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What Is Poetry?

The poet Marianne Moore defines poetry as “imaginary gardens with real toads in them.” Good poetry is always creative and, at times, a bit playful. An effective poem takes us away to an “imaginary garden,” yet it often springs from a real experience—one of the many “toads” hopping in and out of our daily lives.

What makes poetry different from prose (the regular writing you do)? Here are some of the differences that make poetry so special.

■ Poetry looks different from prose.

Poems are written in lines and stanzas (groups of lines), leaving a fair amount of white space on the page. Notice the look of this eight-line poem by a great American humorist:

■ Poetry sounds different.

Poets pay special attention to the sounds in their writing. Here are some of the techniques that make poems pleasing to the ear.

• Repeat words: It does not cluck / A cluck it lacks.
• Rhyme words: It is specially fond / Of a puddle or pond.
• Repeat vowel sounds: It bottoms ups.
• Repeat consonant sounds: Of a puddle or pond.
• Use words that sound like what they mean: It quacks.

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Reading and Appreciating Poetry

These days, most words are disposable. You read them once and toss them aside. Poetry bears re-reading. You hang out with a poem the same way that you hang out with a friend, getting to know it well. Follow these tips to get the most out of poetry.

Read Carefully

• Read the poem once through to get a general sense of how it flows and what it says.
• Read the poem a second time, slowly and carefully. Enjoy each word and phrase.
• On your third pass, read aloud so that you can hear the many sounds within it.
• On your fourth pass, let yourself sense the poem—sights, sounds, textures, tastes, and smells.
• Reflect on the poem and how it makes you feel. Let it connect to your own memories, hopes, and dreams.
• Share the poem with your friends and discuss it afterward. Their insights will help you enjoy the poem even more.

Apply Your Knowledge

• Think about the techniques used by the poet.
• Pay attention to the poem’s structure. How does it look on the page? Does the poem have a unique shape?
• Look at the line breaks. How do they shape the poem?
• What rhythm does the poem have? Is it regular or free-flowing?
• What words rhyme? What words start with the same letter?
• What words sound like the noise they describe?

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Writing Guidelines

Writing poetry is a lot of fun. It allows you to use language in special ways. It also lets you share an experience or a feeling in ways that will stir your reader’s emotions.

Writing poetry is also work. Good poets write and rewrite their poems many times to get the best effect from the fewest words. The guidelines that follow will help you write a free-verse poem, a poem that does not require regular rhythm or rhyme.

Prewriting ■ Choosing a Topic

Choose a topic you really care about.

• Remember an important time or event in your life: a special trip, the first day at a new school, a special gathering you attended.
• Look at the world around you: the sparkle of summer sun on a pond, a stuffed animal, loose litter cluttering a yard.
• Describe something you like or dislike: a tasty food, a favorite sweater, a case of the flu, a muggy day.
• Think of a favorite person: a grandparent, a historical figure, a sports hero, your best friend.

Gathering Details

Begin collecting ideas about your subject. Student writer Jeff Kivland decided to write about the moon, focusing on its phases. Here is his initial cluster of ideas.

After you have collected enough details, look for a powerful idea or image as a focus. Jeff focused on games.

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Editing ■ Checking for Style and Accuracy

Check your revised poem for punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar errors. Ask someone else to check your work for errors as well. Then write a correct final copy of your poem. Proofread this copy before sharing it.

Free-Verse Poem

Jeff Kivland made many changes to his poem: title, images, line breaks, and word choice. Notice how he removed the moon cycles, inviting readers to infer them, which creates mystery.

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Traditional Techniques of Poetry

Most traditional poems follow exact patterns of rhyme and rhythm. Consider this famous traditional poem by Leigh Hunt:

Rhyme and Meter

In most traditional poetry, the rhyme is organized in patterns called rhyme schemes. (See the letters in parentheses above.)

Meter is the rhythm, or pattern of accented and unaccented syllables, in the lines of a poem. In the poem above, every other syllable is accented. (Jenny kissed me when we met.) This pattern of accented and unaccented syllables creates the poem’s meter. (See foot and verse for more information on meter.)

Other Poetry Techniques

Alliteration ■ The repeating of beginning consonant sounds.

Strong strings connect us.

Strained strings remind us

   we are woven together as one.

Assonance ■ The repetition of vowel sounds, as in the following lines from “The Hayloft” by Robert Lewis Stevenson.

Till the shining scythes went far and wide

And cut it down to dry.

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Traditional Forms of Poetry

Poetry has been around for centuries, beginning with bards and messengers who used poems to pass along news, songs, and stories. Today, we find poetry in songs, on greeting cards, in reading anthologies, and so on. Here are some traditional forms of poetry.

Ballad ■ A ballad is a poem that tells a story. Ballads are usually written in four-line stanzas called quatrains. Often, the first and third lines have four accented syllables; the second and fourth have three. (See quatrain for possible rhyme schemes.) Here is a quatrain from “The Enchanted Shirt” by John Hay.

The King was sick. His cheek was red

And his eye was clear and bright;

He ate and drank with a kingly zest,

And peacefully snored at night.

Blank Verse ■ Blank verse is unrhymed poetry with meter. The lines in blank verse are 10 syllables in length. Every other syllable, beginning with the second syllable, is accented. (Note: Not every line will fit this description exactly.) Consider these first three lines from “Andrea Del Sarto” by Robert Browning.

But do not let us quarrel any more,

No, my Lucrezia; bear with me for once:

Sit down and all shall happen as you wish.

Cinquain ■ Cinquain poems are five lines in length. There are syllable and word cinquain poems.

Couplet ■ A couplet is two lines of verse that usually rhyme and state one complete idea. (See stanza.)

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Other Forms of Poetry

Don’t be afraid to try something new the next time you sit down to write a poem. The forms of poetry that follow will help you get started.

Alphabet Poetry ■ A form of poetry that states a creative or humorous idea using part of the alphabet.

We

X-ray

Young

Zoo

Animals

Best to

Catch

Disease

    —Zachariah Surrency

Clerihew Poetry ■ A form of humorous or light verse created by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. A clerihew poem consists of two rhyming couplets. The name of some well-known person creates one of the rhymes.

Edmund Clerihew Bentley

Brooded intently

On many a foible

He thus made enjoyable.

    —Colin Burke

Concrete Poetry ■ A form of poetry in which the shape or design helps express the meaning or feeling of the poem.

Contrast Couplet ■ A couplet in which the first line includes two words that are opposites. The second line makes a comment about the first.

Some hours are too short, and some are too long.

I wonder who made the clocks all wrong.

    —L. Winfred Smith

Definition Poetry ■ Poetry that defines a word or an idea creatively.

Temptation—

the modern Pied Piper,

calling, willing, drawing

the soul resisting,

the brain relenting.

    —Kristin Mueller