Sunday, August 17, 2014

Tips For Writing Passionate Poetry

By Linda Ruiz


Poetry often tends to be personal. However learning structure is not necessarily creatively restrictive. It can make it easier to put your ideas to paper and make them more effective. In short whether you want to write for yourself, a loved one, for a class or for a publication with the right approach you will be able to write passionate poetry.

One way to express yourself is by finding the right form of poem. Knowing the different structures can often make it easier to put your thoughts into effective images. Indeed some can provide messages within the poem that may not always be instantly obvious on the first read.

The next thing to do is to consider what passion means to you personally. The easiest way is to brainstorm. Put the word passion in the middle of a spider diagram and writing down words that you personally associate with the word passion and what you consider passionate.

Passion is different from love. You can love something but not necessarily be passionate about it. In this sense it often means people abandoning society or some form of restriction. In this instance the images may invoke colours like deep dark red or animals like wild horses as this indicates the lack of control and the power that these emotions evoke.

In some cases what you write can apply to other things. An image from a dream may also work as a metaphor to describe someone you love. This is something that can develop over several drafts as you find the different elements of your subconscious into a creative structure.

Another example is what is known as blank verse. This is where an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable. William Shakespeare was the master of this particular form and often used it in the speeches in his plays. And if it is good enough for Shakespeare to express the inner turmoil of Hamlet then it is worth exploring!

Whatever form you use it is best to restrict it to around 20 or 30 lines in order to make it easier to find a structure that suits your particular rhythm. If it is an acrostic then it will be as long as the particular name or word that you want to spell out. Each line should be around 10 syllables as this will make it easier to create an effective rhythm. Over time it will become easier to create something in your own voice.

Finally the best way is to read more poems around subjects that you like. Some people worry about this for fear of being accused of stealing ideas. However you can avoid this by reading a wide range of poems by a variety of poets. Use your regular search engine to find poems and more advice on how to write your own.




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