Painting and Sculpting with Words: How to Write Poetry

By Esther Spurrill Jones

Esther Spurrill Jones has been writing poetry for most of her life. She has created in this volume a guide that anyone can use to get started writing poetry. Even if you've never written a line in your life, you can use this book to start crafting poems. From rhythm to rhyme to metaphor and simile, this guide will walk you through the process from the very beginning.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Esther Spurrill Jones
• Release date: Feb 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463777213

Esther Spurrill Jones

I learned to read when I was four years old, and I began writing soon thereafter. My first story was about a girl and her horse—it was awful, but my parents loved it, which encouraged me to continue. My favourite genres are of the fantastical and magical, where the mundane rules of real life don't apply.

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Painting and Sculpting with Words

How to Write Poetry

By Esther Spurrill Jones

Copyright 2020 Esther Spurrill Jones

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Table of Contents

Introduction

How to Read a Poem

Got Rhythm?

Rhyme or Reason

Alliteration and Assonance

Metaphor and Simile

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Kyrielle

How to Write a Triolet

How to Write a Villanelle

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Cinquain

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Blitz Poem

How to Write Limerick

How to Write Haiku

How to Write Tanka

How to Edit a Poem

About the Author

Introduction

Anyone can write a poem. But it’s not so easy to write a good poem. I’ve been writing poetry for over thirty years, and I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks along the way. Even if you’ve never written a poem in your life, these should help you get started. And, if you’re already a poet, who knows? You might still find something here to help you improve your work.

Read poetry, especially the good stuff. The masters are a good place to start: Shakespeare, Keats, Dickinson, Frost, Blake, etc. Figure out what kind/style you like, and read a lot of it. Seriously, the best way to learn how to write is to read.

It doesn’t have to rhyme. You already know this if you read poetry (and if you don’t read poetry, go back to step 1). Free verse can be very powerful, but I would recommend learning some forms to get a strong foundation in the rules before you start breaking them.

It does have to have some kind of rhythm. Yes, even free verse. It doesn’t have to be iambic or trochaic or whatever, but it does need a kind of musicality. Otherwise, it’s just a prose passage broken up into weird lines. Read it out loud if you’re having trouble hearing it.

Rhyme should not prevail over meaning. Nothing makes a poem sound more awkward and amateur than a word that was obviously used solely for how it rhymes. If you’re writing a rhyming poem, and you can’t find a rhyme that works, go for a near rhyme, or rewrite the line you’re trying to rhyme to. Meaning always always trumps rhyme.

Try different forms. Don’t get stuck in a rut of always writing the same form. Challenge yourself to stretch and grow. Resources like ShadowPoetry.com can help you find new forms to try.

Keep writing. The more you write, the better your poems will be. As in everything, practice makes you better. And don’t get discouraged if your earlier attempts are not as good as you hope; keep writing — you will get better.

How to Read a Poem

First, let me make it clear that if you don’t enjoy reading something,