How to write good poems.

[Super Fantasy]

Post your strategy when writing good poetry.
Elaborate on the factors that you use in poetry, such as themes and ambience.
How does the name of the poem relate to the content?
How does each line relate to the previous or the next?
How do the words that rhyme relate to each other and the content of the poem?

As for me, I enjoy writing poems.
As for factors, themes and ambience, I often choose something unique and or interesting.
Choosing a good name is important, choose a name that relates to all parts of your poem.
Or choose a name for the poem that resonates.
Each line must be important, try to make each line relate the next.
Rhymes can be made to relate to each other, or perhaps to the content of the poem when combined.
I use these strategies and they seem to work well.

Writing resources.

How to Write a Poem, Step-by-Step: Examples and Analysis | Writers.com

What is poetry? This article covers everything you need to write a poem step by step, including the elements of poetry and writing methods.

writers.com

 

[Incanus]

Well, I don't have an answer as to how to write GOOD poetry. I've dabbled a little with poems and songs, but not enough to get really good at it.

I'll take a look at that link a little later, if I can---

One thing I sometimes try to do is to use the title and opening to suggest a certain topic, but then pull a fast one and alter the meaning of it all. Here's something written in free verse I did probably 7 or 8 years ago that is an example of that. It's pretty short.



GARBAGE


Garbage
Everywhere junk
Piles in front of me
And piles in the distance

But this garbage is new
Unopened
Shrink-wrapped
And displayed in towering stacks

This garbage thrives and multiplies
Forming a ponderous maze
Even as I seek a way out
It grows larger and reshapes itself

I crawl forth, but in vain

Will the mess ever get cleaned up?

 

[pmmg]

Generally, when I am writing poetry, I am writing it for a less than serious work. Sometimes, I write poem as a way to bring in a puzzle into a story. But Poetry is not my thing. While I feel I have a good understanding of what poems are supposed to be, I don't often go after writing something that is meant to strongly evoke things in others (in poetry form).

Given your strong interest in Poetry, I wonder if you would not find a more kindred crowd on a site more dedicated to poetry.

Here is one below:
https://allpoetry.com/

In direct answer to your questions:

Post your strategy when writing good poetry.

Since poetry itself is a work of art, I go through a process like:

Having something I want to say, and a reason for saying it
Deciding on the form
Getting it written
Going back and addressing issues of rhyme and rhythm
Reaching for the stars a little in word choices.
And done.

Elaborate on the factors that you use in poetry, such as themes and ambience.

I think I would have to write more poetry to have an answer to this. Since most of my poems are meant to be fun and playful, I guess fun.

How does the name of the poem relate to the content?

Naming a poem for me comes from the same place names for other story elements come from. I just pick what seems to capture its essence the best. (Or fret over it again and again if I cant find the right one).


How does each line relate to the previous or the next?

I like to have a logical flow, and have it all relate. There is usually a narrative that runs through it as well.


How do the words that rhyme relate to each other and the content of the poem?

Well, that's kind of the whole game. Does it rhyme, does it fit in the rhythm, does it relate, and does it evoke? I'd say, I aim for this as much as possible, unless, for some reason, I am writing something more freeform.


Thanks for the Article. I think it is a good write up of my general understanding.

 

[Deleted member 10844]

I don't know how to write good poems, yet I've won some poetry contests. Sometimes when I thought my poem was good, no one liked it. Other times I thought it garbage and it won. I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to poetry, but tying too hard to use a formula can go wrong sometimes.

Ropes lie torn in utter shreds
By sharp claws of grand intent
Musings freed of binding threads
E'er delectable as they went
​

 

[Super Fantasy]

Create a unique rhyme structure with a interesting poetic theme, make each line of the poem represent the others.

 

[Super Fantasy]

Choose a juicy topic, such as your favorite juice.

 

[Karlin]

The few bits of poetry I've written have been deliberate imitations of certain styles. Either classic Chinese poetry (as best as I can manage, not knowing Chinese), or, in one odd case, a rewriting of part of the epic of Gilgamesh, to include Monkey

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I studied English Lit and read way too much poetry, and still, this is my favorite poem ever:

I have a buddy
my buddy is a toad
he is kind of muddy
and flat on the road.

But he is my buddy, my buddy to stay,
until he dries up and blows away.

—Garfield the Cat

So! I might not be the best person to ask. I've had that memorized since high school. Don't ask me to quote another poem in its entirety—except, of course, this winner that I wrote in 10 seconds in high school because I forgot to write the assignment.

Man kills; hell fills.

 

[Jackarandajam]

Then the young ones, eager still,
Kept their places ‘round, until
The Hag, who tended mead and fire,
Spoke again, to their desire,
By telling hidden ways to see
The way the world, tho’ subtle, be:

“This is how the Heaven's show,
What e’er they, ever watching, know
From high above, what friend or foe,
Has chance to greet you here below.

Sun and stars for common men,
Lord and child, or kith and kin.

Gentle rain for those in want,
Those in love, and those in thought.

Cruelest winds bring wand'ring souls;
In from elsewhere, quick to go.

