Tips For Writing Poetry Part 3

Here is Part 3...

StanzasThere are many ways you can set up a poem.  You have to pick the one that best suits your purposes.  It can be fun to think about how you will structure your poems.  Poems are made up of stanzas---the poetry equivalent of prose's paragraphs.  The size of the stanza is up to you.  Some stanzas will have four lines..  Some five or some six. Some can be fewer than four lines. Others can be more than six.  Again, it's all about what purpose you have for the poem. 

Once you decide how many lines per stanza your poem will have, you can now decide if the poem will be free verse (non-rhyming ) or if it will be rhyming.  If it will rhyming, you can determine which lines will rhyme.  If you have 4 lines in a stanza, you can either have the first and third lines rhyme only, or have the second and fourth lines rhyme only, or you can even combine both have the first and third lines rhyme AND the second and fourth lines rhyme.  There is really no limit on how you can rhyme the lines.  You can even consider having the first and fourth lines rhyme and the second and third lines rhyme as well.  Experiment...and see what works for you.  TitlesSometimes titles can be easy to come up with.  Sometimes not so much!  So how does one come up with a title for his or her poem?  First, read the poem and think about what the poem is saying.  Is there a single word or phrase that would sum up what the poem is about?  Second, do some brainstorming---write down possible title ideas.  If you want, let some of your friends and family members read your poem and ask them for their ideas of possible titles for your poem.  Look at the poem as a baby you have given birth to or as something you have built, and it is up to you to name it. 

Materials

So after reading all this material, you have decided that you want to write poetry!  Congrats!  So what should you write your poetry on?  There are a number of ways you can go with that!  First, if you want to do it the thrifty way,then go shop the back-to-school sales when they occur.  Target usually will sale packs of 10 wireless notebooks for very cheap!  So buy those and you will have plenty of notebooks you can write your poetry in. You even start a journal with one of those notebooks!

Second, if you want something a little bit more high quality, you can go purchase a journal.  You can find journals at a variety of places!  One place I have gone to go buy a journal at is at my local Christian bookstore.  Most Christian bookstores will have a section for stationary and the like. One online source for Christian journals is: Christian Book.com.  They have a wide selection of journals at cheap prices.  You can also find a variety of regular journals at amazon.com . 

I originally purchased my journal at my Christian bookstore several years ago for the original purpose of making it a prayer journal to God.  I wrote out two prayers in there which were over a year apart. After the 2nd prayer I wrote in there, I realize I much rather talk to God than write to God my prayers.  So after praying to God,  I decided that I wanted to use the journal as my poetry journal.  My goal was when it got filled up, I would try to publish it as a book.  In December 2009, I prayed to God that He would let me write poetry again. So on Dec. 28, 2009, I started writing my first poem  (Before then, last time I wrote a poem was YEARS ago).  Once I transfer the recent poems I have written to the journal, then it will be filled and perhaps then some....

Do you have any questions?  If so, feel free to leave it in the comment box below!

Tips For Writing Poetry Part 2

Here is part 2 of "Tips For Writing Poetry".

Feast and Famine

When writing poetry, don't be surprised to find that you have times of "feast" and of "famine".   


During feast, you will find that writing poems comes as natural to you as breathing in oxygen!  The ideas just keeps on coming!  Take advantage of this time!!!  Write down anything and everything that comes to you at first.  Don't over think it!  After you write it down, you will have time to go over it again and really think long and hard about if what you are writing down makes sense, says what you want it to say, flows together smoothly, has rhythm and rhyme, etc....

During famine, or as I call "writer's block", you will not be able to write anything down to save your lfe!  It doesn't matter how hard you try, nothing comes to mind!  Don't feel bad nor stress over this when it happens!  This is completely normal. There have been times in my life where I have gone months without writing a single word and then all of a sudden the ideas start coming again!  One thing to keep in mind is that you CANNOT force a poem to come out of you, if it isn't ready to come out.   Remember, whenever God wants you to write a poem, He will give you all the words and ideas that you need. 

Causes/Cures For Famine 

So if you are not coming up with anything, it could mean that God wants you to go do something else---like read a book, listen to music, visit a family member, take a walk, etc.... Just go do something that you enjoy doing.  Sometimes if you go and relax a little, you will find that the ideas will start coming again!  Usually an idea will come when you least expect it to.

 Or it could also mean that you haven't been plugging into God lately.  Recently, I was having some writer's block and after a few days, God caused me to realize that I had not been spending with Him in His word lately.  So that Sunday afternoon,  I took the time to listen to a great worship song by Margaret Becker called "Say The Name" (the song I described in an earlier blog).  And that evening, while at work, God inspired me again to write more poetry. 

One thing you can do when you start experiencing famine is you an perform a "brainstorming session".  Get a few sheets of paper and start writing down different topics you can write poems about.  You can even brainstorm different titles that you can make great poems out of.  I have often come up with a title first and then I would write the poem.

Keep in mind, it isn't uncommon that a poem takes days or longer to write. You may write down four lines one day, two the next, or you may go back to it after months away from it, and complete the poem then.  In my journal, I have had several poems that I partially started then after months sometimes a year, go back to it and finish it!  So don't sweat it if you only write part of it at first.  The rest will come at God's perfect timing.

Part 3 is coming next....

Tips For Writing Poetry Part 1

One of my friends asked if I would do a blog on writing poetry.  So here is Part 1!  DISCLAIMER: I don't consider myself an expert on writing poetry. But I do enjoy writing poetry, especially poetry that has a Christian message to it. (I've been writing poetry since I was a teenager  I stopped for a while and then started again on Dec. 28, 2009.)  It  brings me great joy when people are blessed by my poems! 

So here are some information regarding writing poetry:

Inspiration
Christian poetry ultimately comes from God! I have found that whenever God wants me to write a poem, He will give me the words.  If He doesn't, then he doesn't give me the words.  It really is simple as that!  So if you are struggling to write a poem, ask God to inspire you and He will in His perfect timing!

God can use any form and any method to inspire you to write a poem.  You may receive an idea for a poem while doing dishes, reading a book/magazine/blog/the Bible, while listening to music, while interacting with friends/family/strangers, while showering, and even yes, while using the bathroom!  God is not limited on where/how/when He will give you an idea for a poem.  So be open minded!

Types of Poems

According to an article by Gary Hess, there are 55 types of poems.  For sake of time, I will only go over two types covered in the article.  The two, in my opinion, major types of poems are "rhyming" and "free verse". 

A rhyming poem "has the repetition of the same or similar sounds of two or more rhyming words, often at the end of the line." These days, you can find this type of poem most prominently featured in songs on albums.  I personally enjoy reading and writing this type of poem, because it is very reader friendly.  I loves poems that rhyme and have a rhythm to it!  Rhyming poems are more song-friendly than free verse.

A free verse poem is a poem written "in either rhyme or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern."  I have found that most magazines such as Poetry Magazine features poems in "free verse".  The majority of free verse poems have no rhythm nor rhyme to them.  In my opinion, this is one of the most boring type of poems to write.  I never enjoy "reading" a poem that is free-verse.  If you are going to write free-verse type poem, you may as well write it in prose and in the form of an essay or even a journal entry. The mind-set in reading a poem and the mind-set in reading prose or a journal entry are different.  There are different expectations the reader has in reading each type of literature.
But if you want to be published in magazines such as "Poetry Magazine" then you may well benefit by writing free-verse.  But if you are going to publish your own poems online or in book form, you may find that your readers will enjoy it a lot more if your poems has rhythm and rhyme to it! 

Watch for part 2 tonight or Monday!  God bless!!!!