In this post I am going to provide some practical advise so you can compose a poem that stands out above the vast majority of "poetry" written today. You will understand why I make such a claim.

Since I want this post to be practical and precise, I might write a separate one where I talk about the issues that poetry is facing today. But as a summary, let me say that, nowadays, when someone is interested in this craft, all the advise a new poet is most likely to receive is:

But is this good advise to give to a beginner? Really? Imagine that someone buys a guitar and is really excited to learn how to play, but then he finds some tutorials online that only tell him: “Just hit the strings! Chords are oppressive! Scales are a thing of the past!”. Do you really think that would be good advise? I do not think so.

The Postmodern Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. Discussions around poetry are subjective and vague. It almost feels like modern poets are trying to deceive us, as if they were trying to destroy the craft they supposedly practice. The only thing free verse liberates you from is the necessity to put some effort. You need to practice to get good at something, if that is true concerning music, painting, or dancing, the same applies to poetry.

In this post I am going to provide you with the tools to start practicing the craft and actually see some tangible improvement. In the same way a painter needs to know what brushes to use and how to use them, a poet needs to know his tools as well. If something feels overwhelming, just go slowly and you will get there. You do not need to learn everything in one day. Be patient and consistent. Let’s get into it.

Tools for the Craft

Based on my study of poetry, we could theorize that a good poem requires these three elements:

The moment you remove any of them, the poem fails to live up to the historical standards of the craft. Let’s see them in more detail.

Structure

A poem needs to have some kind of structure.

Let’s talk first about meter. Then, I will provide some poetical forms to follow.

When it comes to counting meter we have several options at our disposition. But for the sake of brevity we are only going to focus on two of them:

Accentual Verse

We count what are called ‘poetical feet’, this is, a combination of stressed or unstressed syllables. In English, some syllables are stressed and some of them are unstressed. In the word ‘freedom’, the first syllable ‘free’ is stressed, meaning that you put more stress or strength when pronouncing it, while the second syllable ‘dom’ is unstressed. Try pronouncing the word and you will see what I mean. To represent unstressed syllables we use this sign ◡, while we use this for stressed ones –.

The combination of stresses create different patterns that we could use:

To these combinations we need to add a number of feet. For instance, an iambic pentameter is the succession of five iambic feet, e.g. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”. Another common amount that we can find is the tetrameter, meaning four, as in the case of iambic tetrameter: “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound”.

To add more complexity we could jump to accentual-syllabic verse, where aside from the poetical feet you also need to keep in mind the syllables (normally iambic pentameter features ten syllables, the tetrameter, eight). But this could be a next step once you are comfortable with accentual verse.

Syllabic Verse

Common in Romance languages such as Spanish and French. We count the syllables of each line so we can stick to a certain number of them to keep our lines regular. The more common one in English are six, eight, and ten, but you could experiment with different ones. A great modern poet that extensively used syllabic verse was Marianne Moore. Counting syllables in a language like English could be tricky at first, but it gets easier as you practice. When in doubt, you could check some resources on the internet such as www.howmanysyllables.com.

Poetical Forms

Now let’s look at some poetical forms that you could follow:

Blank verse

You could use this instead of free verse. Please, do. Blank verse poems have a defined structure (e.g. iambic pentameter) but lack the use of rhyme at the end of the lines. Shakespeare used it in a lot of his plays and so did Milton in ‘Paradise Lost’. It is a reliable way of providing your poem with a solid structure while maintaining a natural flow. Choose a regular meter and stick to it, and forget about rhyming.

Couplets

A pair of lines rhyming AA, this is, ending with the same rhyme. You can write a succession of couplets in different stanzas, like this: AA BB CC etc; or you could join them into bigger stanzas according to your taste, for instance: AABBCC DDEEFF.

Tercets

As the name implies, stanzas that feature three lines. A normal way of rhyming them is ABA, followed by CDC, EFE, etc. A famous example of tercets is the terza rima, created by Dante Alighieri and used in his 'Divina Commedia'. It goes as follows: ABA BCB CDC DED, etc. As you have noticed, the second line of one stanza becomes the first and the third rhyme of the next one, and so on and so on. Normally they are finished with a couplet that follows the rhyme of the central line of the previous tercet: YZY ZZ.

