Response Poems
"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets
make it into something better, or at least something different." — T.S. Eliot
"Bad artists copy, great artists steal" — Pablo Picasso
"Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal." — Igor Stravinsky
"I steal from every movie ever made." — Quentin Tarantino
"You Shall Not Steal" — Exodus 20:15
Adapted from Todd Kaneko
What is a response poem?
Writing a poem that is inspired by the works of others.
There are a few ways to do it:
1. Write a reply to the poem
In essence, a reply requires that you come to some
sense of what the poem is saying to you; this doesn't
mean that you have to be able to paraphrase the
poem—that's never the goal. But if you understand
the poem, and that's a relative term, write a poem that
answers the questions or statements that the original
poem makes.
2. Imitate the form of the poem
Read through the poem and see if you can identify the
formal considerations that the poet has thought about
to make the poem work. Count syllables in a line.
Count the lines in a stanza. Look at rhyming and
repetition schemes. Consider the use of line breaks to
make surprising turns of phrase and image. If the poet
has used a closed form, then we might begin there—
but then we can look at the way that a poet has
approached a closed form in order to better
understand both the poet and the form.
3. Build off a primary metaphor that the poem
works from
If a poem is striking because of the way it plays with
the image of, for example, the flower, one might try
and write their own mortality poem using the flower as
a metaphor - trying to make the poem use that
metaphor as a motor to make the poem happen. It's
the imagery that powers the poem, so by imitating the
engine, we might come to a better understanding of
how the vehicle works as a whole.
4. Steal the first line of the poem.
From there you are on your own. A poem generally
works from that first line, building on it and deviating
from it in a variety of ways, each of which is specific to
a particular poem. So take the starting point used by
another poet and see where it takes you. Alternatively
you can steal a line that is not the first to use as your
first line, but then you don't have that same spark to
begin with. Another more challenging way might be to
steal a last line and see how you might get there on
your own. Even more challenging: take the first and
last lines and write the rest of the poem yourself.
5. Use a passage as an epigraph (a short description at
the beginning of a book that often suggests its theme)
One of Billy Collins's most well known poems, "Litany,"
works off of its epigraph. Collins goes on to use the
epigraph as the first lines of his poem, but that isn't
necessary. Take the lines or stanza and use your poem to
build on what the original poem doesn't necessarily explore.
This may mean an snarky/ironic twist to the language used,
or more intense play with the images being used in the
passage to produce something new. Take the passage and
don't worry about what the original does with it—focus on
what you get from it and go from there.
6. Turn Prose into Verse. This means more than just
adding line breaks. Or maybe it doesn't. I know this
isn't exactly a response to a poem, but it's a way of
using a poem to respond to another's text and I
wanted to include it here for you. For example:
Wikipedia tells me all I need to know about the
chupacabra and the "Texas carcasses which turned
out to be domestic dogs and coyotes." That's going
into a poem. It won't be verbatim, but I like the idea of
a mythical creature becoming something much more
ordinary.
7. Write the opposite of the poem. Contradict the
poem: what it says, how it works, and what it means.
This is different than writing a reply because the new
poem doesn't necessarily address the old poem—it
takes the content of the original poem and transforms
it into an opposite in any way the writer sees fit. A long
narrative poem like Rita Dove's "The Bistro Styx"
might be condensed into a short list poem about the
hour after landing in an airplane. A poem like Simic's
"Bestiary for the Fingers of My Left Hand" might be a
single stanza about the palm or the foot. Writing the
opposite of a poem is fun to do, but probably one of
the most challenging of the ideas listed here.
Response Poem Recap:
What is a response poem?
A response poem is a poem inspired by the works of others.
Some methods of writing your response poem:
1.Write a response to the poem
2.Imitate the form of the poem
3.Build off a primary metaphor the poem works from
4.Steal the first line of the poem
5.Use a passage as the epigraph
6.Turn prose into verse
7.Write the opposite of the poem
Sympathy ~ by Paul Laurence Dunbar
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals-I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting-I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,-When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-I know why the caged bird sings!
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” ~ Maya Angelou
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
“Caged Bird” ~ Alycia Keys
now I feel like a bird
Caged without a key
Everyone comes to stare at me
With so much joy and rivalry
They din't know how I feel inside
Through my smile I cry
They don't know what they're doin' to me
Keeping me from flyin'
That's why I say that
I know why the caged bird sings
Only joy comes from song
She's so rare and beautiful to others
Why not just set her free
So she can
Fly, fly, fly
Spreadin her wings and her song
Let her
Fly, fly fly
For the whole world to see
She's like caged bird
Fly, fly
Ooh just let her fly
Just let her fly
Just let her fly
Spread the wings
Spread the beauty