by Paul Rance

Created on: May 18, 2010

There are many forms of poetry, and not everyone who aspires to having poetry published will feel confident writing in all the poetic forms. You may like writing humorous verse, and find writing a limerick or clerihew (a shortened version of a limerick) quite easy and enjoyable. Writing a heartfelt sonnet, however, may be more taxing for you.

If you are comfortable with writing all forms of poetry, then you are in a much more fortunate position, and you will have an array of options regarding where you want to submit your poetry to. It is a good idea to try and go through as many poetry forms as you can - both in reading and writing, as you will at least give yourself a full idea on how large or small your scope will be.

You should NEVER submit any poetry to publishers - whether print or online - which you are not really happy with. For instance, if you feel that writing haikus is a weakness in your writing, and you send a badly written haiku to a publisher that specializes in that form, then you will be wasting their time and yours. Many poets will stretch themselves by writing and sending as much material as possible off to a diverse collection of publishers. But you should always be aware of quality control. Far better to expend time and energy on writing poetry, which you really believe is good, and thus standing a realistic chance of being accepted for publication.

So, how do you really tell what poetry form is within your compass? Firstly, eliminate any poetry form you don't really like writing. You may want to write an acrostic poem about someone you admire, but you may not enjoy the form. This may be because the form is new to you, so it is wise to go back to the poetry forms you don't enjoy working with, until you are fully satisfied that it's not for you. Secondly, look at the poetry forms you do like to work with, and, thirdly, look at the poetry forms that you enjoy, and are good at - it's the latter that should take up most of your attention, though don't neglect the other poetry forms you enjoy.

The bonus in becoming gifted in one or several poetry forms, is that when you have reached a certain level you can go back to other poetry forms, which you found to be too challenging initially. You'll then be surprised as to how much better equipped you are to tackle them.

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