HOW TO COMPOSE A GOOD POETRIX
WHAT IS POETRIX?
The Poetrix is a fixed-form poem composed of a title and three lines, with a maximum of thirty poetic syllables. However, there are several specific elements in the Poetrix's structure that differentiate it from other triplets:
1. POETRIX STRUCTURE
1.1. TITLE
In the composition of Poetrix, the title is always mandatory, and can be presented as a complement to the idea, or give meaning to the text and even propose new readings, associating itself with each verse or with the stanza as a whole.
It is important to note that the title does not participate in the poetic syllable count, which allows for several possibilities. See examples below:
1. long title example
The Rose of Hiroshima was not a flower to be smelled
Nickname: Little Boy
Clothing: Ultraviolet
Target: Our planet
(Marilda Comfortin)
The author of this Poetrix chose to use a long title to approximate the famous metaphor "Rose of Hiroshima", known for referring to the explosion of an atomic bomb, to the popular expression "it is not a flower to smell". if the dubious, poisonous and malicious character of that Rose.
2. example of a complementary title to the text
I AM
human
a dwarf
a ship with no north
(Sandra Boveto)
In this Poetrix, the expression chosen for the title seems to relate individually to each verse of the text. Individually, it also works as a synthesis or core idea to define the lyrical subject with just one verb: I am.
1.2. SYNTATIC INDEPENDENCE OF EACH VERSE
In the Poetrix, each line has syntactic independence, so that the terms of a sentence are not separated into two or three lines just to compose the tercet. For the purposes of rhyme and meter, this is common in other poems, but in the Poetrix each line has its meaning fully defined.
In Poetrix, this unadvised fragmentation is called “slicing”. Notice how these two texts have different syntactic behavior in relation to their verses:
Text I
we never make mistakes
when you make peace
our weapon of war
(Álvaro Posselt)
Text II
i m p r e s s s s s
your skin on mine
I want more
D i g i t a l s
( Martinho Branco )
In text I, a tercet by the haikuist Álvaro Posselt, the main idea of the poem is built in a single period divided into three lines – with a main clause in the first line and a subordinate clause in the second and third lines. This fragmentation, natural in other poems, is contraindicated in Poetrix. Consequently, coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, as well as syndetic coordinate clauses or subordinate clauses themselves, are not suitable for Poetrix.
In text II, Poetrix by Martinho Branco, each verse carries its full meaning in independent syntactic constructions as proposed by Poetrix. The understanding of the text takes place through the approximation of these three readings, syntactically independent, but associated with each other, especially the title with the third verse.
1.3 VOCABULARY DIVERSITY
Because it is concise, the Poetrix advises against repetition of words and expressions - unless they have a special purpose in the text. In the same way, repetitive syntactic constructions make the text monotonous and tiring, so the more diversified the choice of words and the construction of a Poetrix, the more surprising it will be.
See in the examples below how the improvement in the construction of a Poetrix takes place. From the initial idea, to the final poem, the text undergoes a kind of vocabulary cutting. Examples worked in Poetrix workshops in public schools in Paraná, Brazil.
• Example 1 - Jessica, elementary school student
First writing: untitled yet
I'm trying to compose a poetrix,
but I find it very difficult to do,
but I really want to learn!
(Jessica)
Second writing: still untitled, but with the cut of the text, talking to the teacher about its construction.
I try to compose a Poetrix.
I encounter many difficulties,
while I learn.
(Jessica)
Third writing: Final Poetrix, already with a title, after adapting it to the proposals of the AiP Guidelines.
Trampoline
I compose Poetrix
I stumble over words
leap forward
(Jessica)
• Example 2 – André, high school student
First writing: presentation of the initial idea with the title defined.
Only you to make me laugh
I love your smile and your way of talking to me
just thinking about you
I'm laughing alone
(Andre)
Second writing: the idea of synthesis is exercised, repetitions are eliminated, the measures of the verses are adapted so as not to exceed thirty poetic syllables.
Only you...
I love your smile
and your way of talking
I laugh alone just thinking about it
(Andre)
Third writing: Final Poetrix with eliminated conjunctions and jump reached in the last verse with the exploration of double meanings ( laugh alone = solitary or solitary laughter?)
You
I love your smile.
Your way of talking...
I laugh alone.
(Andre)
• Example 3 – Teacher Maria de Lourdes
First writing: presentation of a triplet based on an event that took place in the classroom
Drawing of a fifth grader in Geography class
Instead of drawing the Amazon rainforest
the child painted a huge desert inside the map
of our beloved Brazil.
(Teacher Maria de Lourdes)
Second writing: improvement of the third to make it Poetrix
A child's drawing
Instead of the Amazon rainforest
the child painted a desert
on the map of Brazil
Third script: Final Poetrix with conjunctions eliminated and leap achieved in element of surprise.
Childish drawing
Where's the kill?
Desert on the map.
Beloved homeland, Brazil.
