My Shouting, Shattered, Whispering Voice by Patrice Vecchione

Author:Patrice Vecchione
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: poems;poetry books;poetry collection;american poetry;poem;gift ideas;reference books;poetry;gifts;poem books;poetry book;reference book;collected poems;reference guide;stocking stuffers for adults;gift books;poem a day;self help;writing;philosophy;psychology;american literature;how to;health;spirituality;spiritual;language;essays;relationships;school;education;comedy;mindfulness;buddhism;love;classic;business;personal growth;death;dating;americana;comic;self help books;sociology;feminism
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 2020-04-06T19:02:29+00:00

28. Voice and Style

The elements of voice and style are very closely connected and, like cracks in the sidewalk, they’ve always tripped me up. If they baffle you, too, don’t feel bad. Defined simply, style equals diction (word choice), and tone. Both convey the writer’s attitude toward their subject. Each writer has their own voice; it’s what makes the writing uniquely theirs. Now for a closer look.

Here are the opening two lines of two very different poems that begin in almost the same way. First is “Daughter,” by Jon Pineda:

Let us take the river

path near Fall Hill.

Next is “OK Let’s Go,” by Maureen N. McLane:

Let’s go to Dawn School

and learn again to begin

Though small, the difference between “Let us” and “Let’s” is distinctive—“Let us” is formal, whereas “Let’s” is relaxed. It’s style that allows Pineda and McLane to each convey their own sensibility and tone. And then there’s the informal tone of McLane’s “OK.”

Some poets write in an ornate style. Others have a straightforward approach. Some build a poem from simple, single-phrase sentences; while others write entire poems consisting of one long, complex, twisting and turning sentence. The way a poet designs their poems on the page—their actual appearance—also contributes to their style. Attitude toward a subject is conveyed through both word choice and tone. Respect or disrespect toward a subject will determine a writer’s word choices. The style of a particular piece of writing is also determined, in later drafts, by consideration of the intended audience.

A poet’s voice is the written manifestation of their personality. How you will say things is unique to who you are. Through writing (and writing), poets refine and expand their unique way of expressing themselves. In his book The Art of Voice, Tony Hoagland says, “The role of voice in poetry is to deliver the paradoxical facts of life with warmth and élan, humor, intelligence, and wildness.”

Our poetry voices are based on the voices we’ve heard during our lives, as well as how language is used in the places we’ve come from—including sounds other than human voices, such as city background sounds or those of the ocean. Were you read to as a child? Did someone tell you stories? Those will influence your poet’s voice too. My mother read me poetry every day from the time I was a baby, and though my poems are nothing like A. A. Milne’s children’s poems, the rhythm of his work is present in my own.

Tony Hoagland said, “Whatever the ‘matter’ of a poem is, it is carried along on the fluid tide of a voice.” It is not only poets’ different content that makes their work identifiable to you, but the way their voices handle that content—a kind of signature, as unique to them as their dreams and fingerprints. The way they write about their content is their voice.

Both Frank O’Hara’s poetry voice and style are conversational. He wrote in a way that conveys a friendliness and accessibility. When I read O’Hara’s poems it’s as though he’s in the room talking to me.

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