Acrostic poetry - alpha'poetic'?

According to Babylon, 'Acrostic' is a composition in which the initial and ending letters form a phrase or a word'. In Wordweb, it is a 'verse in which certain letters such as the first in each line form a word or message'.

Advanced glossaries indicate it as a Hebrew poem in which the lines or stanzas begin with the letters of the alphabet in regular order.

Not easy to write. In addition to the need to befit the unique style, a message it should convey and rhyming the lines should be, if possible with alliterations!

I've just tried one of its sort here.

HARMONY

Home is where to begin! Nurture with
Affection, Compassion
Regard, Respect,
Mutual care, Magnanimity
Onus and Tolerance!
Next comes society; extend it to
Yet others! Universe will change!

Note: Interestingly, the word 'abecedarian' means a tyro learning alphabet! The word is cleverly formed from the first four letters of the alphabet! Understanding the root words (or 'etymons') and when affixed suitably, how they form beautiful words of vivid use are always enamoring. You know, 'etymon' is the etymon for 'Etymology'!

Tips for tweaking blogs

No one can attain Perfection!
One can only tend towards it,
For perfection is divine!

What this quote (not exactly a quote) implies, is true in every plane of human existence. Even in blogging!

Any script, however great the person behind it be, surely has atleast the faintest chance to be tweaked and tuned! I think the tips given here will help you a lot in refining your blogs. The guidelines will substantially improve your skills in scripting, yielding pronounced results. Go ahead!

The tidbits for tweaking, as I know and follow, I'll put in two headings:

1. Pre-processing (in Notepad or a Daily Diary)
2. Post-processing (inside the Blog Editor)

1. Pre-processing:

• First draft is not a sanctified testament! Don't post it as such. Always use Notepad or Daily Diary initially, to capture your thoughts. Give a break, and then review it. There are lot of things you are left with, to refine and revise! Adding or replacing with a befitting adjective, use of alliterations, eliminating repetitions (which often occurs in the first draft!) and much more. (The highly useful techniques mentioned here for poetry writing, are suitable for general writing too. Please check.)
• While reviewing, use a friendly dictionary software like Babylon or Wordweb in conjunction, with your draft, for it will serve as a handy (or 'mousy'?) tool to spill out synonyms and indicate correct usages.
• Use foot notes, if needed. (one step smaller in font size than the main text.)
• Register your gratitude by bidding thanks to the person(s) and/or source(s), if applicable. (for example, 'Courtesy: ...')
• As for as possible, provide links (by directly typing the URL) to various useful sites for relevant stuff pertaining to the context.

2. Post-processing :

• When you are completed satisfied, carry the stuff to your Blog window. Prefer 'Compose' for major changes like paragraph alignment along with 'Preview' option.
• Sometimes a space between two lines we intend will elude us. If so, prefer 'Edit HTML' and use 'Enter' key to bring the line down. (Further editing in HTML depends on the bloggers' knowledge!).
• Use the 'Check spelling' option, if you think it is necessary and take advantage of the options for text formatting to give a subtle demarcation between sub-headings, quotes, etc. See the results!
• Give links using the 'Link' icon in the 'Edit window' suitably for some texts in your script. (Find a visual illustration in this blogger help page.The merits of this option in comparison with the one mentioned lastly in the previous sub-heading are obvious.

After publishing, still if you are falling pretty short of your expectation...well, opt for the tedious back and forth processing of editing and republishing! (Post-processing posts!)

The thing is, the end result should be well-honed and ably-tuned a write-up!

Best wishes for better blogging!..

An appeal to the bloggers!

Blogging is smart an art. Blog sites are the nicest portals which do aid people to unfurl their inundating mind streams, in umpteen aspects and share their ideas and experiences. It satiates several yearning hearts by being a platform for unleashing the artistic potencies from within, in writing reviews, articles, poems, stories, etc.

Personally, I've been craving for such a thing for a substantially long period, until my student and above that my friend, Mr. K. Rakesh, kraki@rediffmail.com, to whom I am grateful, came to my rescue by acquainting me with one blog site in which we are now. There is ample scope for registering our stuff, which might be of mammoth use to many others. To publish and later tweak it to the anticipated levels of perfection and subsequently seeing the transition for ourselves is an ethereal experience! I hope many of you know this better than me.

My humble plea is only this - please don't use blogs for perverted purposes or illegal intentions. There are lot more areas for such things. Spare blogs!

Certainly blogs are also for fun and frolic, but within the bounds of acceptability.

May it be a perpetual source of inspiration, nurturing sensational writings that vibrantly serve humanity, yielding reciprocal harmony and international integrity in a broader sense, in near future. In the present context... at least self-improvement.

Haiku - a cute and curt form of poetry

According to http://poetry.com, 'Haiku is a Japanese verse form that relies on brevity and simplicity to convey its message. It is usually three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, and frequently includes natural images or themes. It is believed to have been first written in the seventeenth century and is based on a Zen Buddhist philosophy of simplicity and the idea of perfection that excludes the extraneous'.

