Writing Poetry: Resources?

[Chessie]

Do any of you here write poetry or toy with it ocassionally? I'd like to create short poems to slide in between chapters for a WIP and need all the help I can get. I'm not good with poetry but I really love this idea and am ready to suffer for it lol. If anyone has resources or tips they've found useful for this I'd super appreciate it!

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I have written...some poetry. All I can really say is to read lots of it and figure out what you really really like in poetry because honestly it's so varied. narrowing things down is the first step. Do you like a lot of structure or almost no structure? Rhyming or no rhyming? Do you like strong imagery or the music of the words themselves more? Then you can search for advice in more specific terms.

 

[Ireth]

I also write poems on occasion, and I agree with Dragon.

 

[FifthView]

If you are ready to suffer for it....heh, well, it probably will require suffering, so that's good.

I studied poetry informally for about a decade, and while I focused on the basics and many advanced areas and feel myself to be reasonably familiar with all I'd need to know, whenever I contemplate inserting poetry into fiction I'm suddenly filled with terror. A poem might be a smallish thing, but the moment you highlight it by placing it so prominently, all eyes will be focused on it. And its goodness or badness will affect reader appreciation of the whole work.

I don't want to dissuade you. I think it's a great idea. But as Dragon mentioned, poetry is so varied, has so many different approaches, it's not something that can be mastered quickly or easily if quality is a major concern. (I speak from experience. Having the basics and understanding even the advanced elements/considerations....well, that's no guarantee of quality in the final product. There still comes the necessity of distilling ideas, themes, and so forth into a compact form—and this is where the rubber meets the road.)

For resources, I'd recommend the Eratosphere poetry forum. I spent years on the forum and learned a great deal from interactions with the many members. (Plenty have published and, well, basically devoted their lives to poetry.) I haven't participated for quite some time, so I don't know the current ebb and flow of the forum, although I just took a look-see and many of the names of those still posting are familiar and accomplished poets. The primary focus of Eratosphere has always been formalist poetry, but they also have an active non-metrical board.

As for books, I can't recommend Derek Attridge's Poetic Rhythm: An Introduction highly enough. I mentioned it in a thread I started on micro-tension. This book is a bit of getting into the weeds, but it offers the best consideration of poetic rhythms that exists, in my opinion. Much of the focus is on metrical poetry, but other aspects are as useful for writing non-metrical poetry and prose. The meter/rhythm interacts and intersects with ideas, phrases, and so forth; i.e., arrangement is key for great poetry.

 

[Chessie]

Fifthview, those resources are precisely what I need thank you. I'm not looking for the poem to be perfect. No book ever is so I don't worry about those things. I just want to learn the basics of poetry structure and then create poems that are probably 4 lines long max to go with the chapters. Some will be worldbuilding in a way (like lore poetry, that sort of thing). I'm definitely checking out these links!!

 

[Tandrel]

Hihi, I feel I'm on the other side of the spectrum here, there's nothing that comes easier for me than writing the poems (writing a long conversation feels way harder!)

It sounds like a beautiful idea to have lore poetry for your world, I do the same for my world and it's such a wonderful journey. I've written hundreds and yet hundreds of poems the past years and my advice would be to read and look for poems that capture your heart. Poems you want to carry with you for the rest of your life. Those are the best source of inspiration for your own poetry!

Let me know if you want me to send some of my lore poetry or the more personal poems and best of luck with your poetry

 

[Chessie]

Let me know if you want me to send some of my lore poetry or the more personal poems and best of luck with your poetry

Thank you, I would love this! One as an example would be great although I have a pretty good idea of what I'd like to do.

 

[Tandrel]

Here's one from a burial ceremony with the Riddlers or Van'dri people. It says a little bit about their world view


That which wasn't born
Now will be into earth thrown

A part of us have parted ways
A part of us no longer count their days

A part of us rest in the unknown
A part of us remain here a little longer

Neither bow nor prayer can bring her back from her tomb
Just like a child arrived
Can never return to the womb

Cherished are her memories
Rotten are her arteries

Her legacy was not in vain
And her essence stayed the same
Free from pain
But also free from anything gained

Because in the end
It all became the same

We shall soon follow
Maybe not today
Maybe tomorrow

and here's one from the Temple

Born from dust and dirt
All of us will return to earth
Living at the mercy of the running stream
Alive only by blood in the unseen
So in the fire, so in the rain
The winds within, release me from pain