Haiku

Technically a type of tercet. Of Japanese origin, this type of poetry uses lines of 5-7-5 syllables and covers topics concerning nature, the present moment, and some other Buddhist ideas. You should only use the present tense when writing haikus. There are more rules to them, but this is a good start. Haikus should not rhyme.

Tanka

Another Japanese form that is actually the origin of the haiku. It features five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. Used for a wider variety of topics. Similarly to the haiku, they omit the rhyme, since it was considered a cheap device in traditional Japanese poetry.

Quartets

They are quite common in my own poetical tradition, the Spanish one. It features four lines per stanza. You could rhyme them ABAB or ABBA. You should practice them before jumping to the sonnet.

Quintets

Five lines per stanza that could rhyme in the following ways:

Sextilla paralela

A Spanish poetical form that features six lines per stanza rhyming: AABCCB

Sonnet

Probably the most common and used poetical form across all European languages. There are two main types: Petrarchan (the original one) and Shakespearean.

In the Petrarchan or Italian sonnet, the structure goes as follows ABBA ABBA CDC DCD. We can find some variations in the last two tercets but the quartets always remain the same. Here are some common variations:

The Shakespearean sonnet goes as follows: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. We basically find a succession of three quartets with alternating rhyme and a couplet to finish the poem.

Common meter

Really common in English poetry. Also called hymn meter due to its used in Christian hymns (e.g. Amazing Grace). Four lines per stanza where the first and third are iambic tetrameter (four feet per line, around eight syllables) and the second and the fourth are iambic trimeter (three feet per line, around six syllables). The rhyme pattern looks like this ABAB or ABCB (in this last example only the second and forth lines of each stanza rhyme with each other).

Rhyme

Let's talk about rhyme. To simplify this issue, you have two choices when it comes to rhyming words: perfect rhyme or imperfect rhymes (also called 'slant rhymes'). A perfect rhyme matches, well, perfectly. An example would be 'car' and 'bar'. Imperfect rhymes, on the other hand, do not match perfectly but share some of the sounds, for example, 'hat' and 'bad'.

A good resource to start learning how to use rhyme is Merriam-Webster’s RhymeZone.

Remember that it is okay to avoid using rhymes in your poems, but you should compensate it with some structure (for instance, using blank verse) to give your poem the solidity it needs to stand on its own, since the lack of both rhyme and structure can seem amateurish and lazy.

Ideas

Your poem needs to convey at least one idea. You should talk about something, whatever the topic is. Poets have been obsessed with these three topics throughout history: nature, religion, and love. But you don’t need to write about that, at least not necessarily. You could write about your pet, your partner, a feeling of discomfort, a row of ants, etc. Just make sure to not be repetitive, talking about feelings can get boring quite fast for an external reader. If you are into philosophy, try describing ideas you like in a poem. When it comes to this, the choice is totally yours: there are no rules when it comes to choosing the topic or ideas for your poem.

Beauty

Your poem must be beautiful. You should never leave beauty aside. This is a huge topic that I cannot fully develop here, but beauty has been a common feature in art all throughout history. It is just recently that some people decided that beauty is oppressive; then, good luck being an artist. This is an element that needs your personal touch. A flower is beautiful on its own, it does not need our words to be so, but your voice should be unique in describing its beauty. Poems could also be beautiful due to the use of language, so do not be afraid of improving your vocabulary and using expressions that are out not found in common speech. Play with words that sound beautiful to describe a beautiful reality and you will get an amazing result. A beautiful poem is something that glorifies life itself. You deserve beauty, we all do. So please, make sure we contribute to this world by infusing it with more beauty.

