Your poetry homework is for tomorrow, but you have no idea what to write. However, filling a blank page may not be as difficult as you think. Pick a theme or subject, write from your heart, and go through the draft to create a free verse poem that you can be proud to deliver.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Write Your Own Free Verse Poem
Step 1. Choose a subject or topic
Maybe you want to write a poem about your newborn brother or your favorite pet rock. You can also focus on a specific event like your last birthday party, or a topic like love, anger, or sadness.
If you are having trouble choosing a topic, try closing your eyes and visualize events, people, or objects that are meaningful to you. Select one that stands out, particularly if it is one with whom you have an emotional bond
Step 2. Think about how you would like to approach the topic or issue
Are you going to write from a certain point of view, like in the first or third person? Are you going to focus on a specific scene or are you going to write more generally about a topic?
- It can be helpful to decide in advance what you want to say on the subject; If you write about a beloved pet that died, your goal may be to recapture your pet's personality and character in the poem.
- You could also consider how you can choose certain words or phrases to describe the issue, situation, or theme you are trying to reflect. For example, if you are trying to describe a fight scene, you could use short words with strong consonants like cutting, hitting, hitting, kicking, poking, prodding, jumping. Be aware of long words with soft sounds, as well as pauses between lines or words that will cause the reader to not go fast.
Step 3. Write a list of images or keywords that relate to your topic or topic
Since you don't need to worry much about rhyme, meter or structure, feel free to explore your topic and write as many pictures and descriptions as you can.
- For example, if you describe your last birthday party, you could start by describing who was at the party, the gifts you received, and how you felt during the party. Another alternative is to write a poem about your pet rock and imagine how the rock would perceive the world.
- If you get stuck on how to describe a certain event or feeling, use sensory descriptions that explore sight, touch, taste, smell, and touch. So instead of just writing, "I blew out the candles," you could include sensory details like the heat of the candles on the cake, the smell of the wax burning, and the way the candles looked on the cake just before. to turn them off.
Step 4. Make a first draft
Use the keyword list to help you describe a scene or explore a topic. Focus on using resources like metaphors, similes, alliterations, and personifications. These resources will help you create a stronger and more effective free verse poem.
Don't worry too much about coming up with a perfect first draft, as you will edit and correct it in the next draft
Step 5. Correct and edit the draft
Read the first draft out loud and write down the lines or sections that have a certain rhythm or tone, as well as any lines where a word or phrase sounds muffled or bland.
- Look at the places where you could add or improve a description. For example, instead of telling the reader "they were happy," you could use a more visual description, such as "they had big smiles."
- Also remember that poetry does not require the use of complete sentences, so "they had big smiles" could be reduced to "they had big smiles." A poem can make sense without using complete sentences.
- Think about how the pauses between words or lines affect the meaning of the poem. If you describe a roller coaster ride, you may want to play with the structure of the line and move words up or down on the page. Or if you describe a time when you felt trapped or claustrophobic, you may want to summarize the lines so that they appear as a single block of text.
Step 6. Read the final draft to someone else before submitting it
It can be difficult to see your poem closely, especially if you have worked hard on it and produced multiple drafts. So don't be afraid to read it out loud to a willing audience and listen to their comments.
The goal is to create a free verse poem that explores your topic or theme in a unique way that sounds good and has emotion or feeling. Be sure to ask your audience if they think your poem has all of these elements
Part 2 of 2: Understanding the Structure of the Free Verse Poem
Step 1. Don't hesitate to express yourself, but don't forget that you are still writing a poem
Technically, there is no fixed structure for a free verse poem, as there are no rules about the meter or rhyme scheme. That way, you have the freedom to express yourself in almost any way you can imagine. However, some poets argue that the lack of rules can actually be more difficult and demanding, as the poet Robert Frost does when describing the difficulty of composing a free verse poem as "playing tennis without a net."
While there are no rules for the free verse poem, it is still a form of artistic expression, so it is important to create compelling emotions and images that your reader can see and feel, and express yourself clearly
Step 2. Look at several examples of effective free verse poetry
Although free verse has not been Robert Frost's favorite, many other poets have used the breadth of form to their advantage and have approached free verse poetry in their own unique way. It can be helpful to take a closer look at several examples, including the following:
- "After the Sea-ship" ("On the high seas aboard ships") by Walt Whitman
- "Little Father" by Li-Young Lee
- "Winter Poem" ("Winter Poem") by Nikki Giovanni
- "Fog" ("Fog") by Carl Sandberg
- "in Just-" ("Just-") by E. E. Cummings
Step 3. Analyze the examples
Read the examples out loud and consider how they are effective. Do they have a certain rhythm or meter despite appearing as free verse and without using rhyme? Do they create strong images through description, choice of words, or a certain mood or humor?
- Identify any metaphors or similes. Think about how they work effectively to reveal details or create images associated with the theme of the poem.
- Write down any examples of alliteration, which is a literary device where the first sound in a series of words is the same. Alliteration is a way in which the poet can create a particular sound, feeling, mood in the poem. For example, in Whitman's poem "On the High Seas Aboard Ships", there are two examples of alliteration in the first line of the poem "Ship Navigate" and "Zephyr Sing," which then set the tone for the rest of the poem.
- Identify any personifications. Personification is a device that takes an inanimate object and describes it as if it were animate or had life. For example, in Sandberg's "Fog", the fog is personified as having "fluffy cat pads" and in Giovanni's "Winter Poem", the snowflake is personified as "happy" and the other snowflakes are he treats them as "his cousins and brothers."
- Consider whether the poem pauses with the traditional form of a line poem, and how the form of the poem adds to the overall meaning or theme of the poem. For example, in the poem "Justamente-" by E. E. Cummings, the separation of lines so that there is more space between certain words and the arrangement of certain words so that they move across the page suggests some variability or downward movement in the poem.