Activity

@lin, @evelyn, @k-a-grey, @the-fledgling-artist, @eden-anderson… (I think I got everyone)

I’m so glad you are thinking of poetry! That in and of itself is payment enough (though I will take some hedge-hugs or normal hugs!). Evelyn gave you some excellent advice, so some of what I’m saying will be copying her with different words (sometimes you need to hear the same thing several different ways before you understand it, though!)

I started out with rhyming, and I think that’s the best way to go because it’s the most simple to understand the pattern and structure of poetry. Placing hard rules for yourself (like you must rhyme) makes it easier to grasp a concept because you have smaller chunks to deal with. Of course, that’s just my opinion.

Here’s my first challenge/lesson/example thingy:

To start, get an idea in your head (I’m going to take dogs) and come up with a few lines.
Example: Do I see a wagging tail? / What’s this friendly face?

Once you have them, began to figure out how to rhyme your next half of the stanza
Example: That bark never was a wail / licks aren’t a disgrace.

Go online to help you think up rhymes if you’re stuck. If that doesn’t help, then you can change the original stanza to give yourself something easier to work with
Example: Do I see a wagging tail? / Here he comes to play! / That bark never was a wail / simply a “good day!”.

I would write out your rough draft with whatever semi-coherent rhymes come to your head and make them better later. I usually end up experimenting a lot with different word choices before I’m happy with it (for instance, I don’t like my tail/wail rhyme because wailing seems out-of-the-blue. I would mess with that later if I liked the poem enough).

Another thing I didn’t talk about much was the meter. I do have one in my example, and it has to do with where I would stress the syllable if I were reading out loud. If you’re struggling to find the meter, try reading it rap-style.
Example: Do I see a wagging tail? / Here he comes to play! / That bark never was a wail / simply a “good day!”

If you follow my example, the bold is the stressed syllable, and the normal is the de-stressed syllables. The way to make a meter is to have a pattern of stressed to de-stressed, with only minor variations if necessary (in this case, the meter is: 1 3 1 2 / 1 3 1)

If you’re struggling to understand that much, start by simply counting syllables in each line, and then worry about the stress afterward.

Homework: give it a try!

a) pick a topic

b) write two lines about the topic

c) try to rhyme the next two lines

d) count syllables

e) fine tune stress/de-stress points.

Send me what you do (even if you don’t follow my homework)! I’d love to see your work.

Just remember that everything takes practice, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get much more creative than dogs wagging tails. The great content comes later! One of my first poems I uncovered went like this:
   Once we went to visit Ramseys
   The journey was very long
   But once we got there he was wearing his jamseys
   And singing a bedtime song!

Not very good at all (but still fun)! But the thing is, I got better with practice. Poetry might come more naturally to some than others, anybody can do it!

I can’t wait to see what you all have! I’ll talk about free-verse in my next post (though it is harder even for me to understand!).