Chapter XII: Hints for Beginners

For one whose verse runs easily and whose occasional sales are an encouragement, this last chapter is perhaps unnecessary. Yet there may come times in routine, monotonous production when even he loses in interest, and with this loss his work falls off in quality. It is only through interest and desire that anything has ever been accomplished, and if these are not sustained the work must stay at a low level. Even the seasoned writer must look forward to his work if he wishes to improve.

For the beginner whose airy verse does not trip but rather lumbers, who is unable to write anything worthy of sale and whose ideas refuse to be crowded into the right number of feet, it might be an excellent thing occasionally to drop all thought of pentameters and amphibrachs and go back to the old-fashioned rhymed alphabet.

"A is for Ant
That lives in the ground,
B is for Bear--
A terror when found----"

and so on through the twenty-six harmless letters. It is an exercise in ingenuity if nothing else and if the writer has any skill at drawing it could be converted into a delightful gift for a five-year-old. Lear, the author of the Nonsense books, did not think it beneath his dignity to write six of these alphabets in varying stanza forms.

A little harder, but still not too hard, is the limerick, examples of which are given in Chapter IX. As a gift, a series of illustrated limericks on people you know would have the merit of novelty at least.

To see one's productions in print is always an incentive to better work. The type is cheering even when its legibility reveals several faults unnoticed in manuscript. Most small newspapers are glad to publish fairly good verse when the poet is willing to let it go for nothing. Be sure that rhyme and meter are correct and then send it in and let the General Public stand from under.

If it is a lack of verse ideas that bothers you, try a drama. Write it in blank verse and crowd the action with incidental songs. This is not for publication, of course; not even to show your dearest friend, but just for practice. Put in a troubadour if you like, or anything else a romantic imagination may suggest, and let them sing themselves hoarse in every scene. In this prosaic century you might not be able to write a stirring love song, but if you become thoroughly identified with the characters, your troubadour or your fair lady would be bound to get off something creditable. The plot of the drama is a thing of no consequence; it may have as much or as little as you choose. Write the scenes as the mood strikes you and when you have lost interest think of it only as an exercise.

Tennyson's "Maud" shows how a narrative poem may be treated in a series of lyrics and suggests imitation. The German poets, as well as some English writers, have song cycles, a series of poems all bearing on one central theme. A pedestrian trip; the life of a bird couple; the coming of winter, and innumerable other subjects lie close at hand suitable for such treatment. Henley's city types and hospital sketches lead the way for similar verses of things familiar to you.

Very often a line from a piece of prose or verse sticks in the memory. Utilize the line by making it the refrain of a ballade or the ending of some similar verse form. Browning composed his "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," around that single line taken from a song in "King Lear." It is possible to go even further and with a stanza--say from some Elizabethan song--construct about it the completed poem. Rossetti has done this with one of Ophelia's songs in "Hamlet."

But keep up your interest and work for the love of working. There is drudgery in the learning of anything, but with verse one can at least make it interesting drudgery. Never give up; never be satisfied; and with all English literature to rove in, don't stick in a rut.

Now a general summing up for the verse maker--a summing up that applies just as much to painting or modeling as it does to verse writing.

Remember always that you are your own master and that your highest development must always come from yourself. On all matters of taste you are the court of last resort to decide for the hurt or betterment of your soul. So it is necessary in the beginning to be just with yourself. If your verses are not good, throw them away or rewrite them. If they are good not only when written but after they have been laid aside for a month; if the rhymes are true and the meter perfect; if the words run naturally and clearly and embody a real idea, then you may be sure that you have something worthy of editorial consideration at least. If the idea is old and put in the form that has endured, lo! these many generations--"love," "dove," "kiss," "bliss," very probably it will not be accepted. When it comes back from five magazines be fair enough to recognize that perhaps the fault lies with you and lay the masterpiece away for another two months. Then examine it fair-mindedly and try to see just where it falls short of perfection. But you must be you own worst or rather best critic. Admit it when you are wrong and when you are right hold your opinion against all comers.

You must decide whether to write much verse or little. Sometimes improvement comes best with a great deal of carelessly constructed stuff. Again a smaller and more carefully regulated output is better. As a general thing, if your ear is correct and your verse comes easily, the better way is to write little and write carefully, spending your time on a few lines. If, however, your rhymes come hard and your expression is not fluent, try a larger output not so carefully revised.

Analyze and imitate.

Make the mechanical construction correct. Two rhyming words with you should be either good or bad; you should not recognize half-way rhymes. If they are not worthy to be classed with the best, throw them out utterly. Even in your exercises do not tolerate a false rhyme or a line lacking in syllables.

Do not attempt too hard a thing at first. You will only be disappointed. Do not write a ballade until you can write a limerick. Work up gradually.

And you must not become discouraged. If you write day in and day out, you are bound to improve, though the work of Wednesday be no better than that of Tuesday or even of Saturday. Progress goes in jumps. Nine times we fail and on the tenth trial we succeed.

We cannot all be artists but we can all be good workmen. And the better we are able to handle our materials the better we shall be able, if it is in us, to produce something worth while.

APPENDIX