Rhyme is a mnemonic devise, an aid to memory
-James Fenton
We are barely aware of how effortlessly we flow in and out of our memories when we create, constantly redesigning, rebuilding, refashioning and reinforcing our recollections and our reflections. Retaining and refining our memories is an entirely natural, ongoing, subconscious practice. Sometimes, however, out of necessity, we have to consciously devise ways to retain what we already know, perhaps for a college test, a theatrical performance or to include in a story that we are writing.
In our lives of constant informational and disinformational bombardment, we have become “so connected to this ongoing stimuli, to so many confusing perspectives, that we are deprived of a very important ingredient of creativity: spending time with ourselves.” (HAVE YOU EVER HAD A HUNCH? The Importance of Creative Thinking) How do we remember what we have learnt from all the confusing, multiple perspectives we are offered continually on issues, on goods, on desirable behavior? Not only is it necessary to find time for our own in-depth investigation of possibilities and allow in our own, instinctive decisions about what feels credible or doable to us or not, but we also have to find ways of remembering at least some of the knowledge we have accumulated, otherwise we are left with, as Spunktaneous says, in THE WORLD OF GLIMPSE, a whirlwind of words in our heads:
There is a whirlwind of words in my head.
Who said what and why?
There’s a whirlwind of words in my head
I cannot identify.
Memory techniques for him, like for us, are essential aids for retention. Memory devices were used way back in history – even as long ago as the Greek and Roman times. Your recall device might be through writing, through the use of contrasting colors or through rhythmic and rhyming forms such as poems, doggerels and songs – through mnemonics as used at VERSEBLURT CAFE, a social meeting place – a creative center and memory theater to assist and reinforce memory in THE WORLD OF GLIMPSE. It is in this Mnemonic Arena for the internalization of experience and knowledge, that we meet the Resident Poet of Glimpse: Farfetch, who tells us:
I’m a natural at sound correspondence. A genius at verseblurt. Listen to my…
Syllabic recurrence
Vowel-consonant transference
Suffixal prefactmixtion
Triple-compound-fictiondiction.
Now you try
Rhetorical ruminition
Rhopalical renderdition
Redundant repetion
Rhapsodic precognition…
Yes …time alone is essential
Rilke’s “Letters to a Young Poet” is a book that expressed this
Have you read it?
I love your clever use of words, absolutely genius…so unique, so rare. You, Ellen, seem to be having fun with words and that is conveyed to the reader. One can only experience joy reading your work. Thanks so much!
Ellen you are all of your characters in The World of Glimpse. In Verseblurt Café, this amazing “you” is Farfetch , who personifies your gift of gab: with rhythms and rhymes and words so sublime, you tongue twist and swing with rhapsodic imaginings….ok I am so totally into all your words beginning with the letter “r”. ..that I am trying to pronounce out loud (sans success), but crack myself up doing so….Farfetch’s verseblurt in this blog: I am trying my best to “rhapsodize my rhetorical ruminitions” and “rhopalical renderditions”…I constantly find gifts filled with humor and insight in The World Of Glimpse.