HOW TO UNDERSTAND STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN POETRY- VOL 117

 

This happens to be our big wrap for the the poetry month.

Please hit the comment box and let us know how this poetry month went for you even if it means describing it with an emoji.😜🍨👩‍💻

Did you write anything?

Maybe just scraps, or nothing at all

You won’t lose your life if you didn’t write anything. Just be honest about it. That’s how growth begins.

Ok, back to our post for today.

Let’s take notes, now.

Visual.

That’s our key word.

Jot that.

Now, take down another word to add to it.

Streaming.

Like streaming music on boom etc.

There!

We’re almost done.

Virtually, this explains the lesson.

By simply writing these two words, ‘Visual Streaming’ , we already see the picture.

Hallelujah!

So, what ‘stream of consciousness’ attempts to do is to bring you, the reader, into a place where you can visualise the thoughts streaming (racing) in the CHARACTER’s  mind.

Boom!

That’s how it aligns you with the CHARACTER.

ANYWAY, WHAT’S THE FUSS ALL ABOUT?

Writers love it!

Poets do too!

Even Comedians!

And they would make you feel the same way.

If not, how else would they get you to fall in love with their characters, if they don’t reveal them through their streams of thoughts?

The stream of consciousness, though acclaimed hard to WRITE by WRITERS , still affords us the experience of sensual feelings for what the character is experiencing.

Let’s cite some instances from our suggested readings. We suggested some BOOKS, please tell us you took our suggestions and read those books. Okay.

In Beloved, by Toni Morrison, which happens to be one of our reading suggestions for the month, she embraced it a great deal.

Here’s how she let us in with it:

I am alone I want to be the two of us I want the join I come out of blue water after the bottoms of my feet swim away from me I come up I need to find a place to be the air is heavy …

and she goes on.

Notice she didn’t really make use of proper capitalizations or grammar. She simply used gaps. This form suggests the urgency of the character. It reveals the longing of the character to be with her loved one.

ADDITIONAL STUFF

Creative sets like spoken word artistes, song rappers, stand up comedians etc display it all the time.

It could be fragmented thoughts, syntax or phrases that conveys the characters mind towards something thereby letting us into the character’s head. It could also be monologues  or dialogues.

Also, Stream of Consciousness in ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock by’ TS Eliot,
Modernist poet, uses stream of consciousness techniques in his famous poem;

I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

The poem generally follows traditional grammar and syntax, but Eliot moves from idea to idea and sentence to sentence using associative thought.

For example, when he thinks of walking on the beach, he is reminded of mermaids.

And while it’s not immediately clear what peaches and mermaids have to do with old age, the passage shows readers something about how the speaker’s mind wanders.

We also wander from one thought transition to another.

In essence, stream of consciousness STYLE or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character’s extended thought process, often by incorporating sensory impressions, incomplete ideas, unusual syntax, and rough grammar.

Ever wondered how spoken word poets switch from one thought to another, without sweating?

That’s the stream of consciousness at work.

Did we satisfy your curiosity?

Hit the comment box and let us know if we did.

 

And if you’re looking for a place where you can connect with other writers and readers,you can proceed to join our making Monday mild community

https://m.facebook.com/groups/165053774148528?ref=bookmarks

Blissful week!