Examining The Rules, Then Breaking Them Down With Humor And Emotion

Connecticut Poet Laureate Dick Allen is considered a "New Formalist."

The old formalists stuck to strict rules when it came to poetry, adhering to stanza lengths and rhyme and meter, until all the rules were broken.

As a new formalist, Allen goes back to the rules and examines them, breaks them down with humor and emotion, with the inclusion of pop commercial jingles that evoke a distinct rhythm or a subtle slap to both nature and technology.

Allen has been published in the most respected poetry outlets in the world and has won a number of awards such as the Pushcart, the Robert Frost Award and others.

The poet laureate for the next four years charged by the state with bringing renewed interest to the art of poetry, Allen recited a few of his pieces at the Ridgefield Library Thursday night.