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You are here: Home / Creative Writing Tips / Poetry Writing / Poetry Writing: Forms and Terms Galore

By Idrees Patel

Poetry Writing: Forms and Terms Galore

In school, we were taught to read poetry. To recite poetry. To understand poetry. But many people do not like poetry from their young years. Maybe it is because the choice of poems in the educational system is unsuitable, or maybe it is because some people hate learning anything. Who knows?

For my part, I wrote a lot of prose-poetry a year or two ago, but it wasn’t poetry at all. Great poets are something different. Great poets always have something to write about. Great poets do not waste time hunting for rhymes and such stuff. Great poets use pictures in their poems. Great poets convey the theme of their poems aptly and beautifully. There is something special about them.

But what makes them so special?

Are they God-gifted or do they learn poetry writing skills? Both. Let’s look at the latter, poetry writing skills. To acquire poetry writing skills, one must read and write poetry regularly. However, it also helps to know a few things about poetry, such as…

Poetry Writing Forms

There are many poetry writing forms. A man could make himself hoarse shouting them, but still, they would not be succinctly defined, explained and illustrated. This article is not meant as a complete guide on poetry writing forms — rather it is just the introduction. The first form is:

  1. Sonnet: – This type of poem has fallen out of favour now, but it is still my favourite type of poetry to read. It follows a strict ‘a-b-a-b’ rhyme scheme. It was made popular by Shakespeare. (More info: Wikipedia)
  2. Haiku: – A type of popular Japanese poem. Modern haiku is different from the traditional Japanese haiku. The modern haiku follows a 5-7-5 syllable rhyming structure. Well-written haiku is lovely and pleasurable to read. It takes a lot of skill to write great haiku. I tried my hand at one. Needless to say, even I didn’t like it. (Writing Forward has a great more substantive article on haiku.)
  3. Tanka: – Tanka means Japanese poem. It is longer than a haiku; when it was westernized poems were broken to lines and it had a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable structure. Tanka is not as popular as haiku, but poets do write it. Did you know that some poets write it without any capitalization at all? That’s not uncommon in modern poetry, but it always strikes me as funny. Here are some sample Tanka poems.
  4. Pantoum: – Although sonnets are my favourite type of poems, pantoums come a pretty close second on my list. That’s because there are certain types of similarities between the two of them. A lot of lines are repeated in it, yet you can make use of puns and suchlike and have wordplay. Go here for more information about pantoums.

For more information about other forms of poetry, go to Wikipedia.

Poetry Writing Terms

As with poetry writing forms, there are a lot of poetry writing terms. Hyperbole, personification, metaphor, inversion, simile, onomatopoeia, alliteration, enjambment etc are just a few of them. Below you can find their descriptions…

  1. Hyperbole: – You can say exaggeration in prose, but when it comes to poetry, there is a term for it: hyperbole. “Ten thousand saw I at a glance,” says Wordsworth referring to daffodils in the famous Daffodils poem. If that’s true, I’ve yet to hear it, but with skills in wordplay the poem can become better if this is used with caution.
  2. Personification: – If you can give a human or a living quality to a non living being, then you’re using the figure of speech named as personification, because you write as if the non living thing is a person. In “the bus shook itself and gave an important horn” it is said as if the bus is a living thing. Personification is my favourite poetry writing term (poetry writing terms are also called figures of speech).
  3. Metaphor: – A metaphor is a figure of speech that uses one thing to mean another and makes a comparison between the two. “He has a special place in my life”: that is a metaphor. As with “he followed in his father’s footsteps.”
  4. Inversion: – Taking a previous example, the line in Wordsworth’s Daffodils “Ten thousand saw I at a glance”, is not prose. It’s not correct. The correct version would be “I saw ten thousand at a glance.” Poetry often makes use of inverting the sentence structure: this is known as inversion.
  5. Simile: – Simile means directly comparing one thing with another. The words “like” and “as” are used frequently in simile. “He’s like a rock” compares the person with a rock in a direct manner. Simile can paint pictures in our mind, and hence is used a lot in poetry.
  6. Alliteration: – We learn by examples, so let’s have more of them. “In the soft summer cold was the sun.” The sound of s is repeated for a poetical rhythm and pleasure. That’s called alliteration.
  7. Onomatopoeia: – The rain pitter-patters. The twig snaps. The sheep baa-baas. I’m sure you’re all familiar with these terms and verbs, and this is onomatopoeia.
  8. Enjambment: – From Wikipedia:

Enjambment is the breaking of a syntactic unit (a phrase, clause, or sentence) by the end of a line or between two verses. It is to be contrasted with end-stopping, where each linguistic unit corresponds with a single line, and caesura, in which the linguistic unit ends mid-line. The term is directly borrowed from the French enjambement, meaning “straddling” or “bestriding.”

