Although my high school creative writing class sparked my interest in incorporating poetic devices into my writing, I was never particularly interested in writing poetry until this summer. This is partially because I’ve always doubted my ability to write good poems, and I’ve always been more interested in other forms of creative writing. However, these past few months, I’ve taken it upon myself to practice my writing by experimenting with different forms of poetry. Even though I would still consider myself a novice who has much to learn, here are a few tips and tricks that have helped me improve in writing poetry!
1. Consume, consume, consume
When I say that you should consume lots of poetry before you begin writing it, I mean it. Many believe that poetry should look and sound a certain way, but this is certainly not the case. Having a rigid point of view will hinder your ability to find your voice, which is why I highly recommend consuming poetry of all different forms before you begin writing. Here are some of my recommendations:
“Elegy in Joy” by Muriel Rukeyser
“An Almost Made Up Poem” by Charles Bukowski
“Corsons Inlet” by A.R. Ammons
I also recommend listening to poetry readings! Hearing poems being read out loud will give you a better sense of how words should flow when put together. Here are a few poetry readings I recommend checking out:
“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas
“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe (read by Christopher Lee)
2. Write what you know
What I mean by this is that everybody has a unique perspective on everything that goes on around us, and you should use this to your advantage. In my opinion, you shouldn’t have to “try” when writing poetry. If you are trying, then your words do not come from the heart. Instead, what you should be doing is writing about your everyday experiences, internal thoughts, and surroundings. A great example of a poet whose entire body of work encapsulates his life is Charles Bukowski.
Remember, your poem shouldn’t be “deep” for the sake of sounding deep. If you don’t believe that the sound of a wave crashing should signify that you are in a state of turmoil, or are madly in love with your best friend of four years, then don’t write about it! There’s nothing wrong with writing about surface-level topics, and it’s okay to say what you mean without worrying about complex metaphors.
3. Don’t try to sound too fancy
A problem you may run into is that you attempt to use refined words in your poems if you believe this is how poetry is meant to be written. While there is no problem with considering your thesaurus to be your best friend, it’s important to remember why we believe poems should sound eloquent or fancy. This is because many of the poems we were assigned to read in our classes were written decades or centuries ago, by poets who are no longer living. While the language used in these poems sounds esoteric to us, this was the normal way of writing back then. Instead, write using words you are comfortable using, and don’t worry about sounding inadequate.
4. emotion vs. storytelling
This is an aspect of poetry that I initially struggled with. When you’re writing a poem, it’s important to remember that your primary goal is to invoke emotion in your audience, as opposed to telling a story. However, that’s not to say that storytelling shouldn’t be important if you want your poem to have a narrative. You can incorporate storytelling devices into your poem, but your main priority should always be focusing on expressions and adding figurative language.
5. Avoid using clichés
While it’s important to incorporate metaphors and other figurative language into your poems, it can be easy to start using clichés if you aren’t comfortable using poetic devices. If you catch yourself falling into this trap, I recommend asking yourself, “What are some other words I can use to elicit the same emotion in my readers?”
Though this does not come from a poem, one of my favorite metaphors is from Costanza Casati’s Babylonia. In the novel, the quote, “The hammer shatters glass but forges steel,” is repeated to emphasize its significance to the overarching story. This metaphor describes how many individuals are like glass, breaking easily with the strike of a hammer, but a select few forge under such pressure.
6. Read your poems out loud
If a poem reads well on paper, it will sound ten times better when spoken aloud. This is because it is much easier to visualize the imagery in a poem when you hear it, as opposed to when you read it. While you are reading your poem out loud, you should be making a note of how the words sound when put together, and how they will paint images into your readers’ heads.
7. Experiment with different styles
While many poets, like myself, tend to lean into certain poetic forms, beginners should experiment with different styles of poetry.
Here are some of my favorite poetic forms:
Ballad: A narrative poem characterized by its melodic rhyme scheme. While most have a rhyme scheme of ABCB divided into quatrains (four-line stanzas), some follow an ABAB pattern. These poems are typically either dramatic or somber in tone and vary in length.
Villanelle: Originating in France, a villanelle is a 19-line poem containing five three-line stanzas and a quatrain. The first and third lines of the first stanza are repeated at the end of each subsequent stanza. This repetition is used to emphasize an obsession, and this poetic form is used by those with an intense fixation. For an example of how a villanelle should be formatted, read “The House on the Hill” by Edwin Arlington Robinson.
Sonnet: A poetic form with many different variations, the two most common being the Petrarchan sonnet and the Shakespearean sonnet. The Petrarchan sonnet is divided into two stanzas, the first containing eight lines and the second containing six lines. In the first stanza, an argument or question is presented, with a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA. The second stanza is written as a response to said argument or question, rhyming CDCDCD or CDECDE. The Shakespearean sonnet is a poem composed in iambic pentameter containing three quatrains, concluding in a couplet. Its rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Haibun: Created by Matsuo Basho, this poetic form is a combination of prose and haiku. The poem begins with prose, describing a setting or scene, followed by a haiku. An example of a great haibun poem is Maureen Thorson’s “Time Traveler’s Haibun: 1989.”
Like many individuals, I initially perceived poetry to be repetitive, tedious, and difficult to understand. Even as I found my voice in writing, I refused to attempt writing poetry until a few months ago because the idea never interested me. However, reading short poems and novels in verse sparked my interest in the world of poetry, and now I cannot go a day without writing or editing a poem. So, if you need a new writing-related hobby, why not try your hand at poetry?