Hemingway: "The secret is writing poetry into prose."

Woke up at 3-something AM remembering something I wrote over a year ago. For some reason feel the need to put it out now.
Ernest Hemingway's writing style has often been attributed to him becoming a reporter while still a teen and working at it several times afterward. But I recently came across a collection of his stories with an interview where he says of his style: "The secret is writing poetry into prose." A little bit of research turned up that he also wrote poems and supported himself in part by selling them.

So I wondered. Are there poetic techniques we like Hemingway can use to improve our writing? I did a bit of research. There are whole glossaries and lists of the techniques. One lists 60 of them (the Virtual Salt web site). The Poetry Foundation lists 245!

Argh! Pretty daunting, especially when you consider that most terms have been given non-intuitive Latin or Greek names.

So I went looking for sites where the poetic devices were arranged in some sort of categories. I gave up after checking out more than a couple of hundred links. I only found one, by the Chaparral Poets organization, and it was only partly useful. So in spare chunks of time I've been categorizing them. Maybe this will help others interested in evolving their writing with poetic techniques.

My first thought as I pored over the names and definitions is that they belong to several levels. The lowest are those of syllables, the next higher is of phrases and sentences, the highest of an entire work such as the poem or novel.

My second thought was that a lot of them involve repetition.

At the lowest level are the same sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of words near each other. "She had l-ong strong l-ovely l-egs." "Her r-uling was r-udely booed." Each kind of repetition has three separate labels in the poetic lexicon, yet they are the same technique. A fourth label is given to same sounds when they are near the end of one word and the beginning of another: "lovely legs" and "her ruling." Yet a fifth term is given same sounds within the same word: "lovely"!

Repetition may be exact: "u" and "oo." It can also be of similar but not the same sounds, as in "amber" and "also." Here the a sounds are pronounced differently in English. When the similar sounds are vowels the label is different from when they are consonants: "amber" and another." Linguistically using different terms for similar but not the same sounds may make sense, but to a working writer using different terms may seem unnecessary pedantry.

The level above syllables is complete and incomplete sentences: phrases. An example is from a speech: "We will fight them on the ground. We will fight them on the sea. We will fight them in the air. We will never surrender." A more compact and logical organization might be "We will fight them on the ground and the sea and in the air and never surrender." This would not have the emotional punch of the original however. The repetition of the "We" emphasizes a feeling of solidarity. The repetitive sentences act like a drumbeat, giving a feel of determined march toward an enemy.

Linguists and rhetoricians identify a variety of repetitive techniques in poems and speeches and stories. Each with a different name and usually with Latin and Greek names or other technical jargon. The main thing we working writers need to remember, however, is the general lesson: Repetition and parallelism at different levels can help us heighten the emotions of our readers and in-form their ideas.

My third thought was that many of the poetic techniques use references to something else, a sort of linguistic shorthand. "The moon was a ghostly galleon" likens the moon's illusion of motion across the sky to the swimming of a ship across the sea. "Her ruby lips would pale a red rose" metaphorically equates lips and roses, both flushed with color, both lovely and valuable. AND whose beauty will fade with time like the wilting of cut roses or the browning of roses in autumn. Each example uses a few words to suggest a lot of meaning.

Much simile and metaphor depends on the reader sharing common ideas. "A veritable Athena" or "a Lear stepped from the stage into the boardroom" only works if the reader knows Greek mythology or Shakespearean plays. A reference to Wonder Woman or Batman or Darth Vader might have more punch in the modern global ideational ocean.
What about you? Do you, deliberately or intuitively, use poetic techniques in your stories?

Curlz said:

I don't sit and consciously think about including [poetic devices]. Just like good grammar, it's just there.

Click to expand...

As is proper. Consciously trying to use devices (and grammar and so on) is impossible when we speak or write (or play a game or do almost anything). There are many thousands of rules for most important activities, on many levels. We rely on our subconscious to handle them and it usually does that very well.

At least when we create the first draft of a literary work. On rewrite it helps to understand the more important rules, and their exceptions and variations, to better critique the work and fine-tune it.
The next level of poetic devices above words is those of sentences. Each has been given a Greek or Latin name. We don't need to know the names; in fact knowing them can clutter up our understanding. It's more important to remember the ways in which they are organized.

Pairs of sentences or partial sentences may express opposites. "We will shout it from the roof tops. We will whisper it behind our hands."

The sentences may express parallel sentiments. "We will fight on the ground. We will fight on the sea. We will fight in the air."

Some sentences use lists to give an effect. "The M Bazaar sold N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z." Lists with the ending conjunction have a name. Those without it have different name. (Oh, OK, since you insist. They are syndleton and asyndleton.)

And so on for over two dozen devices.