[Tiffany Krupa]

Hello and thank you in advance for your help.

I have been told I write poetry using "pretty words". This alarms me. Are pretty words less true? Are handsome words better? I am obsessed with truth and all of what I write has got to ring true in some way. Does the reader mean pretty like I'm trying to sound poetic? Would handsome words garner more respect? Are pretty words overwith, the stuff of yesteryear? I choose the most truthful words I can find but what if my truths are ugly because they are too pretty? How does one find the truest word for the moment they are trying to show the reader?

Thanks,
TIffany

[Solan]

I haven't seen the words you refer to, but I would believe they might be pretty in the sense of supermodels, i.e. empty. There's a difference between saying "I love freedom" (two pretty-words) and describing a release from a long prison sentence.


------------------

Svein Olav

.. another life

[graywyvern]

mediocre teachers, unwilling to stick to the rigorous
instance, instill rotten generalities in generations
of hapless students--such as the prejudice against
"unusual" or "pretty" words. there are, in truth, no
good words or bad words, only the best word for a
particular use on a particular occasion. however i
have to say that, having spent some time with a
magnetic poetry set, trying to express myself with
a "poetic" vocabulary created by non-poets, i feel
that the real thing to avoid is the general rather
than the specific word--which is invariably a more
exotic term.

[Tiffany Krupa]

Thank you! your introspection is much appreciated and full of wry wit! I will continue my quest to snap true moments with the best words possible- pretty or not.
Tif

[Tiffany Krupa]

And thank you for your sign name. I now know that a Wyvern is a two-legged, winged dragon having the hinder part of a serpent with a barbed tail.
Always good to expand the word base.
T.

[Richard Wakefield]

Tiffany: When someone offers a criticism, there's every reason to answer it with a question, not defensively but as a compliment that you take the criticism seriously. Ask the people who have made the criticism what they mean by "pretty words"; ask for examples.
There is a tendency to use the kind of words that, as Frost said, "Everyone shouts Poetry! at." It's as if we eschew our workaday vocabulary the moment we take pen in hand. These used to be called "auerate" words, and the term was meant negatively. But as has already been said, context is everything. Every word exists because someone at some time needed it. For a poet, there are few moments as exciting as rediscovering a word, bringing it back to life, and that's always the result of context.
I think one has to be very careful of words derived from Latin and French because they can be very abstract, but they all have literal meanings behind them. "Ramify," for example, can be a fancy substitute for "reach," but in describing tree branches or the roots of a plant it can be exactly right because it means, literally, the extending of branches or roots.
English has accumulated so many words from other languages that it can seem strange to call it "English" at all. I think something on the order of ninety percent of our vocabulary has been added since the Norman conquest, probably more than that if you include scientific and technical terms. But of the hundred most common words, every one of them goes staight back to Anglo-Saxon, and of the five hundred most common about ninety percent do. So our ordinary talk -- about life, work, the world -- is done with a core vocabulary of very old, very simple words. Those are the ones most of us respond to viscerally. Still, as I say, those countless thousands of additions to English came in because they were needed. When you need 'em, use 'em.
RPW

[Susan McLean]

Tiffany,
Although I would never tell anyone not to use any particular kind of word (any word can be the right word for some context), I am put off when words are chosen for their sound (or exoticism or "poetic" feel), if they do not fit well into the poem's meaning. This is partly a matter of personal taste, but I do feel that a poem is an attempt to communicate, and word choice affects your ability to be understood.

Beginning writers sometimes think that poetry is language heavy with adjectives and adverbs. But if you pile on too many of them, the reader overdoses on them. Choosing a word with exactly the right connotations (rather than adding a series of adjectives) makes your writing more powerful and easier to read. Since many ordinary readers won't read poetry because they think it is hard to read, you can help the cause of poetry by using language that is clear and precise, as well as beautiful.

Most poets go into the field because they love language, are quite passionate about the words themselves. I, for instance, love the sound of "incunabula," but I will probably never use it in a poem, both because many readers wouldn't know what it means and because I am unlikely to write a poem about books written before 1500. There are, however, many other words I love that I do hope to be able to use in poems. Good poets are patient--they wait for the right time.

Susan

[David Anthony]

Words is words is words.
It's what you do with them that counts.
I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to use darkling in a poem.
Regards

[Tiffany Krupa]

I am very grateful for all feedback. Words are a dirty business of like and not-like in a playground of hopscotch . And yes, if I am to invite the layreader to understand, I should give them language that they can identify with. I am not Chaucer nor do I hold the mystery of Pearl, but I am trying to be a 21c. "something" poet, and for that I am guilty of exposition.
Tif.

Thank you very much Mr. Wakefield for your insight into language and the use of words. I will question feedback with appreciation, and I will use the most resposible words I can imagine.
Thanks again.
Tif

[This message has been edited by TiffanyKrupa (edited April 21, 2002).]