1.4. SURPRISE ELEMENT
In Poetrix, there is also a special component, once defined as “jump” or “fright”. It is a word, expression or verse that breaks the obviousness of the text and provokes in it a strangeness, a surprise, which gives the reading a new and enriched perspective. Some examples:
Orthography
a lonely seagull
a tilde over the word
immensity
In this Poetrix, the expression chosen for the title seems to relate individually to each verse of the text. Individually, it also works as a synthesis or core idea to define the lyrical subject with just one verb: I am.
1.2. SYNTATIC INDEPENDENCE OF EACH VERSE
In the Poetrix, each line has syntactic independence, so that the terms of a sentence are not separated into two or three lines just to compose the tercet. For the purposes of rhyme and meter, this is common in other poems, but in the Poetrix each line has its meaning fully defined.
In Poetrix, this unadvised fragmentation is called “slicing”. Notice how these two texts have different syntactic behavior in relation to their verses:
Text I
we never make mistakes
when you make peace
our weapon of war
(Álvaro Posselt)
Text II
i m p r e s s s s s
your skin on mine
I want more
D i g i t a l s
( Martinho Branco )
In text I, a tercet by the haikuist Álvaro Posselt, the main idea of the poem is built in a single period divided into three lines – with a main clause in the first line and a subordinate clause in the second and third lines. This fragmentation, natural in other poems, is contraindicated in Poetrix. Consequently, coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, as well as syndetic coordinate clauses or subordinate clauses themselves, are not suitable for Poetrix.
In text II, Poetrix by Martinho Branco, each verse carries its full meaning in independent syntactic constructions as proposed by Poetrix. The understanding of the text takes place through the approximation of these three readings, syntactically independent, but associated with each other, especially the title with the third verse.
1.3 VOCABULARY DIVERSITY
Because it is concise, the Poetrix advises against repetition of words and expressions - unless they have a special purpose in the text. In the same way, repetitive syntactic constructions make the text monotonous and tiring, so the more diversified the choice of words and the construction of a Poetrix, the more surprising it will be.
See in the examples below how the improvement in the construction of a Poetrix takes place. From the initial idea, to the final poem, the text undergoes a kind of vocabulary cutting. Examples worked in Poetrix workshops in public schools in Paraná, Brazil.
• Example 1 - Jessica, elementary school student
First writing: untitled yet
I'm trying to compose a poetrix,
but I find it very difficult to do,
but I really want to learn!
(Jessica)
Second writing: still untitled, but with the cut of the text, talking to the teacher about its construction.
I try to compose a Poetrix.
I encounter many difficulties,
while I learn.
(Jessica)
Third writing: Final Poetrix, already with a title, after adapting it to the proposals of the AiP Guidelines.
Trampoline
I compose Poetrix
I stumble over words
leap forward
(Jessica)
• Example 2 – André, high school student
First writing: presentation of the initial idea with the title defined.
Only you to make me laugh
I love your smile and your way of talking to me
just thinking about you
I'm laughing alone
(Andre)
Second writing: the idea of synthesis is exercised, repetitions are eliminated, the measures of the verses are adapted so as not to exceed thirty poetic syllables.
Only you...
I love your smile
and your way of talking
I laugh alone just thinking about it
(Andre)
Third writing: Final Poetrix with eliminated conjunctions and jump reached in the last verse with the exploration of double meanings ( laugh alone = solitary or solitary laughter?)
You
I love your smile.
Your way of talking...
I laugh alone.
(Andre)
• Example 3 – Teacher Maria de Lourdes
First writing: presentation of a triplet based on an event that took place in the classroom
Drawing of a fifth grader in Geography class
Instead of drawing the Amazon rainforest
the child painted a huge desert inside the map
of our beloved Brazil.
(Teacher Maria de Lourdes)
Second writing: improvement of the third to make it Poetrix
A child's drawing
Instead of the Amazon rainforest
the child painted a desert
on the map of Brazil
Third script: Final Poetrix with conjunctions eliminated and leap achieved in element of surprise.
Childish drawing
Where's the kill?
Desert on the map.
Beloved homeland, Brazil.
1.4. SURPRISE ELEMENT
In Poetrix, there is also a special component, once defined as “jump” or “fright”. It is a word, expression or verse that breaks the obviousness of the text and provokes in it a strangeness, a surprise, which gives the reading a new and enriched perspective. Some examples:
Orthography
a lonely seagull
a tilde over the word
immensity
(Anthero Monteiro)
The text establishes a curious comparison between the seagull bird and the graphic mark known as "tilde". This Poetrix is surprising in the way it ends, as it presents, in the last verse, only one word that summarizes the comparison made: it is an example of a term that makes use of the tilde and at the same time a lyrical expression about the flight of the bird in the sky.
Democracy
Oil stain
pollution on the beach
tan in day
(Andrea Abdala)
There is a surprising element in the conclusion of this Poetrix and that is found in the relationship between the last verse and the title. Since democracy implies rights and duties, shared equally by the citizens of a nation, how futile can a person looking at his tan, completely oblivious to the problems around him, seem?
