āPoetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.ā ā Rita Dove
It is apparent from the sheer variety of poetry volumes available at any local bookstore that there is no one way to write poetry. With this in mind, this post aims to myth-bust, and to pass on some top tips.
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āĀ In fact, some of the most influential poetical texts of all time, like The Odyssey and Paradise Lost, donāt rhyme (the author of the latter expresses his feelings on the matter in Paradise Lostās introduction).
āĀ There are plenty of successful poets who donāt always use a rhyme scheme in their poetry. Think Allen Ginsberg, T.S. Eliot, Emily Dickinson, e. e. cummingsā¦Ā
āĀ Contemporary writers and readers actually seem to favour a non-rhyming approach; Rupi Kaur, for example, recently won the Goodreads Choice Awards 2017 with her anthology The Sun and Her Flowers.
ā However, rhyming poetry isnāt necessarily āoutdatedā or ācheesyā, as it is often thought to be. Rhyming can really add to a poem by reflecting its content (especially when combined with other aspects of form and structure such as metre) ā would employing a strict rhyme scheme in a poem about marching soldiers, for example, reflect the structure of the army that the soldiers are a part of?
You write poetry to express your feelings.
āĀ This kind of poetry has been going on throughout time, but it is only one kind! Poetry can be written about pretty much anything - it totally depends on a personās motivation for writing poetry, and what they prefer to write about.
āĀ However, whether it is even possible to write a fully objective poem is a matter of debate; we are all very different, and it is perhaps one of literatureās wonders that my poem about a vase and your poem about the same vase would not be identical! What you choose to write about and how you choose to write it is, in a sense, an expression of yourself.
āĀ A common misconception, and not at all the case. To use but one example, Robert Frostās Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is a poem that uses no āfancyā language at all, but still has a great impact on a reader.
āĀ It is very interesting that many of the writers contemporary readers may think of as āfloweryā ā like Wordsworth ā actually advocate a very different style. This article explores the matter.
āĀ However, wanting to write or read poetry that is more āfloweryā is nothing to be embarrassed about ā it isnāt ācringeyā and it doesnāt mean the poetry is of no merit (think Keatsā elevated language).Ā Poetic diction is a massive and hugely complex debate, so feel free to join in!
Writing poetry requires little effort.
āĀ This is possibly the most prominent myth of all, and the one that I personally find the most fascinating. The idea that poetry is some sort of effortless imaginative outpour is only true to a degree. The poet Philip Larkin, for example, would go through many drafts, often not finishing a poem for years. Sometimes writing poetry is more like sculpting than effusion, requiring a lot of time and hard work. This is especially true when there is a rhyme scheme to consider, or a poetic metre.
āĀ However, some of the English Romantic poets tried to propagate this myth, rather than attempting to dispel it. My question to you ā why?
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Learn the rules (so you can break them).
ā Try writing a limerick, a ballad, an ode, a Petrarchan sonnet, a Shakespearean sonnet (see section on structure), a haikuā¦ found out the ones you like, find out the ones you donāt, find out theĀ ones you can bend and stretch. Play around with metre, play around with rhyme.Ā
ā Ā Far from acting as a fetter, learning literary rules and familiarising yourself with literary conventions can improve your poetry massively and eventually give you more freedom. To use a basic example, if you know that sonnets are generally love poems, then writing a sonnet about hatred enables you to toy with a readerās expectations. If you arenāt aware of such a convention, then one door leading to greater poetical impact is shut.
ā Explore every period and every style, absorb as much as you can, and practice emulating your favourite poetsā work whilst adding your own twist. This does not make you āunoriginalā; originality itself is a sort of fiction ā even Shakespeare āborrowedā lots of stuff (but built upon it!). Almost everyone is influenced by others, and many poets give little ānodsā to other poets in their work ā itās fine if you do this, too. And once you consider yourself an experienced poet (if there even is such a thing) remember that immatureĀ poets imitate; matureĀ poets steal*ā¦
*deliberately not quoting T.S. Eliot, who originally said this. Some knee-slap-worthy wit over here.
Experiment with allusions and references
ā Does including references to other texts/ mythology/ popular culture make your poetry better or worse? This is different for different poets; whilst one poet may think that drawing parallels between their lover and Aphrodite enhances their poetry, another would rather totally ditch mythological comparisons in their work.
Experiment with perspective.
ā Try writing poetry where the speaker is communicating to a reader before an event, during an event, after an event, where the speaker feels on the sidelines, where the speaker is in the midst of the action, where the speaker feels deeply and intensely, where the speaker barely feels anything, where there is no first-person speaker, where the poem is written in the second personā¦ This will help to develop versatility, and you can then see which perspective(s) you like best.
Tripartite structure is your friend.
ā Helpful when writing essays and fiction, as well as poetry. Basically: one thing = meh. Three things = yeah. If āI came, I saw, I conqueredā was just āI cameā, it wouldnāt quite have the same effect.
Make use of online resources.
ā Use online thesauruses. This does not mean you are a ābadā poet and you are not ācheatingā. You donāt learn new words until you read them and use them!
ā Okay, so this may be cheating, but try this if you enjoy writing rhyming poetry. Just saying.
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Thatās all for now. I hope this was helpful in some way, and if you have any questions at all, donāt hesitate to send an ask!