Types of Poems You Could Write

Let’s face it: we are kind of boring. Let me explain. Since the advent of confessional poetry in the 60s, most contemporary poets focus on telling us about themselves. And they tell us a lot about themselves. When Sylvia Plath did it, it was interesting. But when that is the only kind of poetry you can find out there, it becomes tiring, because most of us are kind of boring, and that’s okay. I could read one or two confessional poems, sure, but after the twentieth poem in a row one begins to wonder: “Does this poet have something else to say?”. There is also an element of narcissism at play here, but that is not my responsibility to fix, I already have enough dealing with myself.

To counteract this trend in modern poetry, here’s some other types of poetry that you could try in order to break free from the boundaries of your self:

Narrative poetry

Tell me a story. Narrative poetry is the oldest kind of poetry (think of the Iliad and the Odyssey) and it is totally unrepresented in today’s poetry scene. Choose a story and tell it in verse. Make sure to infuse it with beauty, ideas, and a personal touch. You can put some of your own personality in the poem, but the story will be the main element on it, not you. Forms that work particularly well are: common meter, blank verse, terza rima, or just a succession of quartets rhyming either ABBA or ABAB. The choice is yours.

Lyrical poetry

Of course, there is also a place for feelings in poetry. Lyrical poetry deals with them, commonly through a first-person voice. Just make sure to make it interesting by not falling into cliches. I would say that love is the most difficult feeling to convey in an original way. Try with something else first. Why not talk about the feeling you have after having spent some time with friends? There are way more feelings aside from love. Make it personal but also fun and interesting.

Ekphrastic poetry

That is a fancy term for 'poems about or inspired by pieces of art'. I propose you a weekend plan: go to a local art museum (any kind you like) and sit in front of a painting or a sculpture with your notebook. Write down what this piece makes you feel. Spend some time there, maybe write some lines that you will edit later. If you do not have access to an art museum, peruse some art books in your local library or just look for cool paintings online. This type of poetry also takes you out of yourself and can make you connect with other artists. Isn’t that great? Write a little narrative poem about one of the characters of the painting. If you see a pastoral scene, think of the sensations the characters might feel around those trees. If you see a weeping Virgin Mary, think of the pain she is experiencing in the painting and relate it to your own experience. The possibilities are endless.

Nature poetry

Descriptions of nature have always been present in poetry. It is a great way of finding transcendence in everyday life. Go for a walk in the park or the closest natural space you have available and take some notes. Maybe write a haiku. Breath, rest, enjoy the moment, and then write about it. You could talk about any element found in nature: rivers, mountains, animals, the sunlight, a lake, etc. Nature poetry allows us to get out of ourselves in the most magnificent way I can think of.

Exercises to Start Practicing Today

Let’s talk now about some exercises that you could practice today to start improving your versifying abilities. Here are some suggestions:

Some Final Thoughts

Before I finish this post I would like to clarify something. The information contained in the previous paragraphs comes from years of study, both inside and outside an university context. I am not merely sharing my opinion, I am providing you with objective information that you should use to learn and decide your course of action. You can disagree with what you have read, but keep in mind that you are not disagreeing with me, you are disagreeing with centuries of practice. I am merely an observer that describes a discipline, not a commentator that provides opinions. I tend to think that opinions is what people give when they lack knowledge. I truly believe that reality is more important than what we think or believe. You can use this information and improve or ignore it, that is your choice to make. In any case, I am truly glad that you stopped by and read these lines; it means a lot.

Remember that these centuries-old tools have always been here to help you, not to oppress you. Both Michelangelo and Picasso used brushes to paint their masterpieces, it is how they used them and the subjects of their paintings that made them stand out. In the same way, you can use the same tools Shakespeare or Keats used to talk about their time to talk about ours. There is beauty everywhere, you just need to find her and, once you do, use the right tools to show our shared reality in a new and fresh way, as our poetical ancestors did. Remember, old tools plus contemporary ideas is the perfect recipe to stand out above the noise that is modern poetry. Keep in mind that learning a craft takes time, but you will improve. Everybody can do it. Once you learn to use these tools, you will see how difficult it is to go back to free verse. Good luck and I wish you the best in your exploration of the craft. Have a nice day, fellow poet.