This post is a place where poets can share some of the literary devices/craft that they use to create meaning and mood in their poetry. I personally tend to use a lot of alliteration to drive the rhythm of the lines of my poetry. example - While trees take their time, slowly maturing/ the oft' forgotten fly experiences all seasons in a single day;
The use of the same consonant to start the words in these lines helps me create a backing rhythm to the poem that is not "sing-songy" but hopefully develops and pace and speed for the audience. What do you use to emphasize/create feeling or importance in your poetry?
41 comments:
Okay...In poems that I write, I try to use to words that create the best mood...thats right! CONNOTATION,BABY! There are some words that just sort of have a certain air abut them... there are some words that come up in a thesaurus as a synonym for another word but just carry a completely different feeling. For example,synonyms for "Happy" include: chipper, peaceful, thrilled, and blessed. For me, and I'm sure lots of others, each of those words creates a whole different feeling... Chipper makes me see a person sort of excited and rushing around, giggling and bubbly. Peaceful gives me a totally differnt image, more like a person that is finally satisfied and sort of sitting down to take a breath. Thrilled and blessed also create different moods, and that;s why I use different words in poetry and writing in general to get the right mood for what I want to get accross to the readers.
If you can't figure out what word has the right connotation for your writing, picture the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word. Odds are, the picture is similar, or has a similar feel, to what another person would think when reading that word.
I also try to write about things that I feel strongly about or can see well in my mind so that I know exactly what feeling I am trying to get accross in the first place! Thank you very much for reading this obnoxiously long post.
First of all, Ali, your post was not obnoxious. Your just expressing yourself like what most people do on a blog. Anyways, for my poetry i like to make it very metaphorical. Kind of like the poetry we have to annotate. I think it's interesting to find the actual meaning of a poem as to just reading it and having it be just literal. Another thing i like to write my poetry about is "getting away". I think that everyone has a place where they go to just step away from life for a moment and be in their "own world".
When i write poetry i just try not to make it sound like rap and make it non rhyming and serious. If your poem is focused on your subject seriously than i have found that there is always a clear meaning.
I agree with everyone here, you need connotation, not exactly sure about the metaphorical, and like the seriousness. Those are three things that i include in my poems, one thing that i didnt see anything about was symbol. that is something that i try to use in my poems.
Repetition is something I like to use in poems.
Repetition is a way to show symbolism.
Repetition is a good way to create rhythm.
Repetition begins or ends every line the same.
Repetition combined with rhymes is wonderful.
Repetition poems are easy to memorize(For me).
Repetition is an easy strategy to use in poems.
That was likely the corniest poem I've ever written, but It hopefully got the point across
when i have to write poetry i make it ryhme. i do that because most people dont like poetry because its really boring. but when it rymes it makes people more intersted and want to read it
When I write poems, I usually don't make them rhyme. I try to focus more on the meaning of the poem rather then trying to make it rhyme. I also try to use repetition for effect.
When I write poems, I usually make all lines in a stanza the same amount of syllables, then have one line with a different amount to show that it is more important. Or, if I make my poem rhyme, I'll make one part NOT rhyme to show it is important. I don't really use literary devices, except when I used repetition. I'll say something once every stanza to show that THIS is what the poem is about. Read THIS.
For me, relaxing poetry is the best. I like liek reading a poem and the thinking about it. I have realized that when i write poetry, i like to use repetition for one line which thr whole poem is built around. Just as Ali said, I like to picture what i am writing about in my head. That way every detail can be perectly placed into the pooem and flow nicely.
when i make poetry i do this certain way that i forgot what it was called but the last words in the first two lines rhyme then the next two lines have the last words rhyme and keep doing that except with diffrent words.
okay so everyone is saying... when i write poetry, when i write poetry, when i write poetry. and i have one question that i hope ill get so good advice to. so when you are given a topic to write about, and you have to start a poem how do you begin the whole process? i just get stuck. anyone have anything about how to get some creative ideas. i just feel the first words i put on paper are just not really what im supposed to be writing. :/
Like a lot of other people I try to make poems rhyme when I write them. I probably usually get the kind of rhyming L-Dog was talking about. This happens to me because I use the tone people use to read rhyming things a lot, to rhyme myself. I don't know another to describe that tone other than saying it sounds like when someone reads a cat in the hat book out loud in 2ed grade.
