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Whose poems feature standard prosody, little stylistic variation, etc.? (Frost, &c.)
contraband
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
First, an explanation for this weird request: I'm not a big poetry buff, but I'm curious about a possible project. I'd like to analyze the reproduction of written poetry using a Text To Speech system. As such, I'm curious as to which authors feature very "plain" looking poetry in American English. By "plain", I mean minimal to no Shakespearian thyne-word-fanc'ful'ness. Again, I'm no lit major, so I feel frustrated not being more articule than that.
Here's an example of a poem by Robert Frost that meets my criteria. The spelling is in typical American English, and the writing is relatively similar to standard prose. If there's a term for this, I'd love to know it. Most Frost poetry fits this bill. As a counterexaple, here's the kind of poetry I am not interested in. What other authors could H/A recommend who write in this style?
Here's an example of a poem by Robert Frost that meets my criteria. The spelling is in typical American English, and the writing is relatively similar to standard prose. If there's a term for this, I'd love to know it. Most Frost poetry fits this bill. As a counterexaple, here's the kind of poetry I am not interested in. What other authors could H/A recommend who write in this style?
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You might try Carl Sandburg.
Second this.
Also, if you want plain spoken but with rhyming, then this one is pretty great.
And if you want to rile up Quoth, use this one.
Frost was innovative because he, along with many others, began to write poetry that looked "traditional", but was more concerned with the interplay of sound and cadence than with specific forms which dictated certain sound-types. In this regard, Frost stood with one foot on either side of the bridge between form and formlessness. His verse still retains a heavy insistence on rhythm and cadence, but he junked the silly forced rhyme schemes of previous artists. He famously sought to write in a style that was reminiscent of "normal conversation" by the aim of producing verse that sounds like a conversation overheard from under a closed door (no words, just the rhythm of speech).
If you're simply looking for the absence of "fancy speech" you're actually just looking for poetry that was written after the point where most of the English language was codified and standardized. Really, then, you could pick any poet writing after, say, 1850ish.
If you're looking for more of a "free verse" devoid of any sort of initially obvious concern with "traditional form" you could begin with Whitman and work your way through the Modernists (Pound, Frost, Eliot, H.D., Lowell, Williams etc.) through the Beats (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti) to pretty much anyone writing since 1960 or so (avoid Collins, slam and Henri Cole because they're horrific).
Actually, I think the Modernists are what you're looking for, really. They held great respect for form and tightness of style, but also "broke" with the style to avoid the sing-song rigid forms of the past (for the most part). Frost is pretty much the poster-boy, here.
I just like to poke jabs at the people I've met who have been silly geese.
But more examples, Elizabeth Bishop may be somewhat perfect. Robert Browning may follow too strict of a form for you, but he was pretty much the direct predecessor of the style made popular by Frost. Johnson and the rest of the gilded age poets could work, as well.
Browning, actually, would be a big suggestion.
So on a more general note, you're in good shape if you look toward the periods between 1890 and 1960, or so. Earlier will find you with non-colloquial, "strange" English, and later will give you a touch too much chaos in the departure from structured verse. Of course, there are numerous exceptions to that statement.