Haiku has solitary and straightforward a message, that gently touches our souls and genuinely kindles an appreciation from within us! A couple of poems of its sort, I've uploaded in http://poetry.com. They are:


Pasture land

The green grasses gleam,
As the sun graces its beam...
Our land shines with charm!

Evening sky

Chances never die...
Are sure to reappear,
Like a setting sun!

Note (11/23/2004): the second one has managed to become one among the closest 20 entries for a Haiku contest conducted on 11/22/2004!

http://poetry.com is a cherished place for the emerging poets to unleash their poetry writing potential. It conducts regular poetry competitions in versatile ways; provides us with reviews for our poems and even permits us to write reviewettes for other's poems! Through its unparalleled efforts it serves the literary community, by giving impetus to the budding poets and spurring them to newer horizons in poetry writing. See for yourselves what they can offer!

Paradoxical verbal combos…Oxymorons!

An Oxymoron is a combination of two words which are completely opposite in meaning. You've heard many of these before, probably without noticing or realising that they fall under this category.

As per ‘Oxford Talking Dictionary’ (OTD), it is ‘a rhetorical figure of speech in which markedly contradictory terms appear in conjunction so as to emphasize the statement’.

'Babylon English-English’ says: ‘Expression composed of combined contrasts’.

Here are some interesting Oxymorons in common use. These captivating 'contra-verbal combos' are sure to inspire you. The moment you comprehend, an instant and vibrant sense of astonishment runs through your nerves. Feel it!

Found missing
Resident alien
Genuine imitation
Same difference
Almost exactly
Legally drunk
Silent scream
Living dead
Small crowd
New classic
Sweet sorrow
Passive aggression
Taped live
Clearly misunderstood
Peace force
Terribly pleased
Political science
Pretty ugly
Working vacation
Exact estimate

And you know... the 'numero uno' Oxymoron is - Bloggers squander!

[Courtesy: My friend Mr. P. Senthilvelan - senthil@lincsoftware.soft.net; excerpt from a mail sent by him]

An addictive and hell-raising PC horror game...still what the hell happened?

Have you played Clive Barker's 'Undying'? It was one of the scariest, spookiest games the gaming world had witnessed till date. Anyone who plays it, is destined to be thrilled throughout the gameplay! Suiting narrations, eerie arena, dull/ill lightings, vicious spells, ambidexterous Patrick, captivating cutscenes, horrendous beasts, lurking horror Lizbeth, heinous howlers, gothic gargoyles, ornamental Oracle, subtler texture designs, stunning story line, spine-chilling sound tracks, ominous choirs, poetic parchment entries of Clive Barker and what not? With all the complex ingredients so intricately interwoven into a coherent whole, it is a true master piece of horror- genre games. Curtly...a PC game personification of horror! I am verily annoyed about the 'not-adequate-a-recognition' the game got, even more than the makers of it! Why not the promoters (EA games) give it a retry in the market? For those who missed, it will be a belated boon. A must-play game for every PC gamer! Why can't the team think of making a sequel, of which we are all expectant of and market atleast that one wisely and nicely? I mean Undying 2! Let us hope for the be(a)st to come!

A tribute to a damsel...(say Aishwarya Rai!)

Curved eyes
Carved nose...
Convex cheek
Converged neck!

Cusped trends
Crafted bends...
Tipped and tuned
Looks well honed!

Mere a gaze
Do amaze...
Clear a smile
Worries at a mile!

Phrases fail to praise
This truly Indian lass!

Well-nurtured
Horticultured ...

This garden of flora
With flowers plethora
Personifies what is beauty
Persuading it as reality!

Yes...

Concept of beauty
Isn't unreality!

For ardent PC gamers!

I am playing Prince of Persia: The Sands of time PC game.

'Prince' is really charming, progressively enticing and addictively alluring to play as the stages advance. Its dull light settings and matching choirs coupled with tricks and trickeries and above all the 'a-second' time-bound moments prove to be a boon to any one who indulge and get immersed into the pool of this rare kind of pudding. The proof is in eating! My hands tremble out of the fear of letting any cat out. You know...I am 'spell-bound' in two ways!

Get to it, if you don't have one.

I've a repertoire of FPS / horror games with stunning gameplay, scintillating graphics and suiting sound scores. I'll be back with more such game reviews (full reviews, if possible) in the days to come!

Share your experiences. Shed your comments!

Better living!

Life has a plethora of promises. Sharing can bring people and their thoughts together. This confluence through blogs, will sure help us live better...with mutual love, reciprocal care and above all - a sense of satisfaction in our earthly existence in toto!

Politics to poems,
Science to stories,

Music to movies,
God(s) to games...

Mutual exchanges are destined to move our lives towards newer horizons.

Am I right?

Yes!

Come on Comrades!