How To Write A Good Poem
Good poetry as most people think is not just about writing rhyming words. It is a form or communication to the world and beyond. About what is happening to life and how one responds to it. Everything is about response; poetry is a form of response to life. It is human nature to adjust itself to respond to the stimuli around in any way possible and poetry is another avenue for such.
This response must be filled with honesty, self-honesty at that. Any attempt to refine this makes your attempt lose its “humanity” in its pure form. Writing a good poem begins with the raw formulation of a response, the rest is just structural work. Whether you are responding to a subject you were given or trying to work through something you are going through, as an aspiring poet you need to know a few things.
Instructions
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1
Find Your Reason
Look within and find your true nature as you decide to write or speak. This will help you find your voice in your writings, those words that tell your story that will resonate. Whether you want to encourage a generation, speak against the ills of your time. Figure out what led you to poetry in the first place. What is it that you want to achieve? There should be a reason. When you have a reason to venture on this path your aspirations begin to form into something concrete. -
2
Find Your Style
Every poet needs to have the innate ability to communicate and send a message across. Early poets wrote poems by looking at the world around them to find inspiration and expression. As time went on, this became the guideline for later generations to use as they all had a pattern to their poems which caused a pathway for how a poem should be written. But it is important to note that whilst one should educate themselves on how one should write, however one shouldn’t be restricted by the rules or guidelines, write according to your desires. Educating yourself just provides a guideline on how to write poem. -
3
Write
After familiarizing yourself with the basic areas on how to write a poem, start practicing. Whether you want to talk on it could be the universe, the soil, the wind, hope, or fearlessness, all of these things have life called and said something about, your duty is to respond. How do you hear them calling you? When you sit in an open field or area and you feel the wind blowing gently or roughly around you, you can look at that moment and decide to write about how wild the wind can be or how gentle she is, you can write how powerful she is, that at her movement, everything bows and yet she’s invisible. You could write about your fears of life’s uncertainties, how you responded. Look at the issues of your generation and write on hope. There are so many calls and the universe is waiting for your response. -
4
Write From Your Heart
What will distinguish you from other poets is your expression, not what other people expect you to write. One should possess the attitude of a wild spirit on the inside, so that when they write they are not inhibited by what is a distracting hurdle from the outside. It is good to listen to guidance when writing, but when it begins to hamper on your creativity and flow then you have a choice to know what to allow and not to allow. Writing from your heart enables you to write truthfully and with compassion and utmost fearless, and that my friend is how you respond to the universe. -
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Cultivate The Character
True poets carry themselves as carriers of truth, they are fearless even the seemingly shy ones. They speak in bold, precise terms. They are very thoughtful people unwilling to be packaged into labels questioning the duality of morality and almost everything they come across. It is more of the journey to seek truth than the actual acquisition of truth that matters here, They are curious open-minded individuals which lead them to reading and looking for information all the time. They are studious and observant people, everything to them is poetry, and even the most irrelevant of information can be turned to poetry.
As an aspiring poet, you have got to be attentive to the most minor of details and be ready to inquire about everything, basically open yourself up and allow yourself to swallowed whole by the universe, you would become so attached to everything that you wouldn’t know what to do with words. Carry a pen and a paper with you always. Speak like you know the universe better than the average Joe, because the truth is, you actually do. -
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Find a Mentor
Getting a mentor to guide you perfect your art to turn you into a wordsmith per excellence is a good step toward writing and developing your own style. With dedication, practice and patience you are on your way to communicating with the universe.
