An epitaph is a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written to praise the deceased. It may be unrhymed. William Shakespeare, John Keats, and many other eminent poets had penned their own epitaphs. John Keats travelled to Rome and died there, aged just 25, in February 1821. He told his friend Joseph Severn that he didn't want his name to appear on his tombstone, but merely this line: ‘Here lies one whose name was writ in water’.
I tried my hand at my own epitaph, MY LEGACY, written in the poetic form: Suzette Prime.
SUZETTE PRIME
The earlier philosophers had all written their scientific and other theses in the form of poems. Poetry, over the ages, had lent itself to the expression of emotions, to heal the spirit, as entertainment, a teaching tool, and many more applications. I find poetry a great vehicle to express my thoughts; often allowing me to voice an opinion in a manner that might be palatable to an audience, mimicking the practice of the ancient philosophers. This profession as a whole remains resolutely Eurocentric. I aim to include philosophies from around the world and do attempt to highlight the influence of Africana on ancient philosophy disciplines.
Suzette Prime design
Suzette Prime is a syllabic verse form. In December 2012, it was introduced on the poetry website, PoetrySoup.com, as a new poetic form. My poem, Time, lent its name to my self-published anthology in 2014,Time—Suzette Prime Poetry. Nine international poets had contributed to that volume. In a post dd June 21, 2016 by Somnath Sarkar, he listed Suzette Prime as one of 140 Types of poetry that you must know.
Prime Number Syllable count: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, etc; PLUS a philosophical statement. Any combination of a prime number syllable count may be used per line; in open form and no formal stanzas. Stagger the length of the lines as when writing prose (no set sequence is required) to create a pleasing cadence; don’t just write words. The line breaks serve as punctuation and no capital letters used, except in the case of proper nouns. Any topic that lends itself to a philosophical statement is suitable for Suzette Prime. It is usually presented flush left on the page.
Definition
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself.
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument.
All rights reserved.
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
Copyright © Suzette Richards 2021
コメント