There are no established guidelines for poetry. Yet like with all creative writing, a little discipline might help you keep your ideas in check and get more done. Here are some recommendations for folks who want to improve their poetry writing. You can also think of this as a beginner’s handbook that will teach you the fundamentals and have you producing poetry in no time if you haven’t written a poem since high school.
1. Read a lot of poetry: Reading poetry is a good place to start if you wish to write it. By allowing the words of your favourite poetry to wash over you in a carefree manner without necessarily looking for deeper significance, you can accomplish this goal. Maybe you could conduct an analysis. Analyze an allegory in a poem by Robert Frost. Consider the underlying message of a poem by Edward Hirsch. Finding the symbolism in Emily Dickinson’s writings. Analyze a sonnet by William Shakespeare line by line. Simply allow the sentiment in each syllable of a Walt Whitman elegy to flow.
2. Attend live poetry readings: Consuming poetry need not be a cerebral exercise in categorizing literary strategies like alliteration and metonymy. It can even be melodic, like the first time you hear a poem’s crisp consonants read aloud during a poetry slam. Poetry readings are frequently held in bookstores and coffee shops, and they can be entertaining and educational for budding poets. You can appreciate the beauty of a poem’s structure by listening to the sounds it makes, such as the combination of stressed and unstressed syllables, alliteration, assonance, a well-placed internal rhyme, deft line breaks, and more. After hearing excellent poems read aloud, you won’t view the art form in the same way again. (If you ever have the chance to hear someone else read your own poem aloud, take it.)
3. Begin modestly: A basic rhyming poem or a short poem like a haiku could be easier to master than a narrative epic. A straightforward rhyming poem can serve as an approachable first poem. A clean seven-line free verse poem is more stunning than a messy, rambling epic of blank verse iambic pentameter, even though it probably took less time to write. Don’t confuse length with quality.
4. Use literary devices to improve the poetic style: Poetry can benefit from literary devices, just like any other style of writing. By using metaphor, allegory, synecdoche, metonymy, imagery, and other literary strategies in your poems, you can improve your poetry-writing abilities. In an unrhymed form like free verse, this can be rather simple, but in poetic forms with rigorous meter and rhyme rules, it can be more difficult.
5. Try using your poem to narrate a narrative: A poem can express many of the concepts that you might discuss in a book, a short tale, or an essay. A story poem, like T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” can be as long as a novella. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” conveys fear and threat in a similar way as other horror films. Poetry, like all kinds of English-language writing, is all about communication, so follow your inclinations if you wish to use your poems to tell little stories.
6. Make friends with other poets: Via poetry readings and maybe poetry writing seminars, poets can interact with one another. In an artistic setting, poets frequently share their work, read aloud their own poetry, and offer criticism on rough drafts. You might come across other styles of poetry through a community that is different from the kinds of poems you generally create but are nevertheless aesthetically inspiring. Join a poetry club so you may hear various forms of poetry, discuss the genre, write down fresh ideas, and gain inspiration from your peers’ writing. An encouraging group of people may assist you with idea generation, have an impact on your state of mind when creating, and share poetic exercises that may have benefited other group members.
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Writer:
Risalat Rahman Hridoy
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE