A/N:This post is about my thoughts about the stanza structure of a chosen poem. The poem I’ve chosen is A Wonder by S.M. Bednarz. See the poem underneath. I have in no way contributed to the making of this poem, and you can find more free writing of the author on the following website:
https://samuelmbblog.wordpress.com/
“A Wonder
Are you there? Or are you not?
This question strokes my head allot.
Allot because I often wonder,
wonder if I have made a blunder.
Cause feelings sometimes strike like thunder,
and so I am left alone whit wonder.
A wonder I wonder, you are, and I wonder.
I wonder what you’re doing now,
I wonder where, I wonder how.
I wonder why and sometimes who,
spends their time along whit you
I wonder if you talk of me,
I wonder who your friends might be
I wonder if we sometimes meet,
when you shut your eyes, and fall asleep.
I wonder if you think of me,
I wonder what your kink might be,
I wonder of some, Well many a thing,
and wonder fills me when you sing.
But most of all, a wonder I wonder,
I wonder if you know you’re a wonder.
My wonder, my wonder
do you ever wonder?
Good thing this word called wonder
kind of a blunder still rhymes whit wonder.”
My note to the author on why he chose this stanza structure, and why he might consider changing it:
The stanza structure of this poem is unusual; mostly because it in many ways doesn’t have one. The poem consists of one, long stanza rather than having been divided into several smaller. I think it’s a somewhat typical choice for the chosen author, whose poems can often be identified by its fluid thought process. Deciding not to divide the poem into several stanzas also gives the poem a faster rhythm. As a reader you’re not given space to pause and absorb what you’ve just read. In this particular poem it doesn’t really pose as a problem, but I believe that longer poems often need to be divided up into stanzas in order to keep the reader engaged.
Dividing this poem into several stanzas would come with both pros and cons. The cons would include a certain loss of the fast rhythm of the text. There are, however, also several pros. One of these are that it would make the poem more readable and easier on the eyes. It could also give the impression of the poem having a kind of chorus. Moreover it would allow the author to divide the poem into a beginning, a body and a conclusion, which would make the poem seem more like a finished story rather than a string of random thoughts.
It would however lose a bit of what made the poem unique and loyal to the author’s style.
mariasjostrand 