Project 1

Emulation of “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden

A woman rose every morning to a fading moon

Where her calloused feet met the cracking floor.

With a few bronze coins she would walk barefoot

To purchase the market’s leftovers from the day before

Only to come home to an ignorant, yet dependent, son.

The boy woke to an empty stomach

That screamed with dissatisfaction.

The violent whistle of the trees

Only amplified their gloomy reality

His snippy demands from parched lips

Was not taken lightly by the weary mother

Despite the love in her eyes.

He would never realize the sacrifices

Present behind her aged eyes.

Emulation of “This is just to say” by WC Williams

Someone has planted

An apple seed

Within the dusted

Cracking earth

Despite lack of

Vital nutrients

The tree

Grew

Only to feed

The surviving

Seven people

On that planet.

Artist Statement

I chose to emulate these works because I was in awe of the detailed description and dynamics. These two pieces are drastically different, and I wanted to challenge myself to try and imitate both as best as I could. “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden had a lot of detail, and the structure intrigued me from the beginning. I knew that this poem would be difficult, but as I previously mentioned, I wanted to push myself. In regards to “This is just to say” by WC Williams, I admired the syntax and style. The lack of punctuation caught my eye as I was reading through it, and I wanted to attempt to pull off that technique in my own writing.

I experienced several challenges when completing this project. Starting with “Those Winter Sundays”, I had trouble trying to emulate the style because I do not tend to write in such a descriptive style. I noticed that I kept trying to copy the imagery instead of coming up with my own plot. After getting into a rhythm of the style, it was easier for me to see ways to emulate the style without copying it completely. In regards to “This is just to say”, I found it difficult to stay true to the punctuation and syntax. The author utilized stanza spacing to naturally input pauses when the audience reads it. I was shocked at how taxing it was to identify when those pauses should be places. WC Williams created a new line between “forgive me” and “they were delicious” to encourage the reader to read it with a natural pause. This tactic would not be as appreciated had punctuation existed. I initially struggled to imitate this tactic because I had never been exposed to it. When starting the mimesis process, I rewrote the poem over and over again trying to become as familiar with it as possible. This helped me to understand that other factors such as word choice and imagery can build the plot instead of just the punctuation.

I tried to overcome my challenges by rereading and rewriting them in an attempt to understand them as best I could before starting to emulate them. “Those Winter Sundays” has a unique style that was challenging at first to follow, but becoming aware of the little nuances made it a little easier. I started off in a rhythm with both myself and the poem, yet that was interrupted by the change in the dynamics. I got hung up on some of the wording which I resolved by searching them up on google. The main challenge that I faced when mirroring “This is just to say” was the punctuation and flow of the poem. I overcame these challenges by writing multiple different versions of the style and then choosing which one best represented the original. I wrote three different versions before I realized that the first half of the first version and the second half of the third version best imitated the original work. The approach of writing several rough drafts before writing the final was a huge tool that I used throughout this process.

I have learned mimesis is crucial to creative writing because it pushed me to step out of my comfort zone to create a story that is different from any of my other pieces. Through mimesis, I found that I enjoy attempting to use less punctuation. It has also taught me to appreciate the different structures within all genres of writing.