Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Blog Description


Natural Essence is a compilation of my personal essays, structured poetry, and short stories. The styles in which I write essays are analytical, descriptive, and interpretive. The poetry styles of which I am most fond of penning are:
  • concrete 
  • pantoum 
  • rhyming
  • triolet and villanelle  
The styles of short story writing I enjoy are twofold:  (1) content with 150 words or less that I have entitled Stories in a Nutshell and (2) flash fiction. Stories in a Nutshell are stories with content condensed to the bare bones of story writing. Flash Fiction content ranges from a word count of 500-1000 words.      
                                                            

                                                             

                                                          

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Analytical Essays

Descriptive Essays

Interpretive Essays

Concrete Poetry


"To a Pine"
©Barbra Lambert

Ah,

the  pine,

the     robust

pine,  with  needles

rife  on  boughs  aplenty.   

And        O    its     scent,   its

  lovely   scent  that  wafts  through

forests        dark        and         dense.

Ah,     the      pine,    the    regal   pine—

How       stately       is       its        presence.
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Concrete poetry, also known as visual or image poetry, is poetry that can be written in the shape of its subject matter. The poem can use rhymed or unrhymed lines, and its length is dependent upon the space needed to create its shape.


Pantoum Poetry

“Corvidae: The Crow”

O shiny bird with feathers black,
Raucous cry, and soaring swoop —
How blessed with grace your poised attack
On prey beneath your graceful loop.

Your raucous cry and soaring swoop
Are dreaded sound and fearsome sight
For prey beneath your graceful loop
In bright of day or even’s light.

Are dreaded sound and fearsome sight
E’er thoughts of which your mind concurs
In bright of day or even’s light
When all around you nature stirs?

I ponder if your mind concurs
How blessed with grace your poised attack
When all around you nature stirs.
O shiny bird with feathers black !

©Barbra Lambert



How to Write Pantoum Poetry

Pantoum poetry is a fun and challenging style of verse. Its subject matter can be serious, complex, humorous, commemorative, fanciful, or comprised of whatever its writer’s creativity chooses to theme. Despite the complex appearance of the pantoum's format, it is actually very simple. It consists of 16 lines, or more, written in 4-line stanzas with an alternating rhyme pattern of abab. Below are two of the pantoum’s most distinct characteristics.

  1. The 2nd and 4th lines of each stanza, or quatrain, are repeated in the 1st and 3rd lines of each successive stanza.
  2. Upon its completion, the pantoum has repeated every line.

If the writer feels that a change in the phraseology of the repeated lines from each stanza will have a better effect on the poem, he or she can choose to reword the line -- but leave the rhyming word at the phrase’s end.

Upon its completion, the line pattern for a 16-line pantoum is as follows:

------1  2 4          - Lines in first stanza
       2  5  4  6          - Lines in second stanza
       5  7  6  8          - Lines in third stanza
       7  3  8  1          - Lines in fourth stanza

Rhyming Poetry

Dedication: My rhyming poetry is dedicated to my Grandmother Florence, the kindest, most patient person I remember from my childhood. She loved, in particular, the autumn season because of its dazzling array of multi-colored leaves. She had a gift of poetic recitation and favored reciting poems of the leaves of autumn.



“When Fall Arrives”

When fall arrives, its rich tableau
Imparts to us its rarest glow,
For foliaged trees, far and near,
Transmute their hues to vibrant cheer
With glowing tints of red, and yellow,
Dappled green, and cherry morello.
And even those with tints austere
Exude with unembellished cheer
When fall arrives.

How nonpareil this ardent show,
This visual feast of leaves aglow,
With sheens akin to posh veneer,
Dazzling round an earthen sphere.
E’en the twilight’s afterglow
Reflects this rarity of show,
As do the azure skies so clear
Hov’ring o’er these sites so dear
When fall arrives.

©Barbra Lambert



“Leaves at Play”

Dappled leaves of yellowish-green
Flirt with the wind as they flutter,
While orange and reds, crisp and pristine,
Dance alongside one another
With twirls of grace and spins of ease
That seek to outdo the other
Then waft to nature’s earthen stean
To enrich the topsoil’s clutter.

©Barbra Lambert


“The Falling Leaves”

I watch in awe as falling leaves of lovat green and pink cerise
Twirl and tumble round and round then land atop an earthen mound
And meld with leaves of rich carmine, maroon, claret, and deepest wine
To dress the rustic sylvan floor with multi-colored sights galore.
I marvel, too, at falling leaves from stalwart oaks and maple trees
That lithely waft in naïve flight then gently on the ground alight
Bedecking country sights on grounds of sylvan lands where trees abound.
How grand that such simplicity spawns such great felicity —
Such soothing respite to my soul while standing on this sacred knoll
Ensconced with golden memories of you — I bid you once again “Adieu”.

©Barbra Lambert

*For Grandmother Florence at her resting place in the countryside atop a knoll brimful of nature’s sylvan charm.

See “adieu". Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.  “adieu”… 14th century. From French , literally “(I commend you) to God.”
 

“Dreaming of Wintertime”

Soon flakes of white will scurry and flutter
‘Cross fields once rife with grasses green,
And I will watch from my kitchen window
The winsomely sights of a dream.

The dream was of snowflakes, furious at pace,
Frantically racing about—
Coating the fields with flecks of white
Then mounting to please their clout.

