LANGUAGE IN POETRY

by Sydney Peck


LANGUAGE IN POETRY

It has become obvious to me over the years that my language has altered slightly in response to the environments in which I have lived. I have noticed that the foreign quality of the environment abroad ( currently Russia ) in which I live affects my output of writing. The strangely different customs and values of the host society seem to establish a tension inside the spirit because they conflict with personal customs and values derived from my own native upbringing. I can see the phenomenon too in many other poets on the Soup. It is seen in the fascinating contributions by poets living where several languages co-exist, such as Philippines or Canada, where several religions co-exist side by side as in India, or where different races live together as in Jamaica or England.




Many famous writers, including poets, have done their best writing while living in foreign environments. Indeed some of these people deliberately sought out such an environment to do their work, and hardly ever wrote in their native countries. Examples include the Nobel prizewinners, W B Yeats (poet and playwright), James Joyce (novelist , notably “Ulysses”), Samuel Becket ( playwright, notably “Waiting for Godot”). Becket only wrote famously in French, never in English. Yeats wrote much of his best poetry in London, away from his native Ireland. Joyce too went to England to write. Louis Hemon, famous to Canadians as author of the delightful novel “Maria Chapdelaine”, is and was unknown as a writer in his native France. It seems these authors received some stimulus from the cross fertilization of cultures, from the freedom to think in a different way abroad.



The influence of foreign languages upon English itself is another aspect of the process of living abroad. My wife is Russian and her English is fluent but frequently contains expressions which no native speaker would ever use, and these sometimes become lines or motifs in my own poetry. The languages of Belgium ( French and Dutch)and Switzerland (French , Gerrman, Italian and a minor one called Romansch) interact with each other in similar ways. The different strains of English itself, such as American, British, South African, Australian, etc. also work as yeast in each other to produce a strong growth in phrases and lexicon which benefits our English poetry enormously.

(end of article)

 

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Hide Ad