When I write poetry, I usually avoid rhyming, because to me it seems the poet was more concerned with the rhyming words rather than the meaning. Though, there are some good rhyming poems, I stick to the CONNOTATION and MEANING of the poem. If I'm writing about death, I use words and rhythm to make the mood/connotation solemn or grim. If I'm writing about nature, I'd use the same technique to make give it a serene, observative mood. If I were to write about the roller coaster of life, I'd use the techniques I mentioned above to give it a storytelling kind of mood or the tone of an experienced person informing their children/grandchildren. DICTION is a very important tool in developing proper CONNOTATION for particular topics. With poems, I'm all about the CONNOTATION, DICTION and IMAGERY.
When i write poetry i think its so much easier to just write. instead of thinking of some silly thing to do like rhyme or repition, etc. i like to make my poems my own and unique. this way, when someone reads my poems they know that its original and not silly or so hard and complicated.
i am not that good at poetry and i do not like it at all so all of these tips have been helpful. One thing that i have used in recent poetry is contrast. The Title of my last poem was a colorful grey. I think contrast can make you think and adds much more to the poem. It is sort od like opposites except more creative
in poetry i think imagery is very important. if i saw two poems with exactly the same meaning, one with imagery, one without, i would easily choose the one with imagery over the one without. personally, for me to stay interested in a reading, it needs to be interesting or exciting and when a poem is creating boring images in my head i lose intrest and that causes me not to think so hard about it to find different interpretations.
Some great ideas shared...I think the number of people commenting on the use of rhyme means we need to spend a couple of minutes discussing the different types of rhyme and their strengths etc.
I feel that rhyming in poems has to be used extremely carfully. If used corectly, it could help further present the point the author is trying to make. If used incorrectly it could have the opposite effect, and lead the reader on a different path than intended. By being careful, I mean making sure the rhyme scheme fits what you are saying, and not just having rhymes randomly thrown into your poem, or having rhymes in spots that you are not making a point.
A good way to use rhyming would be only having rhymes in important parts, or having rhymes on every line, except the important parts.
i agree with some of the comments above. ecspecially that imagery is very important. i think the reader should be able to see exaactly what your thinking and descrbing to them. i always like describing the settig and the place or emotion that occurs in the writing piece.
Well to create an importance in my poem I usually like to use symbolizm. Symbolizm can get the reader of the poem wondering what the object is trying to symbolize. For example: when you are talking about heaven in a poem and you just that the person went to heaven, you could use symbolizm to give your poem a meaning, like he saw a bright white open window... or something like that. Its sets a different mood to your poem, it keeps the reader guessing.
To create rhythm in my poems i mostly use repetition instead of rhyming. I think when you rhyme it limits what you want to say in the poem because your just putting a word down that rhymes with another word that you used. I also try to use alot of imagery to keep the reader interested in the poem.
i have been using alliteration instead if rhyming to create rhythm and if you use it right it sounds more sophisticated.
When I write poetry, I usually try to think of all the things that come to mind when someone besides myself reads my poem. As Mr. Horvath reminds me, I am not supposed to "tell", but in fact "show". So, now I try to "show" but make sure that readers will get the same message I am trying to convey. As for rhyming, I don't consciously do so. If words flow together, and two lines happen to rhyme, I try to go with that same sense of movement, but never "forcibly rhyme". While I don't think rhyming limits people, I do think that every line does not have to rhyme. Every other always has a nice rhythm to it, and, hey, maybe no rhyming at all...alliteration's always good, also. I think it helps a poem sound better more subtly.
Honestly i really dont think REPETITION is as important as Jbruce said. Really you need to write poems that have a deeper meaning with some rhyming thrown in there. Cause with the repetition thing it just sounds plain childish after a while and you dont sound like you want to write really inspiring poems whereas youd rather just repeat words all day and make a funny rhyme.
When I write poetry, I try to emphasize important lines by using diction. I find that larger, more intense words can turn bland poetry into strong literature. This is shown in lines such as:
The monumental trees tower above the flourishing landscape,
Their tops so high,
People feel as minuscule as ants.
This is a way that I feel highly enhances my poetry.
i like to use alliteration because it adds good rythym to the poetry. i also like to read poems with rime but i cant write with it because it alwas ends up sounding forced. does anyone have any sugestions?
Ian...If you want to write poems with rhyme, then maybe you could try to write them poem first to get the meaning that you want with only that in mind and not the rhyming part. If the first words that come into mind when you write it are rhyming, then great! However, By the time you finish writing it for the meaning, then you might end up liking it without the rhyme and want to keep it that way. Just don’t spend a bunch of time trying to think of the words that rhyme, because if you are sitting there thinking "What the heck rhymes with 'sky'?" then odds are the word you come up with isn't going to fit as well as another word that doesn’t rhyme. That's all I have for you...hope it helps!
i have learned from my writing poetry that if you do not try to rhyme than natural rhyme WILL kick in. In my poem i actualy found that like my last post i made it seriously and it had some natural rhyme. That is why it is called natural rhyme.
when i write poems i dont normally make very line or every other line rhyme mostly to get my point across or to question the reader i will put an intentional rhyme into a poem to show the reader that the line is important and it should stand out among the other lines.
