Category: Nonfiction

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Coffee & Contemplation: 5 Things Writing Poetry Has Done for Me

I have written poetry for close to 18 years. That’s a long time to do anything. In that time, I’ve written about 500 poems. That’s a lot of poetry. Someone once said, “An artist has to draw 10,000 bad pictures before they start drawing good one.” This is true in writing as well. I wouldn’t call myself a master, but after years of study and practice, I know a thing or two. I want to share my knowledge with other writers and aspiring writers. I’ll start simple with what writing poetry has done for me.

1. Poetry Helped Me Heal

I didn’t express emotions as a child or young adult. This was a survival technique I developed. I didn’t talk about or deal with my emotions. I started writing poetry in high school. The more I wrote, the easier it was for me to express my emotions. After several years, I could talk about how I was feeling. If I’m struggling with something, or upset, I’ll write to help collect my thoughts and clear my mind. Poetry was my gateway to overcoming my childhood trauma. I’m still healing.

2. Poetry Is My Hobby

I only get bored when I’m not writing or working on a project. It’s my favorite thing to do and it keeps me busy. I enjoy learning about new types or poetry, or new ways to present poetry to potential audiences. There are a lot of cool things happening from the Poetry Society of New York. I also plan to share my hobby with others to help them strengthen their own writing.

3. Poetry Improved My Writing

I write fiction and nonfiction as well as poetry. My writing in these areas has improved because I started with poetry. Writing poems with certain restrictions (rhyme schemes, meter, etc…) required me to find different ways to say similar things. This increased my vocabulary and even how I speak. It makes writing metaphors and similes easier as well.

4. Poetry Helped Me Appreciate Different Perspectives

One thing I like to explore with poetry is point of view. I play around sometimes with who is speaking in a poem. I once wrote a poem from the perspective of a building looking down on humans. I find myself having less trouble looking at things from somewhere other than my own eyes. I try to argue less and learn more about someone else’s viewpoint. Seeing things from the eyes of others makes me a better human being. I can cultivate that through writing poetry.

5. Poetry Strengthened My Creative Expression

After almost two decades, I am a strong writer. I stopped writing poetry for a while believing that chapter in my life was over. Through inspiration from a close friend, I started writing poetry again and that’s when I found my voice. That’s when I decided writing was my life purpose and I needed to find more ways to write. I also have branched out to photography, another type of storytelling. I don’t think I can live without creating something every day.

Many of the people I’ve met either like poetry or they don’t. There is no in-between. Poetry is not for everyone. If you’re reading this, I’ll bet that you enjoy writing and reading poetry. Don’t expect overnight success. Most poets don’t reach fame in their lifetime. And many more never earn a living with their poetry. I write poetry for myself. And I enjoy sharing it with others. I hope this inspires someone to write more poetry. I imagine a kid trying to learn how to see the world as I had. Good luck in your writing endeavors.

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The Elements of Poetry Part 2: Rhyme

For week two of National Poetry Month, April, I will continue my brief introductions to the four elements of poetry. These four elements are Prosody, Rhyme, Form, and Diction. The second in the four-part series I will discuss on the elements of poetry is Rhyme. A poem need not rhyme but the use of this element can enhance the goals of the writer. The lyrics of many songs rhyme adding a sing-song effect to the rhythm of the lyrics or poem. There are a few ways one can create repetitive patterns of sound in poetry that most people are not aware.

Rhyme is most often identical sounds or similar sounds placed at the end of lines. Identical sounds called hard-rhymes (true, blue) and similar sounds called soft-rhymes (hate, fake). These hard and soft-rhymes can occur in the middle of lines depending on the effect the writer wants. Another type of repetition of sound is alliteration. Alliteration is the repetition of letters or letter sounds at the beginning of two or more words (Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers). Assonance and Consonance are other ways to create repetitive patterns of sound.

Assonance is the use of similar vowel sounds within a word as opposed to the beginning or end of a word (go slow over the road). Consonance is the repetition of a consonant sound throughout a sentence without putting it at the beginning of words (some mammals are clammy). Rhyme schemes are a structured way of using repetitive patterns. Labeled as “aabb” where the first two lines of a poem rhyme and the following two rhyme. But the four lines do not use the same rhyme sound. Classic structured form poetry uses rhyme schemes more than contemporary poetry. 

I recommend writers play around with different patterns of sound in their poetry. It develops the mastery of language. This device can benefit writing prose as well but only when used in small amounts. Repetitions of sound in poetry are most effective with spoken word poetry.

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The Elements of Poetry Part 1: Prosody

Over the course of April, National Poetry Month, I will give brief introductions to the four elements of poetry. These four elements are Prosody, Rhyme, Form, and Diction. An extensive study of each of these could take several weeks. I am only offering an introduction. The first in the four-part series I will discuss on the elements of poetry is Prosody. Prosody is a fancy word referring to the study of meter, rhythm, and intonation of poetry. This element has the most to offer to study. I would argue it is also the most difficult to master.

Rhythm

Rhythm refers to how the words in a poem flow when read. Every language of the world has its own rhythm when spoken. These rhythms alter between different languages. For example, English is a stress-timed language whereas Spanish is a syllable-timed language. The rhythm of a poem written in English depends on when syllables receive emphasis or not. Beats or feet refer to the combination of stressed and unstressed syllables. Contemporary poetry often does not use structured rhythm. The choice of rhythm, even not having one, is something one should consider when devising a new poem. There are six types of metrical feet. The first four are the most common in poetry.

  • iamb – one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (e.g. des-cribe, in-clude, re-tract)
  • trochee—one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (e.g. pic-ture, flow-er)
  • dactyl – one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (e.g. an-no-tate, sim-i-lar)
  • anapest—two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (e.g. com-pre-hend)
  • spondee—two stressed syllables together (e.g. heartbeat, four-teen)
  • pyrrhic—two unstressed syllables together (rare, usually used to end dactylic hexameter)

Meter

Meter determines the length of a line of poetry with a predetermined rhythm. The popular meter used by William Shakespeare, “iambic pentameter” means a line of poetry has five feet where each foot is an iamb. Tetrameter is a line with four feet and hexameter is a line with six feet. Here are some common meters used in poetry.

  • Monometer – one foot per line
  • Dimeter – two feet per line
  • Trimeter – three feet per line
  • Tetrameter – four feet per line
  • Pentameter – five feet per line
  • Hexameter – six feet per line

When choosing to write a poem with a structured rhythm and meter, it is important to decide them first. Choosing how many syllables per line and the rhythm of these syllables beforehand makes writing the poem easier. This is challenging because some words change their meaning if different syllables become stressed. For example, the word contest. CON-test refers to a competition. But, con-TEST refers to making an opposition to something someone said. Structured rhythm and meter in poetry requires more time and effort for the writer. Some do not feel creative with these restrictions. Whereas others feel more creative when given restrictions. Everyone should write how they wish. What’s important is to keep writing.