What is a Cento?
A “cento” is said to be a Roman poetic form meaning “stitched together”: each line of the poem is drawn from a different source. “Cento” also resonates with the number one hundred, and many centos are a hundred lines long.
Structure of the poem…
This Latin word in its original language means a garment made of patches. A cento is a “patchwork poem” and that is its structure. It is also often called a mosaic poem. This poem is made up entirely of lines of verse from the works of other people. This poem can be written with metered lines or not. It can be written with lines that rhyme or not. This is a “patchwork” poem so you can mix it all up if you want.
Remember to choose you lines carefully because you will want you poem to make some sense don’t you?
However there have been some cento’s that I read which made no sense at all but were very funny to read.
To write a cento, you take someone else’s words and make them into your poem. Here’s how.
1 Make it at least fourteen lines and make it look like a poem (you do not have to make stanzas if you don’t want to.)
3 Go through your chosen poems and pick out sentences and ideas that grab your attention. You can choose entire sentences (you can pick out a part of a sentence but entire sentences are preferred.)
3 Type up a list of the things you’ve chosen but do not change them in any way and arrange them into a poem
4 You may find that you do not want to use some of what you have chosen and you may even need to find more to make you poem work.
5 Remember this poem is made up entirely of other peoples work so give them credit at the end of yours.
A little history…
Above I stated that a Cento is said to be a Roman form of poetry but there is evidence that this form of poetry originated in ancient Greece. You can find examples in Aristophane’s plays. Roman poets, as early as the late second century, lifted lines from Virgil, as did the fourth century Latin poet Proba Falconia, ninth century Waldram, and seventeenth century Scottish poet Alexander Ross, writing in Latin. The earliest extant patchwork poem in English was published in 1775, written to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday. It was comprised of lines from Shakespeare's plays, though the author took liberal poetic license in changing the lines to suit his purpose. Those who write the purest form of Cento do not change a thing and use only entire lines.
Now my patchwork…
Lost
Where had I heard this wind before
When ones lover comes in and says I do not love you anymore
The gray sea and the long black land
And there were flowers in your hand
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea
And I shook back my hair and looked out on the sea;
Whipped by the storm, screaming and calling
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
And does not seem to us like Eden promised
Little remains; but every hour is saved
I know what is beyond the relativity of birth and death
So much of Heaven has gone from Earth
They sway in the moon's radiance
maybe the world….But i have wondered since
Authors by line…
Robert Frost-Bereft
Anne Carson-The Glass Essay
Robert Browning-Meeting at Night
Ezra Pound-Francesca
William Wordsworth-The world is to much with us
Mae Madden-A dream of Italy
Sara Teasdale-At Sea
Mary Oliver-Wild Geese
Anna Akhmatova-Our Native Earth
Tennyson-Ulysses
Yoka Genkaku-I wandered over rivers and seas, crossing mountains and streams
Emily Dickinson-So much of Heaven has gone from Earth
Amy Lowell-Absence
E. E. Cummings-When you went away this morning
(Edit #1 removed "Types of poetry series" from title line)
Last edited by Eiregirl on Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:31 pm
ghost
Joined: 06 Nov 2005
Posts: 2828
Location: MIA
well done, eire! i can (almost) grasp the thought behind this one.
this "conglomerate" style can actually be quite frustrating though, if you are a stickler for tenses like me...
I thank you very very much for you kind words. Yes it was a bit frustrating trying to find lines that fit and gave a semblance of what was wanted. I looked at around 100 poems to get what I ended up with. Well it is not called a patchwork for nothing. LOL
Hugs,
Evee
Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:39 pm
Violets-On-The-Sea
Joined: 06 Nov 2005
Posts: 115
Location: England
that is an interesting idea and I was impressed by your poem
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum