“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different."
-T.S. Eliot "Philip Massinger"
-T.S. Eliot "Philip Massinger"
"Imitation is suicide"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson "Self Reliance"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson "Self Reliance"
"We dwell with satisfaction upon the poet’s difference from his predecessors, especially his immediate predecessors; we endeavor to find something that can be isolated in order to be enjoyed. Whereas if we approach a poet without this prejudice we shall often find that not only the best, but the most individual parts of his work may be those in which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their immortality most vigorously. And I do not mean the impressionable period of adolescence, but the period of full maturity."
_T. S Eliot "Tradition and the Individual Talent"
_T. S Eliot "Tradition and the Individual Talent"
"Imitate me, children
I'll show you
to Nirvana's
melodramatic gates of
diving-board acumen.
Extricating you from
banal Guantanamo"
-B.S. Eliot "Invitation to Largess"
I'll show you
to Nirvana's
melodramatic gates of
diving-board acumen.
Extricating you from
banal Guantanamo"
-B.S. Eliot "Invitation to Largess"
The Prompt: Often Imitated, Never Duplicated
Select a poet whose style you admire or a poem which you enjoy. Try to find a poet or poem that is very different from your own current style/comfort zone with writing. Write a poem emulating that poet's style or the style the poem was written in. Try to do so while adding your own personal touch to the piece.
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