prize-winning modern poems
are to me more like prose, arranged as poetry.
Poets in earlier generations contrived to produce
great poems, which rhymed and scanned. Why
not now? However, there were exceptions, as in
the case of the Scottish poet, William McGonagall.
An example of his style?? (see below) might be
enough to give someone an aversion to rhymes, or
even poetry altogether!

“An Excursion Steamer Sunk in the Tay by
William Topaz McGonagall

And they left the Craig Pier at half-past two o’clock
Never thinking they would meet with an accidental shock”

As far as I can ascertain, rhymes are now, in the
main, reserved for humorous verse and children’s
poetry. Alliteration and onomatopoeia are not
neglected in the same way as is rhyming, and yet
good rhymes do at the very least make a verse much
easier to recall. A well-constructed poem with shape
and form provides a certain satisfaction not always
found in free verse.

Poets who write in a natural voice are not restricted
by a rhyming mode. Robert Burns wrote some of his
most powerful poetry in natural voice, and rhyming verse.

These thoughts on poetry are personal impressions only,
- perhaps some readers may be of the same mind.

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Evangeline Auld

http://www.mizzmouse.com

Author's Biography:

Evangeline Auld

Advocate of friendly persuasion and ethical marketing. Amateur poet - winner of Swift International Satire Poetry Prize 2006.