PART ONE: TIME
First thing a writer must understand is that the concept of "show vs. tell" is different for poetry than it is for short stories or novels. Not so much that they become totally different concepts, but enough to say they are like two different species of dog. Sure, they're both dogs, but a Great Dane needs different care than a Jack Russell Terrier.
Time in one's life
Several years ago I was in a creative writing class that had a difficult time thinking in metaphors. I was, in turn, having a hard time sharing my thoughts on the subject. It was when I was listening to the radio on the way to class that a spark hit my brain, like it did Frankenstein's monster.
I was listening to Billy Joel's "Piano Man", which is full of imagery, and I was inspired by how he showed age. Instead of saying he was in his twenties or some other such generality or even a specific age, he wrote: "When I wore a younger man's clothes"
Here's the difference. Telling is saying an age or age category, like 22 or in his twenties. Showing is giving us this image of a man in his youth.
I toyed with this idea for a while and came up with this line, "When she first learned the difference between noun and pronoun" - which gives the impression of early school-age.
Then I also came up with this line (which is from the same poem): "As she became armed with driver's license, keys and immortality" - leads the reader to a teenage image.
Passage of time
Remember I said I was inspired? After having tried those two images, I decided to try something a bit different within the realm of time. I wanted to show the passage of time as well as showing age and I came up with this line (also from the same poem): "One day she woke to find the pages of forty calendars littering the floor at her feet, like confetti."
This line not only indicates the approximate age of the woman but also shows some time has passed since the last stanza.
Other examples of time images
I was exploring further to find more examples and found these in Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing by Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. (The poem's page location will be found in parenthesis after the excerpt.)
Passage of time
Sonnets from the Portuguese: Number 14 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"A creature might forget to weep, who bore thy comfort long," (704)
A Time Past by Denise Levertov
"those wooden steps are gone now, decayed" (713)
Time of day
Preludes by T.S. Elliot
"Burnt-out ends of smoky days." (707)
This is not to say that any time you want to indicate time in your poetry you need to use an image instead of just stating it. As with most things, this will depend on your own unique style and the poem you happen to be working on at the time.
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About the Author
© 2006 H. Bliss. This document may be redistributed in its unedited form on the condition all copyright references are kept intact along with hyperlinked URLs.
About the Author: Using writing as paint on the canvas of her life, Holly Bliss is a newsletter editor and author on
http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Poetry.
