Let's Start at the Very Beginning

Welcome to Understanding and Exploring Poetry!

Because I use this blog to help explain poetry, it is best to read from the beginning. While each post explains a different aspect of poetry, lessons tend to build upon each other so I suggest going in order.

Table of Contents

Baby Steps

Seeing is Understanding

The Building Blocks

Caution: Advanced Learning Ahead!

Breaking it Down

If Music Be the Food of Love, Play on!

Types of Poetry

Lightning or Lightning Bugs?

Where to Begin

Making a Poem "Tight"

Great Poetry Sites

To access any of these posts simply click on the title and you will be redirected. Thank you for visiting!

Great Poetry Sites

Here is a list of excellent poetry websites to explore!

Poetry Daily

Poetry 180

Poetry Library

Poetry Foundation

Poetry Out Loud


Or you can check out the Poetry Foundation's extensive list of poetry-related websites!


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Making a Poem "Tight"

So you've written a poem but it still needs some revision...why don't you try these steps:

* Show don't tell. You have probably heard this before and will hear it again. Good poets "show" you something, they don't just tell you about it.

* Does the poem use any of the five senses? When you read a good poem you should be able to see the object, taste it, smell it, feel it.

* Are you using concrete words or abstract word? Circle all words that might be vague or unclear and replace them with stronger concrete words.

* Remove all unnecessary words. Don't overwhelm your reader with nine adjectives, instead use one strong adjective. Get rid of all "the", "a", "of", "his" that aren't needed. Say "She sat near him" instead of "She sat near to him."

* Be creative! Good poems make you look at the world in ways you never noticed before. We've all heard love being described with clichés (burning, passionate, fiery), try something new ("You make my heart leap like salmon swimming upstream").

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Where to Begin

Many poets struggle with what to write. If you are one of those people that stares at the page for hours and doesn't know where to begin, try some of these poetry ideas to get you started.

Look around your room and create a List poem from items you see. A list poem is exactly what it sounds like, a poem that is made up of items you see (a yellow pair of socks with a hole in the shape of a heart, a postcard from Aunt Irene signed "stay skinny!", a smooth rock that smells like motor oil). A list poem can reveal volumes about the speaker without the pressure of "sounding poetic" (a trap many poets fall into).

Another great idea is to write an Epistle poem. Epistle means "letter." Write a letter to someone, dead or alive, telling them about a specific memory you have.

Try a Persona poem. A Persona poem is a poem you write as someone else; they can be famous, a friend, a stranger you've passed on the street. Try putting yourself in someone else's shoes and see what kind of poems they would write about.

Write a Found poem. A found poem is writing you find in everyday life, it can be an advertisement, a post-it note, a postcard; you just discover it and turn it into a poem.

Watch this funny video of Found Poems!




HERE are some other poetry exercises you can try!


When you first start writing poems it can be difficult to know where to begin but the first step is to just try. Don't worry about whether it is good or bad, give yourself permission to be terrible! If you worried about being a failure you might never start. But once you start, you can always go back and revise your poems to make them stronger.

The best advice for becoming a good writer is to be a good reader. Poets read poetry. Poets are inspired by the poetry of others, they read poems and think "how can I learn from this?" If you want to be a good poet you MUST read poetry.

Check out this website and see what poems inspire you!


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Lightning or Lightning Bugs?

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." - Mark Twain

Good poets slave over their poems trying to find the "right" word. Whether it is changing a word, switching the perspective of the poem, experimenting with the form, or moving sentences around; a good poet revises a poem numerous times before it is finally read.

Let's look at an example from Robert Frost and see if we can spot the difference between lightning and lightning bugs.

Here is Robert Frost's poem "Fire and Ice":

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Now let's change some of the words to words with similar meanings...

Some say the world will conclude in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve known of desire
I hold with those who think fire.
But if it had to die twice,
I believe I know enough of hate
To say that for devastation ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Doesn't have the same "punch" does it? What if we change the perspective?

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what you've tasted of desire
You hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
You think you know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

This time when we changed the perspective from "I" to "You" and it changed the meaning of the entire poem.