I’m sure I’ve missed some poetry writing terms. The term assonance comes to mind. Can you give more examples?

Poetry Writing Skills

The best way to master anything is to practise it. So go; write poetry. Let it be bad. Let it be unreadable. Just write. That’s all I’m trying to tell you. But this type of information will be helpful later, so be sure to store it up for future use. Meanwhile, my fingers are tired!

Over to you

Share your experiences on poetry writing. Is there anything I missed while writing this gigantic article? Be sure to share it in the comments.

This post is the fifth instalment in the Creative Writing 101 series.

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Filed Under: Poetry Writing Tagged With: Poetry Writing

Idrees Patel

Idrees Patel is a Bachelor of Management Studies graduate, and is located in India. His goal for Writers’ Treasure to make it a resource which provides in-depth and effective writing advice for writers.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. John Flower says

    March 16, 2011 at 5:59 PM

    I started looking into poetry writing styles, but let it go for most part. The most important thing for me now is just that the poem should flow. If it makes use of hyperbole, is written according to a strict form, but lacks flow, that kind of kills it for me.
    I write a poem, and then read it out loud, and check it for flow issues. If it happens to be a haiku, or a tanka, or whatever, then so be it. As long as it flows, I’m happy.

    Reply
  2. Lucia says

    February 2, 2012 at 7:07 PM

    Hi,

    I am Lucia, a content writer in many educational communities. I have checked your blog (www.writerstreasure.com) while surfing in Google and found some quite interesting articles with lots of information. I would like to give you a unique article on any education related topics or you can also suggest me any education related topic. I would be really thankful, if you allow me to do relevant informative guests post in your blog. I’ll be very glad to be your guest writer and I can give you 100% original informative content for your blog.

    The best part is I won’t be charging you a penny, but in return all I need is just ONE LINK within the article.

    Let me know about your thought !

    Best regards,
    Lucia
    lucia@bestonlinedegree.org

    Reply
    • Idrees says

      February 3, 2012 at 9:41 AM

      I have replied to you by email, Lucia. Please check your mail.

      Reply
    • David Arthur Finney says

      November 19, 2016 at 1:24 AM

      If I wanted to write a book how long would it take me?

      Reply
  3. Summer says

    July 6, 2012 at 2:33 PM

    Thanks for the information Idrees! The information is very useful for beginners who are interested in writing poems. Will recommend this to my friends!

    Reply
    • Idrees says

      September 9, 2012 at 1:10 PM

      Yes, do recommend this please, and thanks!

      Reply
  4. Pragyan says

    March 20, 2014 at 4:47 PM

    Hey, Its nice to learn about the different skills asscociated with peom writing. I believe , poem or stories all of them are a way of expressing our thoughts, so personally i dont like to bound myself in specific style, as long as , it has a FLOW but impleting any of the above style can de tried.

    Reply
  5. Elma says

    May 6, 2014 at 7:18 PM

    I love poetry and love writing Poems. A good poem is one written from the heart.

    A poem is a very creative way of expressing you feelings, that’s why I started a business writing personalised poems.

    Reply
  6. Ahmed Gulzar says

    September 22, 2014 at 6:06 PM

    Hi Idrees, after going through your blog on creative writing, I got my old passion of writing revived.I have written a poem out of my heart and would be glad if you review it and suggest some improvements. I would wait for your reply before I try to reach you. … Thanks

    Reply
    • Idrees Patel says

      October 12, 2014 at 9:16 AM

      Would be glad to review it, bring it on.

      Reply
      • Ahmed Gulzar says

        October 12, 2014 at 5:23 PM

        Nightmare!!!
        Yesternight, in my room, while lying down on my right.
        Looked through the window, saw I, stars and moon full of light.
        With drained spirit, groggy body and deep thoughts inside.
        My eyes closed, body calmed to get rid of that fight.

