How to write poetry?

How to write poetry?

Why write poetry?

First and foremost, why even write poetry? As I mention in my poem : Why Write? , you write to release your creative energy. You write to express yourself. And the written word is very powerful. You can write for yourself or you can write for the world. It is very important to keep this in mind, as it makes all the difference.

Writing is very therapeutic. You can declutter your mind and make sense of your thoughts through writing. Poetry specifically allows you to express yourself it in lesser words, than say a story or an article. I personally enjoy the mental health benefits of writing on a daily basis. It has been extremely therapeutic during the global pandemic.

Moreover, writing poetry will challenge you tremendously. It is an exercise for your mind that will enable to think outside the box and think creatively. You can also improve your hold of the language that you choose to write in. Poetry challenges you to look at the world in your own special way. 

My favorite part of writing is that once I'm done writing down something, I would have created something. Something that is a part of me. Something that is a product of mine, that I can call my own. 

Now let's move on to the good stuff. How to start writing poetry?

How to start writing poetry?

1. Choose a subject

After you sit down with your book and pen, you must choose your subject. And this is a difficult task for few, especially those who have made too many assumptions about what poetry should look like. So my first tip is to forget whatever you think poetry is. If you have assumed poetry must be extremely deep, dramatic, emotional, witty or fancy, then you must first, let those assumptions go. 

Now that you've done that, write whatever comes freely to you. It doesn't have to make sense or be coherent at first. You can develop the poem slowly later. Tune into your mind and focus on the thoughts that flow. Among these thoughts, you might find something you'd like to write about. On a blank sheet of paper, write down the subject. Then write down your associated thoughts.

For example, if it is raining outside and I get the idea to write a poem about rain, I will grab the nearest piece of paper and note down the word rain. Then I will ponder over the subject and write whatever comes to mind. If childhood memories of rain come to mind, I will write those down. So now my poem has a direction. It has a soul. My poem is going to be about rain and my childhood memories of rain. 

A tip here is to keep a diary of observations and thoughts. Whatever catches your eye or ear during the day, that stands out to you, note it down in a book. Just the idea. These ideas are to be developed later. You can keep building the poem slowly, revisiting ideas and adding points to it. 

You can draw inspiration from literally anywhere. I categorize my sources of inspiration into two - internal and external. You can draw inspiration from your own thoughts, experiences, emotions, and feelings. You can draw inspiration from anything in your own life. Or you can draw inspiration from the outside world.

You can draw inspiration from other people's thoughts,  experiences, emotions, and feelings. You can draw inspiration from nature, global phenomenon, society as a whole, different groups of people and their ideologies, religion, culture, politics, historical figures, historical events, animals etc. 

You can draw inspiration from music, movies, art, and books. You can even search aesthetic images or artwork on Pinterest, look at different images and if something catches your eye, or evokes emotions, you can write about that. You can also search for poetry prompts and use those if it really difficult to come up with a subject. Poetry prompts are tremendously helpful in building the skill of writing poetry

2. Choose a form

The ways of writing poetry are unlimited. You can choose to follow the "rules" or you can write in free verse. Free verse is poetry that doesn't follow the "rules". Free verse appeals to many due to its liberating nature. There are no constraints. You can choose to rhyme, or you can choose not to rhyme. It is up to you.

Types of poems :

 

Limerick : A humorous five-line poem with a rhyme scheme aabba

Sonnet : A poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line

Haiku : A Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world

Quatrain : A stanza of four lines, especially one having alternate rhymes

There are many more types, but you can pick any and start

If you want learn all this greater depth, you can click here.

3. Develop your poem

Find the message

Once you have the subject and form picked out, developing the poem is surprisingly easy. The important thing to remember is that initial rough drafts do not matter. You don't have to write beautiful sounding words right from line one. In fact, you first draft must be completely raw. Raw, naked thoughts from your mind. Exactly the way they were born in your head. No embellishments, no fancy words.

Write about the subject freely, in your own words. List down the various points. Once you have noted everything you want to write on the given subject matter, the next step is to find the message. Basically, answer the question, what is the point of this poem? In the example of the poem about rain, the point of the poem which is usually easily identifiable is to describe childhood memories associated with rain.

You will easily be able to find the point of the poem, when you read the points you have written down about the subject. The most common theme among all the points will be your message or central idea. Make a note of your central idea. Next, you can try to go a step further and see if you can come up with more ideas for your poem, with the central idea in mind. The message of the poem will help you structure the poem. Because, now you have a story to tell. 

Write the actual lines

Pretty self explanatory, now you start writing. Get creative, you now work on the language, imagery and other components of the poem. You can decide what words you'd like to use. What words would convey your message the best? You can choose if you want to keep the poem simple or make it complicated. You can choose to be dramatic with your wording or imagery. 

You can choose to be direct or indirect with your messaging. That is, you can make your poem mysterious by making your message no so obvious or you can do the opposite by being very honest & straightforward. You can write in the first person, the second person or the third person. You can change the perspective in any way you want. You can write from the perspective of animals or mother nature. See my poem Best of Both Worlds for example.

You can build a scene using imagery visually descriptive or figurative language. Describe the characters in your poem, if there are characters involved. Or you can describe the setting of the poem, if it exists. You can use metaphors, analogies, example to drive your point. See my poem April Mornings for example.

If you are stuck

The following are tips for when you get stuck in the middle while writing a poem and just can't seem to finish it. 

• If you are writing poems that rhyme and you can't seem to find rhyming words, you can try - https://www.rhymezone.com/. 

• If you can't seem to write the next line - you can use imagery. As I mentioned above, what this means is, you can describe the scene or the setting of your poem. 

Going back to the example of the poem about rain. Let's say I am having difficulty finishing the poem. I've already described my childhood memories and now I want to end the poem. I can do so by describing the rain outside my window that inspired the poem in the first place! I can write something like - "These memories flood my mind as water droplets race each other on my window".

• If you can't seem to write the next line - you can stop. You don't have to go on and on in a poem. You can choose when to stop and can wrap the poem once you feel you have delivered your message. Even if you have chosen to write a sonnet or a quatrain, you can change it to free verse and wrap up your poem in a meaningful manner. The beautiful part about poetry is that you actually can't do it wrong. 

After you've written your poem ...

After you've written your poem, you can choose to display it to the world, to your friends, family etc. or you can keep your poetry to yourself. There is no obligation to show your work. At the same time, do no fear to show your work. Do not judge your work yourself, though you must check obvious grammatical and spelling errors. In my opinion, your work is perfect, because it is a piece of you. 

Never assume that no one will like it. That is the worst assumption you can ever make. I can guarantee that your poem will have an impact on someone somewhere. At the very least, it will have an impact on you. Your unique thoughts and experiences are important. And if you wish for them to be expressed and displayed in the written word, it must be done without fear. You can also comment below and link your poems - I will definitely give them a read.

Sometimes there is a tendency to not like what you have written after you have written it. I find this to be a useless feeling that creeps up in many writers that deserves no merit or attention. Ignore this feeling because what you have written is a part of you. It is what makes you beautiful. Never delete it or throw it away. Keep it safe somewhere or publish it on a blog or social media.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article and I hope it encourages you to start writing poetry. Comment below if you want more tips on writing poetry or finding an audience for your poetry. And also check out my poetry at https://noctuaries.blogspot.com/search/label/Poetry