E’er long the flecks began to turn
To flakes ‘bout the size of cotton,
And that’s when I knew that winter had come—
The season not eas’ly forgotten.

The cott’ny flakes mounted in less than an hour
To heights of great proportion…
A winsome sight for lovers of snow—
For mot’rists—a sight of misfortune.

On hills ‘bove the fields, the stalwart trunks
Exuded with stately virility
As their snow topped limbs gracing their mien
Projected a perfect tranquility.

Winter is nearing, the air is chilling—so
Come, white, winsome sights in my dream,
And blanket the ground with your flakes of white
‘Cross fields once rife with grasses green.

©Barbra Lambert

Triolet Poetry

“Sunset”

How lazily the Sun retires
Below the vast horizon—
Its orange hue—a ball of fire— !!!
How lazily the Sun retires
Before the end of day expires...
It’s always so surprisin’ !
How lazily the Sun retires
Below the vast horizon.

©Barbra Lambert

 Image courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Purple_Sunset.jpg

Purple Sunset at the Beach (1975) is a painting by Nan Phelps (1904 –1990). Phelps, a self-taught artist, hailed from London, Kentucky.




















Nan Phelps - Circa1940
Image courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Phelps#Paintings


How to Write Triolet Poetry

A triolet poem consists of  8 lines with a rhyming pattern of  ABaAaAB. The unique aspect of a triolet is its set of refrain lines, lines that repeat themselves.

Line 1 repeats itself in Lines 4 & 7
Line 2 repeats itself in Line 8
Its format is as follows.
Line 1     A - Line that will be used here and as 1st refrain line in Lines 4 & 7
Line 2     B - Line that will be used here and as 2nd refrain line in Line 8
Line 3     a     -----------------------
Line 4     A - Repeat Line 1 here
Line 5     a     -----------------------
Line 6     b     -----------------------
Line 7     A - Repeat Line 1 here
Line 8     B - Repeat Line 2 here

The capital letters A & B in Lines 4, 7, & 8 (in the above format) are representative of refrain Lines 1 & 2.
 
Note: Writers of triolet poetry can change the phraseology of the original refrain line(s) throughout the poem if they feel the change will enhance the preceding or the following line(s). *See Lines 1, 4, & 7 in my triolet poem in the Children's Section below entitled "Certainty".

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"Sunset" is a triolet poem that was written to serve as a sample of triolet poetry for students of elementary ages. Its simplistic vocabulary provides an easy understanding of the poem's format and outlines, too, a simplistic way of teaching syllabication.

More triolet poems for children can be found in the Children's Section below.

Children's Section

“Think Spring!”

Spring is here! Spring is here
With all its verve, and glitz, and zing—
Then good ole summer’s drawing near!!
Spring is here—spring is here...
The baby robin sings with cheer,
Zippety-do-dah-whip-bam-bing,
Spring is here! Spring is here
With all its verve, and glitz, and zing
!”

©Barbra Lambert

Image courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin



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"Certainty"

Seasons will come, and seasons will go —
Of this we can be certain.
And tides will cyclically ebb and flow,
For seasons will come, and seasons will go
As will the rains and falling snow
‘Til nature draws her final curtain.
Seasons will come, and seasons will go —
Of this we can be certain.

©Barbra Lambert



Villanelle Poetry

Stories in a Nutshell

Stories in a Nutshell are stories that are written in 150 words or less. The main purpose of this style of writing is to sharpen one’s language skills by using the fewest words possible to develop a story. Nutshell writing creates the groundwork for enhancing other styles of writing, for as writing skills of concision are bettered developed it becomes easier for writers to pinpoint and eliminate needless words in longer composition writing. Nutshell stories can be humorous, serious, perplexing, surreal, or a tad nutty. Try it! You'll like it. 


Tips on How to Write Stories in a Nutshell

  • Remember: These are stories that are restricted to only the most pertinent information, so keep in mind that the story needs to be written so that details can be left to the reader's imagination. 
  1. Jot down story ideas. Choose one, then write a rough draft.
  2. Check your word count in your word processor. A word count word may vary with regard to different word processors, so it's best to keep it 5 - 7 words under the allotted amount of words required.
  3. Edit your work, and check its word count, as many times as needed to decide which words can be eliminated. You do not have to include your title in your word count as part of your writing content.

It will not be easy to strike out particular words you may think are necessary; however, the more you write with conciseness (shortness and to the point) the easier it will come for you to eliminate words that are unnecessary. ©Barbra Lambert

Stories in a Nutshell

“The Loser”

‘That can’t be Nina coming toward me,’ Bella thought to herself as she strode through the doorway of the café to meet her fiancé Bill for lunch.

“Hi Bella! Long time, no see.” Nina’s voice nervously shouted.

Bella didn’t know what to say. It’d been months since she’d seen Nina, and she certainly hadn’t looked like that. ‘What a loser!’ Bella thought to herself, hoping that Bill hadn’t seen Nina.

“Oh, I’m fine! How about you?” Bella awkwardly mustered.

“Well, I’m great! Shedding that fifty pounds make me feel like a million bucks!” Nina said.

‘And look like it, too,’ Bella enviably thought to herself.

“Nice to see ya, gal! Gotta go. Call me sometime, we’ll chat, okay?.” Nina hurriedly said... smiling as if she knew something Bella didn’t.

“Sure will.” Bella said reluctantly — watching Bill exiting the café…

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WC 140 (w/out title)

Stories: Writing in Flash Fiction