Microsoft Bing: DALL-E 2
She asks the stage manager if anyone can see life for what it is, and the manager replies, “Saints and poets maybe.” – From Our Town, by Thornton Wilder. (Extract from my earlier blog.*)
The title of the current challenge is an example of a MacGuffin. A useful literary device, a MacGuffin is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself—it’s the exact opposite of foreshadowing. It is sometimes necessary for the plot and characters of a story/poem, for example, by way of the title, but it serves no greater purpose for the storyline itself.
The one golden rule of a vignette (prose poetry) is to create an atmosphere, and not tell a story. Extract the essence of the text—this will dictate the nuance of your vignette poem. I guess you would need to read the trilogy in order to ‘get’ the reference to the name of this challenge, based upon the quote.
Components of the challenge
1. Choose one of the vignettes (prose) from the versiprose, The Bride Trilogy,† to base your vignette poem upon, for example:
THE BRIDE’S DREAMS
She had thought that love was only a game; something one could wear like a badge to garner envy amongst friends. The chill of the night enfolds her troubled emotions where dreams are unwelcome. A Stygian cloak of loneliness weighed heavily on her as she awaited an elusive epiphany. Finally, the watershed moment came when she realised that the light, the very fire of love, is from within. If only she has the courage to reach out and follow her dreams. Lifting her head, shedding the burden of perfidy, her heart becomes exposed to light. The dawn chorus accompany her lover’s aubade.
2. Choose at least 2 words from this text to incorporate them into the alliteration – these words don’t necessarily have to alliterate as they appear in the text, eg ‘badge’ and ‘burden’, also, ‘aubade’. These words are too remote to be recognised as being alliterative in the text, but you need to re-imagine the alliteration for your poem – NOT random unrelated words that would not alliterate if placed in an alliterative sequence, eg ‘she’ (a function word), ‘something’ and ‘shedding’ (these are an example of sibilance), but at least 2 words that can alliterate in the poem, per the aforementioned example words ‘badge’, ‘burden’ and ‘aubade’. You may, also, change the grammar of the words, eg ‘burdens’, and extent the alliteration by employing external words (other words not found in the text) to strengthen the example of the alliteration, eg ‘bringing’ (stressed syllable in the root word ‘bring’), ‘embracing’ (the stress syllable is ‘brace’ in the root word ‘embrace’), and ‘obedience’ (the stressed syllable in this multi-syllable word is ‘be’- it ties in with the consonant ‘b’ used in the alliteration): burdens/embracing/badge/obedience/bringing/aubade.
3. Rhyme scheme: abcb. You don’t have to use Perfect/exact rhyme – I have used mosaic rhyme: ‘obedience’ and ‘aubade in a sense’. Mosaic/Composite rhyme, a type of dactylic rhyme, is the opposite of trailing rhyme (the subject of an earlier contest). It is a multiple rhyme in which a single multiple syllabic word is made to rhyme with two or more words, eg poet & know it.
4. You may include other examples of alliteration (external words), eg ‘forsaking former’ – they don’t necessarily have to only alliterate on stressed syllables, but may concentrate on the ONSET SOUNDS of the words, in this instance ‘f’.
See my link, Enhancing Rhythm and Mood in Poetry,‡ for more details regarding alliteration.
MY EXAMPLE VIGNETTE POEM
(I have highlighted the stressed syllables in the words which are incorporated into the alliteration ‘b’. YOU don’t have to highlight the alliterative syllables in your poem.)
forsaking former burdens
embracing badge of obedience
bringing a new dawn
an aubade in a sense
See my latest challenge, Saints and poets maybe VIGNETTE, for more details regarding the requirements. You may pose questions at this blog relevant to the challenge. I have included the link to this blog on the contest page in order that it doesn't get lost amongst all the other (daily) blogs.
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Recommended Reading
You can’t edit a blank page! ~Su
Honing Your Skills: Practical Advice for Poets and Writers | PoetrySoup.com
Happy quills!
Su
*Saints and poets maybe - Suzette Richards's Blog (poetrysoup.com)
†The Bride Trilogy | A Short Story or Fictional Prose by Suzette Richards (poetrysoup.com)
‡Enhancing Rhythm and Mood in Poetry | PoetrySoup.com