Writing poetry

‘So how do I improve my poetry writing?’ I asked my friend and poet, Sue Fielding. She responded, “read and write a lot of poetry!” And then she suggested some books that I might read – both books of poetry and books about writing poetry. So, this is what I’ve been reading:

To learn about writing and reading metrical verse Sue suggested:

Mary Oliver (1998) Rules for the Dance, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston & New York.

While this was most interesting, I don’t think I want to write metrical verse!

 

Sue also suggested:

Mary Oliver (1994) A Poetry Handbook, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston & New York

This has been very interesting and most useful. So far I’ve learned that:

-      ‘One learns through thinking about writing, and by talking about writing – but primarily through writing.’ (p17)

-      ‘Emotional freedom, the integrity and special quality of one’s own work – these are not first things, but final things.’ (p18)

-      ‘imitating is a very good way of investigating the real thing’ (p13)

-      its ok to write short poems in everyday language (p17)

In relation to sound:

-      poems are made up of both words and sounds (p19), words have a felt quality (p22) and poets select words for both their meaning and sound (p27)

-      there are families of sound – mutes, aspirates, liquids and vowels, semivowels and consonants (p22)

-      sound devices include: alliteration (repetition of initial sound), assonance (repetition of vowels), onomatopoeia (sound also represents what the word means) (p29-34)

-      soft and hard words should be selected with purpose (p56)

In relation to the lineI’ve learned:

-      the end of a verse or ‘the turn’ might be at the end of an idea, within a logical phrase or at the conclusion of a sentence (p35)

-      every turning has a meaning and is felt by the reader

-      ‘at the end of each line there exists – inevitably – a brief pause.’ (p54)

-      the turn alters the look of the poem on the page

-      when the the logical phrase is interrupted (enjambed) this makes the reader hurries on in curiosity

-      line breaks need to be purposeful and reliable (p56).

I have kept these ideas in mind as I’ve been reading poetry and as I’ve been writing and rewriting my own poems.