Making an Abstract Concrete

Ask them to choose an abstract noun – something which they can’t see or touch, but can feel – and to imagine it as a character. You might encourage them with the Woody Allen example based on Hostility: a gorilla loping through the woods towards his brother-in- law’s house after escaping two years’ confinement.

Abstracts which work well include Impatience, Fear, Pride, Loneliness, Insomnia and Guilt. Vices or Deadly Sins are useful (and it’s often instructive which of the Seven you can’t remember!).

Positives such as Joy, Love or Happiness should be approached with caution, as they tend to produce the cliché this exercise is designed to diffuse, though it depends on the individual writer.

Having clothed the abstract in flesh, place the creature or person. Where are they now? Where do they usually live? What are they wearing (describe colours and textures)? How do they move? Where are they going? What do they say?

Remember that the creature is the writer’s own invention, and may subvert expectations. Your Anger may be cool and quietly spoken, in shades and stonewashed denim. Your Shyness may be vicious behind a white helmet and a riot shield.

Provide an opportunity for the class to hear and experience some of the poems, then see what they’re left with: Animation/Envy if it’s good; Boredom if it’s predictable.

This exercise can easily be adapted or extended. Use as examples poems such as 'Poverty' by Simon Armitage, or 'Sloth', 'Bravado' or 'Silence' by Stephen Dobyns. Move from here into monologue poems, exploring how tone, tempo and lineation clarify the voice.

© Ann Sansom 

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