Writers can create worlds, experiences, and feelings through their writings and arrangement of words. They can lend their perspective, creativity, and imagination to their readers and listeners. One of the best ways a writer can creatively express themselves and their perspective is through a poem.
A poem is a written arrangement of various words that may or may not follow a specific pattern, structure, and rhyme scheme, all to convey a specific message, feeling, concept, or experience. The poem is a subject text that hinges on the author’s point of view and perspective.
A well-written poem can touch and affect the people who listen and read the poet’s words. The writer or author can creatively create a poem by infusing various literary elements and devices like similes and metaphors to improve the quality and relatability of the poem.
Before you will write the content of the poem, you must first select the specific subtype of poem you are going to write. This is very important as each subtype of the poem has a specific poetic structure, writing scheme, and other specific factors.
After you have selected the type of poem you will write, you will need to plan out the overall concept of your poem. This can include introspection, research, organization, mind-mapping concepts, and brainstorming.
If you like planning or want to have a base for your poem, then you may opt to create an outline of the content of your poem. This will not only help you go through writing blocks, but the outline will also help you guide your writing in a specific direction.
When you have completed all the steps above, you will now write your poem. Be sure to properly pace the content of your poem and the usage of various literary devices.
After you have completed writing your poem, you should reread your poem and edit it. You can use a test audience and discuss the poem with them to help improve the quality of your poem.
There are many subcategories of poems that are organized based on their form, rhyming pattern, and word count. These subcategories can be further grouped into two categories called a free-form poem and a structured poem. A free-form poem is a specific type of poem that does not have a specified structure, word count, and rhyme scheme. Many slam poems fall under this specific category. This is juxtaposed with a structured poem, which is a specific type of poem that forces the artist or author to follow a specific and defined format or structure.
One can find many real-life examples of masterfully written poems around the world. Robert Frost is a famous poet who has written many poems; one of his most famous poems is named “The road not taken”. Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, has also written poems, one of which was featured in his book called “The Jabberwocky.” Some ancient poems harken back to epic myths and legends, the Nordic “Poetic Edda” has stanzas that detail the rise and fall of gods. Beowulf, another example of a historical poem, is a Germanic-English poem that details the story and journey of the hero Beowulf as slays the giant Grendel.
The length of the poem is wholly dependent on the chosen type of poem the person will write. If the writer wants to write a free-form poem, then there is no upper limit to the length of the poem. The only caveat in free-form poetry is that the poem has to be digestible, which means that the poem has to be both interesting and understandable. Structured poems, on the other hand, have specific lengths attached to the writer’s chosen subtype. For example, if the writer has chosen to write a haiku, then they will need to limit the length of their poem to three lines.
A poem is a type of consumable literature that may have a specific structure and composition. The poem is the writer’s effort to try and express a specific sentiment and concept to an audience. When the poem is written very well, then it can impact the audience in many different ways.