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How to Write Poetry In Fixed Form

Updated on May 26, 2011

What Makes One a Poet?

I'm going to wax poetical on this one and perhaps go overboard on the cheese.  There are two very simple concepts: To write a poem, 1) you must enjoy poetry and 2) you must be a poet.  It's not for just writing assignments so you can learn what styles, stanzas, rhyme schemes, verses, and syllables are. You learn what these are intimately any time that you begin writing a poem. It's not a special case of elitism poet club. When you write something that comes from you, your mind, and your heart, you're pretty much immediately qualified. ;)

I personally feel that any human being with feelings, thoughts, emotions, and observation skills will find that they have a song or a prose. The hardest part is getting them into words and making them flow. The easy part, for me personally, is finding the rhyme and the groove. I tend to let that shape the rhyme scheme to come and how long a stanza will be, which you can see in my poem 'When I Write Poetry'. Letting the shape come naturally usually becomes my signature writing style which varies slightly from time to time.

When I Write Poetry

When I think of poetry,
I think of the mountain’s face,
I think of the hill’s gentle grace,
And I think of the road’s fast race.
When I think of poetry,
I think of the birds dipping their wings in the sky,
I think of the cars roaring elegantly by,
And I think of the change slipping in without a cry.
When I think of poetry,
I think of the rhyme, I think of the implications,
I think of the verses’ quiet desperations,
And I think of the stanza’s manic creation.
When I think of poetry,
Sometimes all I have to do
Is turn around and look at you.
Then everything –
All the structures, all the rhymes,
All the solid pain of simple lines,
Take up the shape of your heart.

But How to Get Started?

Good question. Many writers and poets have many different ways of their own to get started on writing. I think my innermost beginning stage would be finding what mood I'm in or what's catching my eye right at that moment. Even better, I usually write about what's keeping my mind occupied at that moment. Poetry tends to be spontaneous for me and almost always a work in progress. I also have to have a rhyme scheme - it sounds musical to me that way and it's more fun to do. Often, you can pick out phrases or words that comes from what you want to write about to start with. With that, ideas follow. Never be afraid to change what you've initially put down.

Let's take my poem for example. I knew I was going to rhyme and I wanted it to rhyme in a simple fashion. This one occurred to me spontaneously during a car ride, but not quite in this form. The words and images came to me sporadically and the real work came from finding the right words to the right lines.

At that time, I was really thinking about the things I was experiencing; the view, the ride, and the changes I'd been going through. It was a subtle change in my life at first, but very obvious in hindsight. All this kind of formulated into thought patterns and I thought, "Hmm, this could very well be poem material". Sounds weird, I know. So, I started off with "I think of.." and putting to words the images that came to mind. It became a "when I think of poetry" subject. Ta-da.

Another way to get started is to enjoy other people's poetry.  I tend to remain fascinated by classical long-dead poets; Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, Poe, etc.  Their styles are so unique in how they put to use their old English language and set the mood for words they use.  The things they write about are just as unique too; flowers, death, society, self-perception, war, insanity, and time.  If you admire how your favorite poets do it, you can learn from them.



Poetry Writing

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Make It a Challenge!

Once you get into writing poetry with rhyme schemes, different stanza styles, and various things to write about, it's pretty easy to stay in your favorite writing style.

I find the most fun I have is understanding what other poetry categories there are and trying them out for a size.  I think it's inspiring to see your words in many different shapes and see what styles fit what you write about.

So, I'd say that's a good next step to being a poet; experimentation.  Once you realize the first steps of figuring out what you can go on poetic about, how many rhyme schemes you can use, and how you can write them, you're ready to challenge yourself as a poet and build upon your skills of writing by discovering fixed form of poem categories.  For example, haikus are very simple.  Sonnets are quite a bit harder.

Poetry Books - Reading and Writing

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