Sometimes writing poetry is just experimenting with combinations of words to create lightning.

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Types of Poetry

So maybe you've heard of a sonnet or haiku but there are hundreds of different types of poetry forms you may not have heard about!

Some other types of poems include:

Concrete Poems
Dramatic Monologue (also a theatre term)
Elegy
Epistle
Found Poem
Epigram
Limerick
Pantoum
Viallanelle
Terza Rima
Tanka
Ghazal
Cinquian
Persona Poem
Cento
Acrostic
List Poem

If you are interested in writing poetry, experimenting with these forms can be a fun place to start. Explore Shadow Poetry to learn about a number of different poetry types.

One fun type of poem is a Cento, a cento is a poem made up of lines from other poets, it is a "patchwork poem." To create this type of poem, just write some of your favorite lines from poems on paper and cut them into strips, then rearrange them to make a new poem. Let's give it a try!

Here's a cento I created from some of our examples:

My Love

My love is like a thing with feathers
that perches in the soul.

It sits looking over harbor
and city on silent haunches
and then, as in uffish thought.

sings the tune without the words
that’s newly sprung in June.

Another fun poem to experiment with is a concrete poem. A concrete poem is a type of poem that looks similar to the subject. Here is an example of a concrete poem from shadowpoetry.com

Try creating your own concrete poem or make a concrete poem with this online tool!

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If Music be the Food of Love, Play on!

While poems can differ in style, almost all poems are meant to be read aloud and poets spend a lot of time working with the sound of words. Poetry is similar to theatre, it's meant to be performed, so it is important to read a poem out loud to hear the music of the words.

The poet puts a lot of time and energy into rhyme, alliteration, assonance (the repetition of similar vowel sounds), consonance (the repetition of consonant sounds), tone, voice, diction, euphony (a group of words with a smooth, pleasing sound), and cacophony (a group of words that sounds harsh and grating) so you're not fully appreciating a poem until you hear it read aloud.

Some poems, like our example, may not even use real words! But even reading a poem full of imaginary words can still describe a mood just by the SOUND of the words being read aloud.

Read Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" and think of what emotions the author is trying to create with the words he uses.

Jabberwocky

'Twas brilling, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took the vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought -

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish though he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One two! One two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"

He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

Now that you've read Carroll's "Jabberwocky," press play and listen to someone else read the Jabberwocky aloud. Does it still carry that same emotion? Even though you may not have heard many of the words before, do you still understand the meaning of the poem?

Now, just for fun, here is the Muppet's version of "Jabberwocky"...remember what I said about poetry being similar to theatre? Here's a great example of poetry being performed!




If you would like to hear other poems read aloud, check out Poetry Out Loud!

Or listen to these podcasts from Poetry Off the Shelf!


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Breaking it Down

Poetry can be difficult to read at times, in fact a poet may want you to read a poem several times to fully understand it. Following these steps can help you better break down a poem to understand.

1. Read the poem once in your head.
2. Circle all of the words that are not clear.
3. Look up those words and write the definitions above the words.
4. Now read the poem ALOUD and see if the poem is easier to understand.


Let's go through the steps with William Shakespeare's Sonnet 130.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

Here's is the same poem with any unclear words in bold and the definitions beside them.

My mistress' (sweetheart's) eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral (a deep pink) is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be (is) white, why then her breasts are dun (marked by dullness or drabness);
If hairs be (are) wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked (a hardy rose with large fragrant pink and white flowers), red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight (satisfaction)
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks (to give off; also a disagreeable odor).
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant (assume to be true) I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads (stomps, tramples) on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare (rarely found)
As any she belied (contradict) with false compare (comparison).

Now read the poem again but this time read it ALOUD. Is this a nice poem about his mistress? Would you call this a love poem? If you are still unsure, watch this video and see if the poem makes more sense.




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Caution: Advanced Learning Ahead!

While it isn't always necessary to recognize the meter in a poem to understand it, it may at least help you appreciate a poem a bit more (and help you recognize the skill that's involved). Another perk to knowing meter is you can impress your friends by saying "I only write poems written in trochaic pentameter" or "[insert equally snooty quote here]."

