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Are you an aspiring poet?  Are you a published poet?  Are you just someone that likes to indulge your creative side and write poetry?  Do you like to read poetry? Or do you just love poetry?

Here are some useful and helpful writing hints to write more substantive and creative poems.

1. Know Your Goal

If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you get there? You need to know what you are trying to accomplish before you begin any project. Writing a poem is no exception. Before you begin, ask yourself what you want your poem to “do”. Do you want your poem to to describe an event in your life, protest a social injustice, or describe the beauty of nature? Once your know the goal of your poem, you can conform your writing to that goal. Take each main element in your poem and make it serve the main purpose of the poem.

2. Use Images

“BE A PAINTER IN WORDS,” says UWEC English professor emerita, poet, and song writer Peg Lauber. She says poetry should stimulate six senses: sight, hearing, smell,touch, taste and kinesiology (motion).

3. Avoid Clichés

Stephen Minot defines a cliché as: “A metaphor or simile that has become so familiar from overuse that the vehicle….no longer contributes any meaning whatever to the tenor. It provides neither the vividness of a fresh metaphor nor the strength of a single unmodified word…The word is also used to describe overused but nonmetaphorical expressions such as ‘tried and true’ and ‘each and every” Three Genres: The Writing of Poetry, Fiction and Drama, 405).

Cliché also describes other overused literary elements. “Familiar plot patterns and stock characters are clichés on a big scale” (Minot 148). Clichés can be overused themes, character types, or plots. For example, the “Lone Ranger” cowboy is a cliché because it has been used so many times that people no longer find it original.

A work full of clichés is like a plate of old food: unappetizing.

Clichés work against original communication. People value creative talent. They want to see work that rises above the norm. When they see a work without clichés, they know the writer has worked his or her tail off, doing whatever it takes to be original. When they see a work full to the brim with clichés, they feel that the writer is not showing them anything above the ordinary. (In case you hadn’t noticed, this paragraph is chock full of clichés… I’ll bet you were bored to tears.)

Clichés dull meaning. Because clichéd writing sounds so familiar, people can complete finish whole lines without even reading them. If they don’t bother to read your poem, they certainly won’t stop to think about it. If they do not stop to think about your poem, they will never encounter the deeper meanings that mark the work of an accomplished poet.

4. Avoid Sentimentality

Sentimentality is “dominated by a blunt appeal to the emotions of pity and love…Popular subjects are puppies, grandparents, and young lovers” (Minot 416). “When readers have the feeling that emotions like rage or indignation have been pushed artificially for their own sake, they will not take the poem seriously” (132).

Minot says that the problem with sentimentality is that it detracts from the literary quality of your work (416). If your poetry is mushy or teary-eyed, your readers may openly rebel against your effort to invoke emotional response in them. If that happens, they will stop thinking about the issues you want to raise, and will instead spend their energy trying to control their own gag reflex.

5. Communicate theme

Poetry always has a theme. Theme is not just a topic, but an idea with an opinion.

Topic: “The Vietnam War”

This is not a theme. It is only a subject. It is just an event. There are no ideas, opinions, or statements about life or of wisdom contained in this sentence.

Theme: “History shows that despite our claims to be peace-loving, unfortunately each person secretly dreams of gaining glory through conflict.” 

This is a theme. It is not just an event, but a statement about an event. It shows what the poet thinks about the event. The poet strives to show the reader his/her theme during the entire poem, making use of literary techniques.

Love reading poems? You can also visit OriginalPoetry.com-the meeting place for poets, and for people that enjoy reading poetry. Where they can share they’re original works with other people, and get constructive feedback.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Composition, Goals, Language, Lyrics, Poetry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.