My haibun was written in response to the opening remarks in Ray Rasmussen's "Commentary: Jeffrey Woodward's "Time with the Heron" –Poetic Techniques in Haibun Composition," Contemporary Haibun Today, 9:3, October 2013:
I. The Use and Abuse of Repetition
Having myself been an editor for several haiku-genre journals, I have often encountered instances of what I call the 'lazy writer sin'. These are writers who repeat words and phrases out of habit and who may simply be unaware that unintended repetition can detract from the flow and beauty of a piece. And I've often seen members of writing forums criticize repetition with little consideration for whether the writer intended a deliberate use of a poetic device. The message conveyed is that writers should use a word or phrase but once in title, prose passage and poem. Although such criticism may be valid in a given instance, to suggest it as a hard and fast rule constitutes the parallel sin of 'lazy criticism'. If a reader has insight, suggestions may be helpful.
Of course, the generalization that repetition is something to avoid is nonsense. Repetition, fragmentation, compression and rhyme are well-established devices in poetry...
For more information, see my "To the Lighthouse" post, titled "The Art of Titling," which can be accessed at http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/2013/07/to-lighthouse-art-of-titling.html
Below is excerpted from my comments on the art of titling:
Titology 101:By taking a line from the poem text to use as a title, the poet runs the risk of weakening the power of the line.
One exception: Effective use of repetition. For more information, see "To the Lighthouse: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, " which can be accessed at http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/2013/04/to-lighthouse-repetition-repetition.html
My haibun was written in response to the opening remarks in Ray Rasmussen's "Commentary: Jeffrey Woodward's "Time with the Heron" –Poetic Techniques in Haibun Composition," Contemporary Haibun Today, 9:3, October 2013:
ReplyDeleteI. The Use and Abuse of Repetition
Having myself been an editor for several haiku-genre journals, I have often encountered instances of what I call the 'lazy writer sin'. These are writers who repeat words and phrases out of habit and who may simply be unaware that unintended repetition can detract from the flow and beauty of a piece. And I've often seen members of writing forums criticize repetition with little consideration for whether the writer intended a deliberate use of a poetic device. The message conveyed is that writers should use a word or phrase but once in title, prose passage and poem. Although such criticism may be valid in a given instance, to suggest it as a hard and fast rule constitutes the parallel sin of 'lazy criticism'. If a reader has insight, suggestions may be helpful.
Of course, the generalization that repetition is something to avoid is nonsense. Repetition, fragmentation, compression and rhyme are well-established devices in poetry...
For more information, see my "To the Lighthouse" post, titled "The Art of Titling," which can be accessed at
ReplyDeletehttp://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/2013/07/to-lighthouse-art-of-titling.html
Below is excerpted from my comments on the art of titling:
Titology 101:By taking a line from the poem text to use as a title, the poet runs the risk of weakening the power of the line.
One exception: Effective use of repetition. For more information, see "To the Lighthouse: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, " which can be accessed at
http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/2013/04/to-lighthouse-repetition-repetition.html