The Creation of a Poem
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Once you have an initial spark of inspiration, you have a seed that can germinate into a meaningful poem, and you are ready to take that vital first step in starting writing.
A completely blank sheet of paper can, however, seem one of the most daunting things in the world. Yet, asking and answering three simple questions can get the creative juices flowing:
- why is this subject so important?
- what issues do I want the reader to consider?
- what do I want my reader to do in response?
One of the poems featured on this website – “The Gift of Sight” – is an example of what can be achieved using this framework.
The poem opens by stating its important theme - the immensity of the blessing that our eyesight is, highlighted in particular when seen in comparison with those “imprisoned in a world of permanent night.”
The body of the poem expands and develops the theme, as the reader is led to consider just a few of the joyous and soul-thrilling spectacles the human eye can behold.
As the reader is drawn to agree that our lives truly are enriched by all we are privileged to see, the poem concludes with a suggested response from the reader – that they “thank the God of creation for the priceless gift of sight.”
Thus, in following these steps, each poem will have an introduction, a middle and a succinct and logical conclusion. As such, the mechanics of writing a poem are very similar to those employed in essay composition.
Wherever possible, write in 4 or 6 line verses, where each verse deals with a separate element of the overall theme, and which breaks at a logical point.
The big plus factor of doing this is that your reader will more readily grasp the message being shared if the poem is written in easily digestible chunks.
And, just as cinematographers will often shoot the final scene of a film first, then strive to make every preceding scene point forward to this, a similar approach when writing poetry can pay rich dividends.
“A Mother’s Love” – another poem featured on this website – is a very good example of using the techniques of writing in verses, and of building a poem around and towards its grand conclusion.
The opening verse of “A Mother’s Love” suitably sets the scene – a mother holding her newborn bundle of joy for the very first time, with the reader being reminded of the priceless blessing that baby would know – “a dear mother’s love”.
Verses 2 – 5 then develop separate elements of the overall theme – the unbreakable and ever deepening bond between mother and child (verse 2); and the mother’s attentiveness and loving care (verse 3), devotion (verse 4) and selflessness (verse 5).
Thus the message in verses 1 – 5 has amply demonstrated and proven the sentiments in the concluding verse, as to how the mother in question had “to motherhood's noble claims … answered the call / And duly responded by giving nothing less than her all.”
So, another tried and proven strategy is to determine:
- What will your poem’s concluding message be?
- How will you introduce your subject in the opening verse
- What thoughts must be addressed in the intervening verses to tie in with the poem’s concluding message?
Once you have allocated ideas for each verse, and arranged these in a logical order, you now have the essential building blocks upon which to construct a meaningful poem.
As regards the timeframe needed to write a good poem, this depends quite considerably on how strongly you feel about the subject, and on how inspired you are feeling at time of composition. You will rarely be able to write well if feeling overly tired, stressed or worried about something.
As a general rule of thumb, though, the time needed to hone and fine tune the wording, and to ensure the whole poem flows and reads well, can often take just as long as the time taken to complete the initial draft. Patience and perseverance, though, have their own rewards.
And one final but important point - by always endeavouring to put yourself in the position of your target audience, each poem will become targetted to meet a particular need.
Guidance on the vital considerations of rhyme and metre are covered in detail on the following pages “The Measure of Metre” and “Rhyme Management”.
A completely blank sheet of paper can, however, seem one of the most daunting things in the world. Yet, asking and answering three simple questions can get the creative juices flowing:
- why is this subject so important?
- what issues do I want the reader to consider?
- what do I want my reader to do in response?
One of the poems featured on this website – “The Gift of Sight” – is an example of what can be achieved using this framework.
The poem opens by stating its important theme - the immensity of the blessing that our eyesight is, highlighted in particular when seen in comparison with those “imprisoned in a world of permanent night.”
The body of the poem expands and develops the theme, as the reader is led to consider just a few of the joyous and soul-thrilling spectacles the human eye can behold.
As the reader is drawn to agree that our lives truly are enriched by all we are privileged to see, the poem concludes with a suggested response from the reader – that they “thank the God of creation for the priceless gift of sight.”
Thus, in following these steps, each poem will have an introduction, a middle and a succinct and logical conclusion. As such, the mechanics of writing a poem are very similar to those employed in essay composition.
Wherever possible, write in 4 or 6 line verses, where each verse deals with a separate element of the overall theme, and which breaks at a logical point.
The big plus factor of doing this is that your reader will more readily grasp the message being shared if the poem is written in easily digestible chunks.
And, just as cinematographers will often shoot the final scene of a film first, then strive to make every preceding scene point forward to this, a similar approach when writing poetry can pay rich dividends.
“A Mother’s Love” – another poem featured on this website – is a very good example of using the techniques of writing in verses, and of building a poem around and towards its grand conclusion.
The opening verse of “A Mother’s Love” suitably sets the scene – a mother holding her newborn bundle of joy for the very first time, with the reader being reminded of the priceless blessing that baby would know – “a dear mother’s love”.
Verses 2 – 5 then develop separate elements of the overall theme – the unbreakable and ever deepening bond between mother and child (verse 2); and the mother’s attentiveness and loving care (verse 3), devotion (verse 4) and selflessness (verse 5).
Thus the message in verses 1 – 5 has amply demonstrated and proven the sentiments in the concluding verse, as to how the mother in question had “to motherhood's noble claims … answered the call / And duly responded by giving nothing less than her all.”
So, another tried and proven strategy is to determine:
- What will your poem’s concluding message be?
- How will you introduce your subject in the opening verse
- What thoughts must be addressed in the intervening verses to tie in with the poem’s concluding message?
Once you have allocated ideas for each verse, and arranged these in a logical order, you now have the essential building blocks upon which to construct a meaningful poem.
As regards the timeframe needed to write a good poem, this depends quite considerably on how strongly you feel about the subject, and on how inspired you are feeling at time of composition. You will rarely be able to write well if feeling overly tired, stressed or worried about something.
As a general rule of thumb, though, the time needed to hone and fine tune the wording, and to ensure the whole poem flows and reads well, can often take just as long as the time taken to complete the initial draft. Patience and perseverance, though, have their own rewards.
And one final but important point - by always endeavouring to put yourself in the position of your target audience, each poem will become targetted to meet a particular need.
Guidance on the vital considerations of rhyme and metre are covered in detail on the following pages “The Measure of Metre” and “Rhyme Management”.
