how to write a book

Poetry can take many forms, from the incredible sonnets from throughout history to the cheeky limericks of modern day. How to write poetry will never alter, the poets themselves however will.

The question is where do you begin when learning how to write poetry? Firstly you need to acquaint yourself with the varying types of poetry, there is free verse also sometimes referred to as light verse. This was born in the 19th century by the poet Walt Whitman, the free verse style of writing poetry is basically as it states, free. To understand properly how to write poetry you need to see it from a poet’s perspective.

Walt Whitman had the desire to write his poetry as he wished it to be, to flow naturally. This was how to write poetry in his eyes, the words should just flow & not necessarily make much sense to the reader but make sense to the actual poet. He felt that writing in a formal fashion was just placing a hindrance on the expression that poets require. He believed that how to write poetry from the heart was to do so with no restrictions at all.

The sonnet type of poetry writing is known as formal poetry, this is due to the fact that it adopts a certain form when written. When learning how to write poetry you may discover that the sonnet is the more difficult type of poem to tackle. It is always a fourteen lined poem written in ‘iambic pentameter,’ to break this down into simpler terms! How to write poetry also consists of learning about the actual way a poem is written, the term ‘iambic pentameter’ refers to the rhythm that the words establish in each line of the poem. The rhythm is always measured in groups of syllables, these groups of syllables are known as ‘feet.’

Discovering how to write poetry is a slightly daunting task to begin with as it is not just a case of writing down words that rhyme by sound, cat, rat & hat, but also learning how to write poetry in the technical sense.

The word ‘iambic’ pertains to the kind of ‘foot’ used within a poem, the other word in the title, ‘pentameter’ indicates that a line of the poem actually has five of these ‘feet.’ Another word that you will observe throughout mastering the art of how to write poetry, is ‘scansion.’

Scansion is the ability to analyse the patterns that formal poems adopt. Do they have the same amount of words contained in each line? Does each second line in a verse rhyme with the fourth line? When learning the ability of how to write poetry you will discover patterns throughout that you would not of noticed before.

To begin with to ascertain how to write poetry you must endeavour to write a poem, you need to decide why you wish to write a poem in the first instance. Do you wish to write through love, loss or about a certain subject such as a pet or a friend?

Then work out your intended mood for the prose, how to write poetry is not just about the words themselves but rather the mood they set, how the reader is intended to interpret the ‘feel’ of the poem. Is it meant to be light & funny, heavy & serious or simply sad & melancholy?

Do not forget that poetry does not have to rhyme, it is your choice if it does or not. How to write poetry does have certain rules but at the end of the day it is an individual choice on how your poem should sound.
Learn here how to write English literature…