How to Write Poetry

How to write poetry

In the following I want to share my experience as a writer with you in order to make starting to work with poetry easier.

Step1:The form

Poems consist of lines and stanzas. There is no “normal” scheme to stick to, but the most popular would be 4 lines in each stanza. You can, however, write the whole poem in one stanza or begin a new stanza each line.

The most important thing about changing the form is readability and relevance. You do not want to your poem to scare the potential reader into not reading it, so you best make it lucid. Relevance means, that content belonging together should normally be in the same stanza, although you can change it, to strike the reader giving him reason to think the step you took through in detail.

It can also be effective, to paint a picture with the help of the outer appearance. E.g. if you write a poem about love, make it look like a heart. Poetry structured like this always makes the reader smile, although you should not try hard to take this advice, as it only works for a few poems and is very restricting.

Step2:The subject

There are many themes a poem can cover. The most popular are naturally love and relationship, but your creativity should know no limits. You can write a politically influenced poem, or write about the beauty of nature.

When you found a nice subject to work on, there are many different ways. For me it works best to write a few lines about the subject before letting the inspiration take over. You do not need to have a plan, when writing a poem, but you can plan writing, if it suits your style.

Step3:Rhymes

I know, that rhymes are not mandatory for a good poem. Poems which do not rhyme or do not follow a certain rhyme-scheme can be just as effective as other poems. However, if you do choose to use a rhyme-scheme, I will now briefly mention their pros and cons.

aabb:

+ easy to remember, easy to write, suitable for beginners

-  not suitable for poetry on a high level, as it is too easy

abab:

+ sounds nice, not to shallow

- not as easy as aabb, might get boring

abba:

+ challenging, nice for love poems ( hug metaphoric )

-  very hard to write, difficult to read

abcb:

+ not as shallow as abab, stresses the last line

- not as easy as aabb

Step4:Stylistic devices

Stylistic devices are the most important thing in a poem. You have to know, how to construct metaphors, in order to make the poem worth reading. It can be helpful to start with a simile like “She is as beautiful as a rose” and change it into the metaphor “She is a rose” later. The difference being the fact, that with a metaphor the reader has to think about the symbolism of a word, which is not always obvious giving an individual note to the reading experience.

Another nice stylistic device for enhancing the poem is the repetition, which can be used to either structure the poem or break existing structures.

Other devices such as alliterations or assonances can be seen as a way of creating rhythm. I will not add a rhythm step to my text, as I believe it is something you just have to read your poem to yourself a few times for.

With this words my guide to your first poem shall end. I hope you leave some feedback or share the link with friends.