[000.] The Birth of a Blog

Greetings and salutations to all those who may come to view this blog. This is my first attempt at creating and maintaining a themed blog so this should be, at the very least, an interesting experience for all involved. Without further ado, let's dive right into these scary, uncharted waters!

My name is Psy and I love poetry.

See?

I have been in a serious long-term relationship with poetry since I was five-years-old. We've been together a long time and it's gotten me through some very rough patches in my life. Poetry has been for me an outlet, a teacher, a safe haven, a best friend who understands me without my having to say a word, and so much more.

For this blog I have decided to focus on the syntax of selected poems from some of the poets in our book. I have always been fascinated with the wording of thoughts and phrases; how taking creative license with grammar and sentence structure can sometimes paint a verbal picture more vividly than following the rules ever could.

That explains the syntax portion of this blog's title, but as you can tell, it isn't just about that. What I mean when I say "synching up with syntax" is that I intend on sharing my personal feelings, memories, and connections to each poem I talk about. I first read many of the poets in our book when I was between the ages of eight and thirteen. I still have clear memories of how their work made me think and feel and of the impact their words had on me even though, for some, it's been many years since I've read those poems. 

 

I thought it would be interesting to compare my initial impressions from so many years ago to how the same poems make me feel now.

To put it simply, there are two things I want to accomplish in this blog: 

1) Examining the way syntax is used, speculating on why the poet chose to word things the way they did, and discussing whether or not a poet's use of syntax is part of their writing style (do they use the same type of sentences structure over multiple poems)

&

2) Because syntax contributes so much to how the reader understands, visualizes, and relates to the poem I decided it could potentially be interesting to talk about how the poetry made me feel as a child compared to how it makes me feel now. This would include how my understanding of the topic, my emotional responses, my visualizations, etc. may be different as an adult than they were as a child.

That being said, I look forward to seeing if I can accomplish my goals in an intelligent and entertaining way (and, of course, in a Mrs. S.-approved fashion).

Hold on tight! There may be rough waters ahead!

~Psy~