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Poetry and writing help: free tips for the new poet / writer

 If you have any further questions, feel free to write me at matthewbdahl@yahoo.com or find out more about me here.  And don't forget to sign my guestbook.  Thanks!

The following list is by no means complete, but I hope you find it useful on your path to becoming a great writer:

• Be concise, and edit, edit, edit
• Make sure your poem / story uses plenty of sensory words
• Who is the "persona" of your poem/story?
• If the persona is you, ask yourself, "Is this art or is this my diary?"
• Try using metaphors and similes
• Try using symbols
• Try using allusion to other great writers, events, people
• Try a new form that you've never used before
• Join a poetry / writers group and let others critique you
• Read great writers
• Take a class
• Write, write, write!

Here are some examples of different poetry forms, all taken

from my new book Butterfly Teardrops.

Here are some definitions that may be helpful to the young writer

Acrostic Poem: certain letters, usually the first of each line, form a word or message

Alliteration: the repetition of initial sounds, such as "wild and wooly"

Allusion: an implied or indirect reference to something assumed to be known, such as to a historical event or person

Ballad: a short narrative poem poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain.

Blank verse: unrhymed poetry with a set metrical pattern.

Cacophony: Discordant sounds in the jarring juxtaposition

Closure: The effect of finality, balance, and completeness which leaves the reader with a sense of fulfilled expectations.

Couplet: Two successive lines of poetry, usually of equal length and rhythmic correspondence, with end-words that rhyme.

Euphemism: The substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression to replace one that might offend or suggest something unpleasant, for example, "he is at rest" is a euphemism for "he is dead."

Found poem: A poem created from prose found in a non-poetic context, such as advertising copy, brochures, newspapers, product labels, etc. The lines are arbitrarily rearranged into a form patterned on the rhythm and appearance of poetry.

Free verse: free in form from rhyme and meter constraints.

Haiku: A Japanese form of poetry, also known as hokku. It consists of three unrhymed lines of five, seven and five syllables.  Deeply imbedded in Japanese culture and strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism, haiku are very brief descriptions of nature that convey some implicit insight or essence of a moment. Traditionally, they contain either a direct or oblique reference to a season.

Imagery: the elements in a literary work used to evoke mental images, not only of the visual sense, but of sensation and emotion as well.

Irony: Verbal irony is a figure of speech in the form of an expression in which the use of words is the opposite of the thought in the speaker's mind, thus conveying a meaning that contradicts the literal definition, as when a doctor might say to his patient, " the bad news is that the operation was successful."

Metaphor: a comparison using direct analogy.  "He is a dog."

Narrative poem: A poem that tells a story. Ideally, a narrative poem should balance the story with the poetry and not be merely a story in the form of a poem or a poem with a loose thread of narrative to tie it together. Ballad and epic are two traditional forms of narrative poetry.

Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sounds, such as "whisper" or "buzz."

Paradox: a statement which contains seemingly contradictory elements or appears contrary to common sense, yet can be seen as perhaps, or indeed, true when viewed from another angle.

Persona: the speaker or voice of a literary work, i.e., who is doing the talking.

Personification: giving human attributes to non-humans.

Simile: a comparison between two unlike things, usually using "like" or "as."

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