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The Importance of Poetry
I know it's still March and I never like to wish any part of the year away, but April is Poetry Month and I wanted to get a head start.....
Following is a blog that was written by TCN's esteemed Committee Treasurer, Civil Celebrant and all round lovely lady - Susan Roberts and I thought it was the most fitting blog post to share with you today.
April - the Month of Poetry
Poems play a very important part in all of the ceremonies we celebrants perform.
Following is a blog that was written by TCN's esteemed Committee Treasurer, Civil Celebrant and all round lovely lady - Susan Roberts and I thought it was the most fitting blog post to share with you today.
April - the Month of Poetry
Poems play a very important part in all of the ceremonies we celebrants perform.
A poem that has been carefully selected, can add a depth to your ceremony. A great poem can add a touch of humour, a gentle romantic touch, a spiritual tone or a sense of solemn respect, and so much more.
It can express a parent’s love for their child at a baby naming, a couple’s love and commitment in a wedding ceremony or renewal of vows, and showcase a life in a funeral ceremony.
The big question is, how do you selection poems.
One really workable suggestion is to build up a collection of poems to offer your clients, and to add to the collection all of the time to keep your selections fresh and appealing.
I keep mine in different folders to make it easier to pick the best poem for the ceremony: modern love poems, classic love poems, naming poems, funeral poems, etc., and make sure that you follow the copyright laws, and always, always, always acknowledge the poet.
Fortunately, there are lots of tools online to help.
Here are just a couple of wedding poem lists after a quick Google search:
- The Poetry Foundation offers a small list that covers classical and offbeat poems.
www.poetryfoundation.org - A Practical Wedding lists these “non-cheesy” poems.
apracticalwedding.com
And three funeral poetry guides :
- FamilyFriendPoems , a website dedicated to Poetry, has a great section on Funeral poetry.
www.familyfriendpoems.com - FuneralHelper has a collection of Non Religious Poetry.
www.funeralhelper.org - LastingPost has a vast number of poems and readings.
www.lastingpost.com
Naming day poems are always very personal to the parents,
and often the parents have researched and selected the poem for themselves.
- PoemSource is a great place to start.
www.poemsource.com
On the Forum Board on our TCN website, there is a New Forum Topic which is available for TCN members to put links to your favourite poems.
So, can you hop online, find your favourite poem and add the link to this Forum, and we will end up with a great resource section of poetry for all occasions.
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Thank you for joining us....
?? We would love it if you would let us know what you think ?.
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?Click on the word "Comment" and go for it!
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Comments 1
When I was in my early 20s, I lost my maternal Grandfather and paternal Grandmother.
Coming from a large contingent of grandchildren, there was a big perspective of our grandparents that we all wanted contributed at the ceremony.
I took everything all my sisters and cousins contributed and put it into a poem. On both occasions, this was greeted with tears, clapping and laughter. I was told I should do it for a living and I was asked by complete strangers for a copy of the eulogy.
But the point I'm trying to make is that what made it special, apart from poetry being easier on the mind to comprehend for many and a nicer memory, was that it contained personal commentary and content about the relationships our grandparents had with their grandchildren. This was special to the adults who saw children's perspectives of familiar traits but also because all the grandchildren had felt heard which greatly assisted our grieving processes.
Custom-written poetry does not need to be written in old english or use fancy synonyms, it just needs to be truthful and succinct.
If you haven't tried to write, I urge you to. The more you do, the easier it is and it can be quite fun and rewarding.
You don't have to do anything that anyone else does, that is the beauty of original art. But, what I do is to take a paragraph of story, an anecdote, a memory, and highlight all the keywords. I then make sure I use these keywords or if interchangeable (not specifically sentimental to the story) find synonyms with more versatile endings for the purpose of rhyming. I then just use trial and error until I am happy with it. Then of course always get a few different people to give feedback.
Plan B - there are plenty of amazing poems out there, including song lyrics!