When writing poetry, i don't usually use tricks to help me. One of the things i DO do is search for the most methaphorical way of saying something that is possible. For example, in my last poem i wrote i wanted to say something about a knife passing seeds as it cut through a vegetable. Instead of saying "Passing Seeds on my way" i made it more metaphorical by saying "passing futures on my way." I feel like metaphor makes a poem more respectable, and as always, show don't tell ;)
I agree with Kathleen :) ... i dont write to and start off writing to create repetition, or any other autors craft technique, i write to send a message or express i feeling i have or observed, i think people going into the writing process having a mindset of writing a certain way will fail, or do poorly because they arent writing for a good reason, but unless you have a write a poem for class. Even stilllll you have feelings and they should be expressed during the activite of poem creation.
Something I try to do when I write is simply be as creative as possible with the language at my disposal. Wordplay is a hallmark of creative thinkers worldwide. Plain language is fine for a newspaper article or an encyclopedia entry, but we should really try to have fun with words and language (I can hear you all laughing) when we experiment with poetry. Wordplay is connotation, word choice, alliteration, repetition, metaphor, simile, personification, rhyme...you name it. There is a tribal society in Siberia that communicates important info to each other exclusively through metaphor...how tough must that be. I am only asking you to throw some in to your writing.
i tend to keep a good rhythme in my poetry by making line patterns and word patterns. for example i'll make all the verses in my poem have exactly 4 lines. then, the first line of each verse MUST begin with the same word. and the last three must all be about the same length or have about the same number of words/syllable. i do various things like that
like mae-neko said i did do that with one of my poems i wrote this week i began eachdifferent stanza with the same beggning. usually each line is different. with my other 3 poems there all different. only one other has the same type of ending as the beggning.
Ive been having a little bit of trouble with poetry. The whole concept is quite frankly a little mind boggling. There are a few questions that hopefully you guys can answer. One is that no matter how hard i try when i try to write poetry with a deep meaning i tend to tell not show, and i also choose the wrong words for the theme I'm trying to say. like for example ill say creepy, crawly,.... or something when I'm trying be serious and i think that creepy crawly, whatever is almost happy sounding.
My other question is how do you pick something to write about, say a bird and link it to hope or whatever. I really need help with this because the poem i write sound forced and a little awkward. please let me know anything that will help. I'm open to all suggestions.
This is a poem i wrote and i just wanted to hear from all of you on what i can improve on, what I'm doing well, whatever. Thanks
The Book
Underneath the dust
Underneath the cobwebs
Lies a cracking leather cover
Below that
Crinkly pages just waiting to surprise
Underneath the dust
underneath the cobwebs
Lies a crinkly crackly,
Book
back to what julia said a while ago about getting started on a poem, i agree that it is tough to start it. i usually find myself starting with a question which is beginning to sound weak in my poems, but it gets it going. so what are some tips for strong beginning sentences?
A Very good way to get your point across is metapores and similes. These can make your reader think about the stanza more than they would before. For example, the line:
Pizza is heaven.
Makes people think more about what pizza MEANS to the Speaker.
Tbuckley, instead of starting off with questions, you can use metaphor and simile like bowen said, but also state the setting of your poem. imagery is a good way to show this. for example, i wrote a poem called Garveyard. The first two lines were "Ruby Red petals, Fall on the fallen." This shows the sadness of not only a person who died, but so does the flowers. Its like saying in a graveyard everything dies... Hope I could help! :)
Now since we have used so much poetry and so many different tricks to use, i think my favorite one is alliteration. Alliteration, in my opinion, i think it makes the poem have such a good rhythm. Also, it stands out, so if you use it, the line is probably important and the person who is reading your poem, will see the alliteration can tell that the line is important.
Bowen,
I'm having some trouble with my metephores. Sometime when I say something is something I feel like what I say needs to be perfect and I can't quite match the tone. For instance might say she is a lion if I'm trying to portray her being mad. I feel like this metephore I weak and a bit cliché. Can you give me some ways I can incorperate some of your ideas into my writting? I'd like to hear as many ideas as I can because I'm sure alot of people have good ideas
When I write my poetry, I try to use a lot of imagery because I think it makes the poem much stronger. I try to stay away from rhyme because I think it could sound a bit forced a lot. I need more help on personification. Anyone have any tips?
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