Writing a poem is a great way to exercise your Creative Writing muscles and display your work. But if you want to make sure that your poems are ready to use, you need to consider several things. First, make sure that you’re writing the ‘right’ sort of poem. Then, once you’ve got that down, work on polishing and refining your poem until it’s ready to deploy. It’s a lot of work but, as with all good things, it’s worth it in the end. Keep reading for some helpful tips on getting started or continuing with your poem-writing practice.
Know What To Write
This is a question that you’ll have to ask yourself and, maybe, a little bit of help from your creative writing teacher or mentor. When you’re first starting out, it can be a bit tricky to know what to write about. It’s almost like swimming in the ocean without a map or guide. You might feel inspired by a particular topic but, without guidance, you might not exactly know how to approach it. It’s worth taking some time to explore what your creative writing teacher or mentor would say about this issue. Once you’ve got a feel for what sorts of poems they like and don’t like, and how you can incorporate that into your own work, the writing will flow easier.
The Mechanics Of Writing
As a beginner, you might not yet be familiar with the mechanics of writing poetry. Maybe you’ve got a good idea of how a novel or story works but, with poems, there’s a bit more going on under the hood. For instance, the form that you choose will determine a lot about the way your poem is structured and how you should approach composition. Let’s dive into a little more detail about the form of a poem.
Traditional poems, such as those found in books of poetry, are composed of lines of verse – typically in iambic pentameter. The lines usually have six syllables and are grouped into ‘stanzas’ with three stresses on the first word of each line. (A stress is a short burst of sound, like a short little burst when you say ‘breathe’ – you get the idea.) The form is easy to learn and remember if you’re ever presented with a challenge to write one. It also makes the writing process much more organized. When you have a clear idea of what the form should look like, you can easily determine the number of syllables in each line and how many stresses each line should have. As a beginner, you might find it helpful to commit these sorts of things to memory. In the end, traditional poems are usually much shorter than modern poems, which are composed in free verse. This is primarily because most people found the form more convenient to use when writing about a specific topic. For example, most of William Wordsworth’s poems are in iambic pentameter and they deal with the natural world and its elements – often featuring the Lake District in the Lake District of England as a setting. (If you’re interested, you can find a complete list of his works on the Perseus Digital Library website.)
How To Improve Your Poetry
While you might not feel that your poetry is very bad, without a doubt, it could be better. This is a good thing because it means you’re not done yet. The only thing that might stop you from improving, is if you feel that you’re unable to write poetry at all. For those who feel this way, what they need to do is to find out what is stopping them and fix it. Sometimes, this means venting to a supportive listener or reading a book that encourages them to keep writing. (Try telling yourself that you’re doing this for your own good. It can be helpful in motivating you to keep going.) In other instances, it might mean that they need to take a class or join a writing group. (Doing so can help them find support when needed.) You don’t need to do any of these things to write good poetry. What you need to do is to put in the work and keep on trying. You’ll eventually get there.
Above all else, keep trying. We can never understand – or appreciate – what a wonderful poem is, until we’ve tried to write one ourselves. It takes time to learn the craft and, even then, it’s something that you’ll continue to improve upon. Keep getting inspired and, eventually, you’ll create something that will become a memorable piece of art. Then, you can sit back and feel proud of what you’ve accomplished.