How to Write a Poem: Fundamentals of Poetry in Brief

Working on poetry is extremely creative and it implies having no rules in letting the emotions out, but at the same time, there are numerous rules aimed at organizing the ideas and presenting them to the poetry lovers and those who will assess the completed task. 

This creative venue will bring you joyful hours of work and a sense of creative achievement if you take some effort to nail this form of art and get an insight into its rules. Every artist is unique and it is tricky both to preserve the original sounding of the poem and to follow the common guidelines.

Tips for Writing Poetry: Benefits of a Knowledgeable Approach to Poems

Most probably you do not have the ambition to publish your poetry or to be a full-time poem writer. Still, you can get a lot of benefits from the practice of poetry writing.

1. You will master using solid imagery, practicing more. All poems are based on using images and you will develop your skills, making more and more attempts to create poems.
2. You will know how to make your language stronger and make your ideas sound impactful but concise. Wordiness is not about great poems. You will know how to use several words only to impress the readers and share your emotions. 
3. You will know how to write poetry and make connections between the emotions. Every poem is about what you feel, not what you do. 
4. You can earn with your skills as a poet! Becoming a professional poem writer, you can get some profit or even a full-time income. Apply for some poetry scholarship and you will have a brilliant start to this business affair.

You may be interested: Punctuation and Capitalization in Poetry

Making Outstanding Poetry: Key Rules

You will never find a universal set of rules for poets. There can be some tips on how to write poetry for beginners but in most cases, this is a creative activity that has no limitations. Still, even creativity should have a certain structure to be productive. If you want to get your poetry skills upgraded, just have a look at the hints we have prepared for you. If you want to start with your first poem only, our guidelines will also be very useful.

1. Extend your experience in the field of poetry. Read poetry as much as you can. Writing always starts with reading, and poetry is no exception. There is no need in reading the most sophisticated pieces with a hidden meaning and implications you cannot trace at all. It is enough just to do casual reading and letting the rhymed words go through you, giving you more and more theoretical background. Another way to get to know how to write a poem easily is to go deeper and get to the level of verse analysis. For instance, read a poem by Robert Frost and then find an allegory. Go on to a famous verse of Emily Dickinson and try to understand the symbols she is using. Get to the hidden layers in the poems of Edward Hirsch and then read the sonnets of William Shakespeare line by line, admiring what you see and hear if you read the poems aloud. Let the works of outstanding poets who deserved their fame flow through your soul fill you with emotions.  
2. Listen to how the poetry is recited live. You will invite the poetry into your life not as the academic assignments you find so much complicated that you start hating them, but as a musical and emotional experience. No need for the analysis of complicated poetic devices to classify them and differentiate between metonymy and alliteration. Attend the poetry slams and hear how the people in love with the poetry recite enthusiastically. See the crowds of fans who come to listen to poems in the coffeehouses and try to get to the bookstores with organized poetry readings. It is a perfect inspirational experience that can be entertaining and very instructive.  Try to listen to as many great poems as possible and you will then hear the rhythm and feel the beauty of the poetic lines. Discover how poem structures resonate with your feelings. Get an insight into the combinations of unstressed and stressed syllables, use of assonance, and alliteration. Feel the internal rhyme in the poems that will make you feel extremely sad and then study the clever line breaks which add to your happiness.  Listening to the enthusiasts of poetry, you will never get into the depth of poetic structures at once; first of all, you will enjoy the sound and feeling that you cannot stay indifferent to what you hear. Having learned a lot about how to write a poem, you will probably get an opportunity to read your own verses aloud and you should never lose this chance. Seize every moment of getting in touch with the poetry and you will see the beneficial impact of this brilliant kind of art!  
3. Do not get at big things first. Start with the small forms. It will be easier for you to master a haiku than to get into composing an epic. Your simple poem with easy rhymes will give you a sense of achievement, while a large form may only irritate you as you cannot handle it effectively yet. Give yourself some time. You are only entering an exciting world of making poems, so no haste! The number of lines you have composed cannot be compared to the quality and your sense of satisfaction. You will sound more confident and impressive with your free verse made of six or seven lines than with a sloppy epic. Do not get into any iambic pentameters until you feel that you can master some art forms at the advanced level. 
4. Disregard the first line. All professional instructions on how to write a poem step by step recommend leaving the first line for later and open the poem after you have at least some part written. Just keep writing and there will be a moment when you feel that you can get back and start what you have written in the most effective way. The opening does not play the most important role in your creative work. It is just one of the constituent parts and it does not deserve your utmost attention. It will distract you and you will not have sufficient energy to go on. Do not overestimate the value of the first line as it is a common mistake of all beginners. 
5. Get a rich toolset. Make use of a good dictionary of rhymes or a thesaurus. It is ok to use such reference books when you work on your poems. Even professional poets frequently do that to get some unexpected synonyms or covey the meaning in the most impressive manner.  
6. Tell a story. Use your great ideas that would be suitable even for a novel in your rhyme and you will be surprised to see that they fit.   
7. Use various literary devices to enhance your poems. Develop your skills by learning more about allegories, metaphors, imagery use, synecdoche, and so on. 
8. Go on to big ideas. Articulate great political, ecological, and philosophical concepts in precise language. You will see that a few words are enough to present a vivid philosophy. Play with words and ideas.
9. Do vocabulary painting. Your word choice has a huge meaning and you can do painting, figuratively drawing, and creating images in the mind of your audience. Poetry can be compared to visual art, and painting with written words can be even brighter than that with colors. 
10. Get to know all possible poetry forms to find your favorites. Learn the requirements for each of them in terms of a rhyme scheme, subject matter, meter, number of lines, and other unique features. Fancy them to be alternatives for grammar rules in prose which make the essay writing sound professional. Develop your versatility and try to master different poetry-related skills.
11. Establish connections with other poets. It can be done during poetry classes or readings in cafes. Join some artistic community and get the feedback of the poets on your verses. Encounter various poetic forms and see how inspiring they can be. Find a poetry group and listen to various poetry types with further discussions and analysis. Learn from others and gain your own experience. You need support, so try to look for it wherever you can. Develop a poetic state of mind and have sufficient enthusiasm for creativity.

Sound impressive in your poems by learning how to write a poem and use different writing techniques. Practice a lot! Find the verses you like and try to copy their structure just to gain more experience in poetry. Get unique content in poems of a similar style to your favorites. Do not wait until inspiration gets to your place! Look for it everywhere! Finally, do not forget that poetry experts can sometimes provide you some professional guidance at Essays-Panda.com.