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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The perfect love poem



Dear Toads, how have you all been?

You haven't seen much of me around, I know, April happened to be a freaking busy month in my professional life, I'm getting ready for a CELTA course and have never been so poetically dull. But I read about this idea in February, when I was foolishly in love with this guy who turned out to be someone else's soul mate instead of mine - the perfect love poem.



British poet Julia Bird analyzed England's 10 most popular love poems to develop a formula for the perfect romantic verse, and here's what she came up with:

x (p + b + c + o)

P = Pattern. All 10 of the English favorite love poems are boldly metrical and have strong rhyming patterns.

B = Brevity.

C = Comparison. The desire to compare and describe the love is a common thread through love poetry. What’s your love like? Why, s/he’s like something else.

O = Obstacle. The analyzed love poems examine the difficulties inherent in a love affair.

X = Mystery



Julia still recommends that to write the perfect verse, we need to read lots of poetry, and just then write. But she advises: “Leave behind the language of the past. Some poetic phrases are woven so deeply into our culture (‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’/‘What light through yonder window breaks’) that we reach instinctively for the archaic poem-sounding words to add gravitas to our writing. Let go of ‘thee’ and ‘yonder’, and instead find the poetry in the fads and fashions of today’s dictionaries."


So my dear friends, today's challenge is pretty obvious by now, isn't it? I'm asking you to write the perfect love poem. You can choose to use Julia Bird's formula or not, maybe you can't write form poetry (I can't), maybe whatever it is you choose to say, you need it to be long, maybe you know the secret for the completely happy relationship and would like to share it, no mystery involved. If that's the case, I'll be thankful!

The poetry you link today must be written specifically for this post. Thank you!

Please, add your link to Mr. Linky, leave a comment and visit other poets.

(Image credits: all the photos on this post are mine and are free to borrow. They were taken during the last performance of Romeo and Juliet by the Brazilian Drama Company Galpão in 2012 in a local park. The performance marked the end of a 20-year staging)





17 comments:

  1. Thank you, Rosemary. I will try the formula in the afternoon. We are on the road still today (I think Tuesday).
    I would like to be able to write a halfway decent love poem. What few I have written follow a pattern that Google led me to.
    ...

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  2. Oops, Kenia, I thought Rosemary Haden written this as my click on her name brought me here Anyway, I like the sound of your formula and so I will try it.
    ..

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  3. Oh I think my next installment on sonnets might just fit.

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  4. Good heavens, I'm first! I hope an imperfect love poem counts. :)

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  5. Bless thee, for yonder post! LOL. Me, write a love poem? Aw g'wan. After work, I shall try.

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  6. Here's mine -
    Moskowitz, the King of Romance

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  7. This is something I would really like to try. Thanks, Kenia.I'm not sure I will get to it today but it is definitely on my catch up list.

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  8. http://rallentanda.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/bus-ride.html

    Great prompt . Thanks Kenia!Perfect love but not mine.

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  9. Hello everyone,

    So sorry I am late! Its been one hell of a day plus I wanted the poem to be just perfect :D

    Hope you all like it! Thank you Kenia for this lovely prompt! :D

    Lots of love,
    Sanaa

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  10. Impossible! And so we try, and try again. And again.

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  11. I'm late - and I didn't follow the rules. But I'm here!

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  12. Thank you, Kenia! The formula is intriguing and I love your images. :)

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  13. I am not sure I followed the rules, but I made it..well, I'm late.

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  14. Guys, thank you all so much for participating, you didn't have to stick the rules, really, I myself couldn't. I'm visiting everybody in the next couple of days, because no matter what, I know you've written perfect love poems. <3

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  15. a bit askew, Kenia, but offered anyway ~

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  16. I'm sorry to be so late with my post Kenia - it has been a hectic week.

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