Imitate Your Favorite Poem

Okay…first read this poem:

THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight’s all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

Here’s my poem for today:

My friend, Alison McGhee emails a poem of the week.  I love this.  Just enough to read.  Just enough to absorb.
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Today she sent THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE.  I’ve read it many times before but today I decided to take it apart and see how it was made.  I suppose my process is like a seamstress who takes apart a dress so she can see how to make one like it.

I worked out the rhyming pattern.  I analyzed the rhythm of each line.  I read it aloud to my dog, Eli.  Then I chose my topic and sewed my own dress from Yeat’s pattern.

It’s your turn.  Choose a favorite poem.  Take it apart.  Write your own.  And for heaven’s sake, enjoy!
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