Of clouded day or night, beware;
Those that hunt find darkness fair.

Stay near to hearth and fire, my child,
When moon is bright, or storm is wild;
By gods and gold, by blood and oak;
Leave storm and moon to stranger folk."

— The Book of Nilga, The Hag Dialogues, excerpt.

---

The working title of my book is "Stranger Folk." Depending on whether or not that remains the title, this bit may or may not stay in it.

 

[Jackarandajam]

The few bits of poetry I've written have been deliberate imitations of certain styles. Either classic Chinese poetry (as best as I can manage, not knowing Chinese), or, in one odd case, a rewriting of part of the epic of Gilgamesh, to include Monkey

The class does not tire of Sun Pilgrim. Don't hold back now.

 

[Super Fantasy]

Write your poem with twists and turns, and combine these twists and turns with a theme that compliments them.
Add a character for fun.
Make the characters personality blend in with the poem.

 

[Super Fantasy]

Choose a theoretical animal to write about.
This animal could be a tropical animal such as a tropical bird.
Or a desert animal such as a desert owl.
Perhaps your animal could be a bug such as a pink firefly.

 

[Super Fantasy]

Vanara birds.
Vanara birds are the color black.
And these birds nest together, with two couples in the same nest.
Perhaps to space, not time, these birds stood the test.
Although the couples don't cheat, in love they do repeat.

 

[knoksen]

I translate old folklore, Norse mythology, Blackbooks, Saga, Sogn and other older Norwegian history which inspires me, though I can't say it is any good:

Odins Messengers:

Torches light up the night
Downpour between mighty fir trees
The time was come for the ritual hunt
Alone he left his company
Fulfilling the Norse pact
Body full of the Valkyries mead
He shall bestow the beast its death

In the grove he stood face to face
With a dark and seething beast
The teeth told of his demise
Though he knew his time wasn't out
The Axe of death hewed quickly
Bear-blood flowed everywhere
He flayed for fur and armed himself with its life-force

Body full of psilocybin
With dark intent
Without chain-mail, bare in bear-skin
Made into a beast with wolf-mind

They sank fangs into their shields
Foes with hands folded
The army knew not what hit them
When they were expedited to Helheim

A bloody sacrifice to our all-knowing god
Bestial berserkers in wolf and bear-skin
They were Odins messengers

 

[Ban]

Each poem is its own entity and requires its own considerations, but in general I follow the concept of:

Strong rhymes
Strong symbolism
Strong meaning

If one of these can't be satisfied due to the nature of the poem, you need to double down on the others. That's the fault I find in a lot of free verse. The writer is quick to dismiss the value of a solid rhyme scheme and meter, but does not compensate by reinforcing the symbolism and meaning.

 

[Finchbearer]

See I do not place importance on rhyme. Sometimes this can force the poem too much I think.

 

[Ban]

See I do not place importance on rhyme. Sometimes this can force the poem too much I think.

I reckon a lot of readers and writers of (especially modern) poetry share that mentality, but for myself, I appreciate the skill required in fitting a narrative, setting and message within the confines of a clear scheme. I find that there is an admirable restraint there. Then again, my own collection features plenty of looser verse in it. Certain imagery or themes can benefit from a more free approach, but even there I personally expect to find assonance, consonance and alliteration in abundance.

 

[Finchbearer]

Absolutely no expert on poetry but rhyming to me seems to be more a modern convention, while alliteration and iambic verse more traditional. Beowulf isn’t a rhyming poem to my knowledge. I like any poem that stirs my soul. I’m not so good at actually writing it.

 

[Ban]

Absolutely no expert on poetry but rhyming to me seems to be more a modern convention, while alliteration and iambic verse more traditional. Beowulf isn’t a rhyming poem to my knowledge. I like any poem that stirs my soul. I’m not so good at actually writing it.

My fault, I wasn't precise with my usage of "modern." In this context I used "modern" to refer to the mid-to-late 20th and 21st century, though you're right that modernity is a broad term that in less colloquial terms starts far earlier than what I meant (say the early industrial age). In that case my statement is simply strange, for the 18th and 19th century were the heyday of strict, ordered and structured poetry here in Western and Northern Europe. That's the modernity I enjoy most.

As for the past, Beowulf is indeed alliterative alike most Old Germanic poetry, but it's not quite true to say poetry schemes aren't traditional, for the Romans were rigid with their meters and verses. There was less emphasis on rhyme, but structure and tempo were key. I should read more on this subject, but I imagine even in the midst of the middle ages Dutch and English poetry already took on Latin forms. I know that the earliest recorded writer in Dutch (a Limburger no less!) was Hendrik van Veldeke, and the poetry he left behind already used a typical rhyming scheme way back in the 12th century.

 

[Finchbearer]

Japanese poetry also doesn’t seem to place importance on rhyming. I like its simplicity and conceptual layers.

No, it’s not something I know much about at all, it’d be interesting to look into. 18-19C romanticism sometimes strays too far into frothery for me to have it hold enough meaning that anchors it down with a purpose beyond romantic.