To learn about recognizing meter (also known as "Scansion") keep reading, if not please skip to the next post HERE.

Meter is determined by two things, "feet" and line length.

A "foot" is a unit of poetry that measures the stresses in a line. When you read a poem aloud some words are louder (or stronger than others), those words are "stressed" (or accented syllables) and the soft words are "unstressed" (or unaccented syllables).

Usually poets make a / mark above syllables that are "stressed" and a U mark above syllables that are "unstressed."

Here is a cheet sheet of common metrical feet, the CAPITALIZED words are the stressed or accented syllables.

Sometimes clapping or tapping your foot can help you find the rhythm in a poem and help you recognize which syllable is stressed or unstressed. Read this sentence aloud and see if you can recognize the stressed syllables:

I do not eat green eggs and ham,

I do not eat them Sam-I-am.


While you can stress any syllable in poetry, most would read this line:

i DO not EAT green EGGS and HAM,

i DO not EAT them SAM-i-AM.

Hint: Many times small words like the, an, and, are, to, a, of, is are unstressed while short nouns (sky, bath, love, hand) are usually stressed syllables.

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A Line in poetry is measured by the amount of "feet" they contain.

Here is a cheat sheet of common metrical lines:

When you "scan" a poem you are counting the number of "feet" in a poem and recognizing what type of "feet" they are.

In other words, if a line had four iambs and one spondee it would be a pentameter (just add up the "feet", i.e. the iambs and spondees, to know how many feet are in a line, in this case there are five making it a pentameter).

If all those feet were iambs then it would be iambic pentameter just like if all the lines were trochees then it would be trochaic pentameter.
Is all this starting to make sense yet?

Read the lines aloud a few times and try and figure out which line is anapestic, iambic, and trochaic, try writing them and adding the / above the word for stressed syllables and U for unstressed syllables like this:

"Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?"

"Listen, the hay bells tinkle as the cart

Wavers on rubber tyres along the tar"

"But lo, the old inn, and the lights, and the fire

And the fiddler's old tune and the shuffling of feet;"

Remember:

Iambic sounds like tee TUM tee TUM

Trochaic sounds like TUM tee TUM tee

Anapest sounds like tee tee TUM

Dactyl sounds like TUM tee tee

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The Building Blocks

Do you think you are starting to get it? Poetry can be complex and without knowing the building blocks of poetry it can be easy to get overwhelmed.

Here's is a great video from BrainPop that explains poetry a bit better than I can.


So now that you're a pro, why don't you play a few games of SCATTER to test your knowledge. After playing it once, try it again and see if you can beat your own time!


Now that I've pumped you full of information, let's see how much you remember. Click on TEST and see how well you do with the quiz I made especially for you!

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Seeing is Understanding

Here are some examples of poems that use metaphor, simile, personification, and alliteration effectively.

Metaphor:

"'Hope' is the thing with feathers -" By Emily Dickinson

"Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

Simile:

1st Stanza of "A Red, Red Rose" By Robert Burns

My love is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June :
My love is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.

Personification:

"Fog" By Carl Sandburg

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Alliteration:

1st three lines of "The Death of the Hired Man" By Robert Frost

Marty sat musing on the lamp-flame at the table
Waiting for Warren. When she heard his step,
She ran on tip-toe down the darkened passage...

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Baby Steps

Reading and understanding poetry doesn't happen overnight and always takes time so I recommend starting slow. Start with the basics.

Whether you want to read poetry or write it, you have to crawl before you can walk. This can be frustrating for those that like to dive right in, but its all about baby steps.

Do you know about metaphors? Similes? Personification? Onomatopoeia?

Before you start learning the different types of meter and rhyme, I would suggest becoming familiar with common poetic devices.

Here's a fun video that shows some of the different poetry terms in context.



Now that you've seen some poetry terms in use, try and familiarize yourself with the following commonly used poetic devices:

Simile
Alliteration
Metaphor
Personification
Onomatopoeia
Hyperbole
Symbolism
Puns
Idioms
Foot
Meter
Rhythm
Lyrics
Mood

Check out this website for definitions and examples:

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