When we write words in an organized way, why do we call it a poem? What makes it different to any other written work?

Poetry, like any work of art, requires emotion and creativity. It involves using the heart as much as the head. Many poets write about things that matter most in life, like love and heartache, life and death. But what really makes it poetry is that the writer is painting beautiful images and combining this with rhythm and meter. A poem is a story compressed into a few words. These words make an impact and leave a lasting impression.

Poetry has rhythm and meter. The rise and fall of the sea with the ebb and flow of the tides is a good example of rhythm. In life there are so many sounds that are repetitive, forming rhythm. Poets know this. They use language to create a pattern of rhythm. This pattern of rhythm is known as meter.

When writing a poem, there are a few important things to consider as a guide:

1. Play with the sounds of words:

• Rhyming words

• Patterns of rhythm

• Repetition of words or phrases

• Sound devices:

- Alliteration: repeated consonant sounds e.g. 'firmly facing the furious fiend'

- Assonance: repeated vowel sounds e.g. 'on either side the river lie'

- Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sounds e.g. beep, swoosh, buzz

 

2. Play with comparisons:

• Simile: comparing things using the words 'like' or 'as' e.g. 'as cold as ice'

• Metaphor: comparing things directly e.g. 'My heart is a lonely hunter'

• Personification: giving non-living things human characteristics e.g.

'The moon, like a flower,

In heaven's high bower,

With silent delight

Sits and smiles on the night.'

3. Play with images:Imagery evokes emotion through the five senses: sight, touch, sound, taste and smell. Imagery refers to the pictures that are perceived in the mind through the words of a poem e.g. 'The winter evening settles down With smell of steaks in passageways.'

A good way to start as a poet is by reading a wide selection of poems. Reading other poems helps a beginner to identify themes and compositions. It also helps to enrich vocabulary. Start writing short poems about personal experiences or describe scenes outside the window. Continue regularly to change thoughts into verse. The essential key to success is to have a love for poetry and then use that love to enjoy creating poems.

It doesn't take a genius to create a poem. Patience and perseverance will help the willing hand to paint pictures with words.

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