from one beginner to another...I sometimes play around with forms when I find it's been a while since I've written anything. It helps me get something on paper. Starting with an idea not really worthy of an entire poem and seeing what directions the demands of form takes it is quite fun. And there have been several times that it acts as a sort of meditation, bringing out ideas I wasn't aware existed in the first place. If they're really good ideas, though, they often grow to the point where the form begins to feel confining and I end up re-writing in free verse. But, imho, starting out with form helps give the resulting free verse piece a rhythm and shape it might not have had otherwise.
I remember reading somewhere, a quote from Robert Graves perhaps, that the poem dictates the form; that some thoughts want to be vilanelles, sestinas, etc. I also remember thinking at the time that one would have to be some sort of genius to think in sestinas. But I've found that the more I read the more I see what he was talking about. Sort of like learning a foreign language. At first one thinks in his or her native language and then translates into the second language before speaking. In time though, one becomes comfortable enough that the second language comes more naturally and translation is less necessary.
Ginger
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