Metacognition: Rhyming Poetry

Creating poetry itself is a difficult task, and I'll admit that the rhyming element is a lot harder than it seems. Still, now that i think of it, there are alot of great upsides to writing poetry in rhyme. First off, rhyme usually takes good care of the poem's rhythm and transitions- in fact, it's almost a given. Poets with OCD may even find that rhyming satisfies that horrible twitching desire for everything to flow smoothly. Rhythm comes with every rhyme, and transitions are things that these poems just seem to take care of naturally.

Still, this doesn't quite compensate for the fact that rhyming poems are so strictly limited in terms of structure. Quite simply, every other stanza has to rhyme. It actually restricts the amount of words that can still be used while pertaining to the poem's orgininal theme (and you're not allowed to use the word "orange" either). As a matter of fact, rhyming may even obstruct some of the poem's content- especially while the writer is struggling to make everything rhyme.

What i've also noticed about rhyming poems is that they don't just "fly out of your head", like any other kind of freeform poetry. The whole rhyming filter slows down this process, where ideas are directly taken from their abstract state and inserted among the poem's stanzas. That's what frustrates alot of poets who attempt to use rhyme in this "idea to paper" manner. You can't just scribble things down with perfect rhyme and regularity. Based on my experience, I believe rhyming allows your ideas to come out one line at a time.

So, without further ado, let's say that I'm creating my rhyming poem. I begin by reviewing some of my themes (snow, frost, beauty, redemption, numbness, nature, bitter winter cold) and i jot some of these down before i lose them. My next step now, is to create a line using some of these themes.

"Like flecks of silky fallen fluff"
Ok. that sounds pretty good. I'll just have to create another line since I've decided that this stanza's going to be ABAB format.

"Like dust from angel's powdered wings".
Hmmm... I'm really liking this... But here comes the tricky part. My next line will require 8 syllables and end in a word that rhymes with fluff. Let's see if i can pull it off.

Fluff, luff, bluff, stuff, huff, puff, snuff, duff, ouff?..........
Don't get me wrong- these are all good words- but it doesn't look like any of they'd work with the poem's theme. This poses a problem, so i'll now have to go back and change the first line of my stanza. I change it to "Like flecks of silken fluff it fell". Luckily, it works. So, now that i have fell as my rhyming word, i find it much easier to get that third line written down. The fourth line just comes to me naturally.

This also goes to show that you can't simply whip off a rhyming poem in under 10 minutes. Creating a poem that rhymes can be frustrating, mind-boggling, headache-inducing, and very time-consuming. Sometimes it requires the use of a rhyming thesaurus. But even then, it seems to me like my ideas for this kind of poetry always slip out of my head a little too quickly. Sometimes i'll think "Omigod! Perfect line!" and then it will disappear in a split second.

I've always imagined these ideas in poetry to be little insects whirring around in your brain- especially when you don't take notice of them right away. You'll be minding your own business when one of these little thought-bugs suddenly and unexpectedly whizzes by right in front of you. Then of course, you're somehow left with one choice: to capture the thought before it flies away. You struggle to hold on to it. You do finally manage to capture it.

The lid is almost firmly secured on the little jar containing your idea. You're on the verge of writing it down, and your fingers are poised over the keys. Unfortunately, and that also happens to be when mom enters the room, asking whether or not you've done some petty task this afternoon. You are distracted from writing. The insect in the jar breaks free, flies away, and the other little thought-bugs scatter at her voice. "NO, MOM, GO AWAY, I'M WORKING!!!" you shout, obviously very frustrated with the situation. Mom wonders why you're so temperamental.