Do your poems never seem to come out right, or perhaps you sometimes can’t think of a topic to write about, or you don’t know how to write poetry? Then help is here, my friend! In this essay, I’m going to give useful tips that will improve your poetry and give you a better understanding of it. But first, what is a poem?
A poem, in my words, is a group of sentences that are written in verse form and must have rhythm or rhyme. That’s what makes it unique, if it wasn’t for those 2 basic elements, a poem wouldn’t be a poem, but a group of sentences in verse form, like this:
The Cake
I made my first cake today
And I didn’t follow directions;
I put in 4 eggs when the recipe called for 6,
3 cups of flour when the recipe called for only one,
And instead of baking it for 30 minutes,
I left in for 45 and it came out burnt.
Pretty dull, huh? No rhythm or rhyme whatsoever. Now here’s what a real poem sounds like:
Delight Becomes Pictorial
Delight becomes pictorial
When viewed through pain,
More fair, because impossible
That any gain.
The mountain at a given distance
In amber lies;
Approached the amber flits a little,
And that’s the skies!
(by Emily Dickinson)
Much better. How many lines a poem has is called the stanza and there is no limit on how many stanzas a poem can have. A poem can be about anything, from politics to love, like the stanzas, there is no limit on what you can write.
Now that we’ve covered the poem, how do you write good poetry? For me, the best way is to write a poem that comes to mind, then edit it by throwing out lines that do not rhyme or make sense, or rewrite the poem if you’re still unsatisfied. Poewar.com has some wonderful ideas, such as: don’t explain everything, let the reader guess what you’re trying to say, a single line could make a good poem go bad. I highly suggest checking out their site for more writing tips. If you’re still unsure how your poem sounds, have it read by someone. Their ideas will help.
by Rulea
