Today’s class exercise is a follow up to the lecture on UNDERSTANDING POETRY: THE PLACE OF PUNCTUATION IN A POEM .
Punctuation in poetry is similar to punctuation in prose and serves almost the same purpose as bar lines in music without which the words and notes won’t flow all together. In order words, punctuation assists in organizing your words into discernible verses.
Many poets use punctuation marks without knowing why they used them. Others just write their verses without using any marks at all, not deliberately, just because they do not know how and where to use them. A third group of poets place punctuation arbitrarily, without realizing that punctuation actually aid the readers’ interpretation and also determines his/her breathe pauses.
Many poets seem unaware of the fact that punctuation marks thrown into a poem affect the reader’s pace, understanding, eye movement and perception and should be deliberately and carefully used.
EXERCISE: You are to write a poem of 10 lines and two stanzas. One of the stanzas should be punctuated while the other should be left without (end) punctuations.
Submit your answer as a comment on this post before 5pm today.
Read THE LECTURE for guidance:
The top 5 poems will be published on THE COLLEGE:
DO YOU LOVE NIGERIAN POETRY? YOU CAN READ FROM THE BEST NIGERIAN POETS HERE.
Òyó
My fathers are dancers,
all one thousand and one of them.
Although I only hear the silence of my celestial tune,
and I, the legitimate bastard of beads and gourds,
no longer move my feet to it’s ancestral rhythm,
I am from the slippery bed where Royalty meets the Tapper’s daughter.
I am from a place where fever dies on a sweating plate,
and our greatest victory lies on a colourful palate.
I hail from the grave of old men.
Formed in the grey hair of young women.
I am from the land that holds her sons’ feet.
It is on my mother’s chest that Òrànmíyàn stumbled.
Òrànmíyàn, according to Yorùbá folklore, was a demigod who in his travels slipped in what is known today as Òyó.
LOVE NEST(Edited)
Education pitch holds secrets untold.
Secrets between pairs,
Only them can unfold.
On that lawn, rears sit fast.
On that lush mat, backs lies flat.
It holds secrets untold
Secret between two’s,
Only them can unfold
On that green bedding, is where many got a bedding.
RAIN
Go away!
You, who swallowed our homes,
Shaved, the hair of our farmlands,
Painted…day black,
You, who invaded our gaiety.
You fell on us
like your name
And imprisoned the moon
on a night we gathered as one
to listen to moonlight tales
Regret Not
By Ahmad Ismail Abdulaziz
i woke up early; when i arrive late
I cry it out, but i leave it a fate
I have no plans, what of a date?
All way round i’m, did i have a rate?
Hey! Success i arrive don’t close the gate
Only when sleeping i live a dream
Paralysed future i have may be to scream
A live like these it never prove a thing
I started to wish a life with remote
So i can rewind my life a fresh