        In a moment, woke me up, the sound that night.
        With throbbing heart, glanced I at a man with great height.
        “Who you are”, in a feeble voice, murmured I with a plight.
        “Death Angel!” Replied he and “you the one going on a ride”.

        “But quite young am I with oodles of plans in my mind.
        Have mercy on me Oh man with a physique of giant”.
        “Nope! Gulped down did I young, old and child.
        So are you, a young man with dreams of such kind”.

        Clutches open, teeth sparkling and his forehead wide.
        Terrifying was it so that cried I with all might.
        “Lord! Save me as the time is not ripe.
        Nightmare! Stammered I as the dawn around was bright”.

        Reply
  7. Vicki says

    September 28, 2015 at 5:43 AM

    My style of poetry is kind of weird. I usually write in the third person, although I sometimes use the first. I also include dialogue at points, and I make them somewhat like stories. Here is one of them:

    –
    During a dark night
    A girl runs

    Far away from it all

    The pain, the torture, everything
    It was just too much

    “I’m happy,” she whispered,
    As tears formed in her eyes

    Soon, they were flowing
    Freely

    Like the bird whose wings
    She had always envied

    Soon, she reached a gap
    Matching the one in her heart

    “Now I’ll fly,” she declared,
    Taking a step,
    Shattered heart racing

    And for a moment,
    The girl flew

    Before she finally received her wings,
    The ones she had longed for her entire life

    And she flew

    “I’m free.”
    –

    So, that’s pretty much how I write poetry. I would like to know if this fits under any category, and I would also appreciate some feedback as well. Thank you.

    Reply
  8. Vicki says

    September 28, 2015 at 5:50 AM

    Gah!!! As soon as I hit “post comment,” I was told it was a duplicate, but it was not. And now, it it’s not showing up. Anyways, I’ll just repost the poem. If it did post, then I’m sorry you have to see it twice. I would just like some feedback on it, as this is my main style of poetry:

    During a dark night
    A girl runs

    Far away from it all

    The pain, the torture, everything
    It was just too much

    “I’m happy,” she whispered,
    As tears formed in her eyes

    Soon, they were flowing
    Freely

    Like the bird whose wings
    She had always envied

    Soon, she reached a gap
    Matching the one in her heart

    “Now I’ll fly,” she declared,
    Taking a step,
    Shattered heart racing

    And for a moment,
    The girl flew

    Before she finally received her wings,
    The ones she had longed for her entire life

    And she flew

    “I’m free.”

    Thank you for taking the time to read this 🙂

    Reply
  9. Vicki says

    September 28, 2015 at 5:51 AM

    Oh great! NOW it shows up!!!

    Reply
    • Vicki says

      September 28, 2015 at 5:53 AM

      *facewall*

      Reply
  10. V says

    September 28, 2015 at 11:03 PM

    Would this work better with an account?

    Reply
  11. Zoha Umar says

    October 9, 2015 at 12:16 AM

    Greetings!
    Though I consider myself unworthy of critically appreciating any writer’s work, for I’m neither a writer, as to say, nor a good composer but I’m afraid this article is irrelevant in accordance with your title. When I read the title, I was under the impression that I’ll be having some life-saving tips about poetry writing but what eventually came up was nothing but a description about types of poems, types of figures of speech, which, in my opinion has no regard with the art of poetry. I hope it will be edited soon and others may find relevant article about poetry.
    I must admire the rest of your articles, they were indeed helpful!

    Reply
  12. Lavanya shukla says

    May 21, 2016 at 4:45 PM

    Hi Idress . Are good poets and writers born so ,extraordinary or is it everything about practice ? And when u started writing, did you really felt like sitting and writing? Coz I can’t really feel like it and honestly I don’t even do it coz I don’t have ideas to write so should I stop thinking of being a writer( just bcoz of the idea problem )?.Was ur first writing was good or..( Mine was a horrible one so I even didn’t tried of publishing it. Was it a right take . I know I am a really very confused personality).

    Reply
  13. Hajarat Aliyu Danladi says

    February 11, 2019 at 6:47 PM

    I have interest in writing but I only write in my head. May be someday…
    By the way, nice work.

    Reply

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