by C.M. Tucker

Created on: February 05, 2007   Last Updated: December 10, 2011

Poetry is hard to define because there is more than one type of poetry and few people agree on where to draw the line between them. The majority of poems fall into the category of PERSONAL, in that they are not written for anyone but oneself.  Moreover, poems are rarely written by a person who has been trained or educated in this field.

In the very basic sense, a good poem written for consumption by other people and will evoke emotion, paint a picture and have a discernible rhythm or cadence.  Prose is very similar and is often confused with poetry.  In free verse, the line between poetry and prose is sometimes obscure.

It's extremely tempting to get cerebral in poetry. Painting a picture with words and evoking emotion are the keys to any good poetry. The cadence should usually occur on it's own. Cadence in poetry is like a guideline. If it's awkward or stilted, then it will hurt the delivery of the goal that the poem is attempting. 

Stilted language is usually some archaic use of one’s language.  Typically, we don’t say “Thy” anymore.  We say “your” instead.  Rhyming words don’t have to happen at the end of each line.  A poem doesn’t have to have a specific number of syllables in each line.  And they don’t have to be written in stanza form.  THAT said, some tools of the trade should still be used.

The tools of the trade, for example, can include alliteration, simile, metaphor, and/or random or repeating meter.  Meter.  Take the time to learn how to analyze poetry in order to write better poems.  analyze poetry.

When attempting to add emotion and a painted picture, ask these questions about your topic: What does it feel or look like? What is it doing? What does it mean? Does it roll off my tongue or trip me up, verbally? Does it take too many words to say this little bit?  Does it present a generic image or a specific one?

For example, instead of saying: “The grey skies...”  One might say: “The grey swirling skies....”  Or, “the skies seethe with morose perplexion”.  Depending on what is trying to be said, one might say, “the cold stone grey sky weeps”.  Or,  “the sky weeps valedictions for the dead”.  What sounds better when spoken?  What gives the most accurate picture of what is meant?

Great poetry usually isn’t written in the first draft.  Revisions are a fact of life with poetry.  Too much revision, however, can be just as bad.  Sometimes we have to start over with wholly new words.  Sometimes we have to pare it down to some key phrase and build out from there.  We can often, also, end up with a different meaning or image than what we set out for.  We have to recognize and adjust when that happens.

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