1.5. CONCISION AND SUMMARY
Despite the brief structure, Poetrix must be able to convey complete and sometimes complex messages in a light, accurate and concise way. Some examples:
grail
my body
sacred chalice
ark of the covenant
(Goulart Gomes)
Notice how this Poetrix associates the idea of "body" with religious and sacred elements. In short, it proposes to him, therefore, a relationship of respect and sanctity.
The text establishes a curious comparison between the seagull bird and the graphic mark known as "tilde". This Poetrix is surprising in the way it ends, as it presents, in the last verse, only one word that summarizes the comparison made: it is an example of a term that makes use of the tilde and at the same time a lyrical expression about the flight of the bird in the sky.
Democracy
Oil stain
pollution on the beach
tan in day
(Andrea Abdala)
There is a surprising element in the conclusion of this Poetrix and that is found in the relationship between the last verse and the title. Since democracy implies rights and duties, shared equally by the citizens of a nation, how futile can a person looking at his tan, completely oblivious to the problems around him, seem?
1.5. CONCISION AND SUMMARY
Despite the brief structure, Poetrix must be able to convey complete and sometimes complex messages in a light, accurate and concise way. Some examples:
grail
my body
sacred chalice
ark of the covenant
(Goulart Gomes)
Notice how this Poetrix associates the idea of "body" with religious and sacred elements. In short, it proposes to him, therefore, a relationship of respect and sanctity.
No space
I'm fluid
I occupy all the feeling
even in this meager body
(Lorenzo Ferrari)
To write about the quantity and grandeur of human feelings would take several pages. This Poetrix, however, shows that it is possible to express them, in a few words, establishing an interesting relationship of abundance in a scenario of limitation also in its theme.
Maturation
Rest the poem in the drawer
today, cocoon
tomorrow, butterfly
(José de Castro)
Likewise, in this Poetrix, the long and complex process of the transformation of the butterfly and the poem is described in a minimum of words.
1.6 POETIC LANGUAGE
The Poetrix is, above all, a literary composition. As such, it aims to enchant its readers and call their attention much more for the way something was said than for what was actually said. Privileging multiple meanings, paying attention to the sound, rhythm and other structural elements of a text, contribute to the creation of a special, poetic language, hence the importance of using Figures of Language. See some examples of Figures of Speech in Poetrix:
TICKET
medicine has run out
entered eternity
rested
(Dirce Carneiro)
The Figure of Speech used in this Poetrix is Euphemism. It consists of smoothing over a fact, consoling someone. In this case, to soften the death of a loved one.
OTHER TIME
a drop of sweat: boom!
lost in calligraphy...
Is it too late for recess?
(Diana Pilatti)
Here, the author used Onomatopoeia (boom), which is the formation of words or phonemes with the aim of imitating sounds of things, animals or actions.
CONDENSED
thaw in your body
drought and storm
rain
(lilian maial )
In this Poetrix the author uses Metaphor to identify with phenomena of nature. He also uses the Figure Paradox (drought x storm).
2. RECOMMENDED TEXTS
Some elements of Poetrix described in the Guidelines have received a complementary text written by AIP academics.
In addition to these, several other significant texts are posted on the AIP Blog for those who want to delve into the art of writing a good Poetrix.
We recommend reading: https://www.academiapoetrix.org/
I'm fluid
I occupy all the feeling
even in this meager body
(Lorenzo Ferrari)
To write about the quantity and grandeur of human feelings would take several pages. This Poetrix, however, shows that it is possible to express them, in a few words, establishing an interesting relationship of abundance in a scenario of limitation also in its theme.
Maturation
Rest the poem in the drawer
today, cocoon
tomorrow, butterfly
(José de Castro)
Likewise, in this Poetrix, the long and complex process of the transformation of the butterfly and the poem is described in a minimum of words.
1.6 POETIC LANGUAGE
The Poetrix is, above all, a literary composition. As such, it aims to enchant its readers and call their attention much more for the way something was said than for what was actually said. Privileging multiple meanings, paying attention to the sound, rhythm and other structural elements of a text, contribute to the creation of a special, poetic language, hence the importance of using Figures of Language. See some examples of Figures of Speech in Poetrix:
TICKET
medicine has run out
entered eternity
rested
(Dirce Carneiro)
The Figure of Speech used in this Poetrix is Euphemism. It consists of smoothing over a fact, consoling someone. In this case, to soften the death of a loved one.
OTHER TIME
a drop of sweat: boom!
lost in calligraphy...
Is it too late for recess?
(Diana Pilatti)
Here, the author used Onomatopoeia (boom), which is the formation of words or phonemes with the aim of imitating sounds of things, animals or actions.
CONDENSED
thaw in your body
drought and storm
rain
(lilian maial )
In this Poetrix the author uses Metaphor to identify with phenomena of nature. He also uses the Figure Paradox (drought x storm).
2. RECOMMENDED TEXTS
Some elements of Poetrix described in the Guidelines have received a complementary text written by AIP academics.
In addition to these, several other significant texts are posted on the AIP Blog for those who want to delve into the art of writing a good Poetrix.
We recommend reading: https://www.academiapoetrix.org/
*Guidelines translated to English by Angela Bretas, Academic chair nr 04.
