FIRST RHYMED POEM ON WASTED YOUTH

From my own diary, January/6/2021 

Today, I am able to finish my first rhymed English poem. My thought on how to write a good rhymed poem is to observe all the rhymed words of famous poets. Very rarely do I see them use fancy words (multi-syllable words) to rhyme with one another. Most of the times, words that are used are simple, monosyllable or just di-syllable. I am currently reading Pope’s an Essay on Man so I am absorbing his lines and verses. Sometimes, our minds think alike. For example, when I think of the word “waste”, my immediate thought is that “taste” rhyme with it. I Ctrl+F, searching for the word “waste” in his poem, and the next line is “taste”.

Is it less strange, the prodigal should waste

His wealth, to purchase what he ne’er can taste?

My poem is about the waste of youth.

1. Know that springtime of a man’s life (9 syllables)

2. Never returns once ever passes by (10 syllables)

3. And all remorses that consume his heart (9 syllables)

4. Never forsake him from his mortal part (10 syllables)

5. Regret those times when he loses his faith (10 syllables)

6. Cry on those days when he all but wastes (10 syllables)

7.  His terminal days now that draw near (9 syllables)

8. Filling his soul ever more with fear (9 syllables)

9. Wisdom of life that is never so strange (10 syllables)

10. Never trade youth for worthless exchanges (10 syllables)

I don' think it is a very good poem, except for rhyming every two consecutive line. I still have a lot to learn about English poetry. Most 17th-18th century prominent poets such as Ben Jonson, John Dunes, John Dryden, Alexander Pope, etc. all wrote their long narrative poems and shorter pieces in heroic couplet. This remains true when it comes to Dryden's translation of Virgil's works and Pope's English rendition of Homer's epics.