Writing Lessons
POETRY LESSON 02:
POETRY WRITING CLASSES

POETRY WORDS?

      *   EASIER THAN A STORY OR NOVEL
                     *   BEDROCK OF YOUR POEM
                     *   PAINT IN YOUR WORD PICTURE
                     *   EXPRESS FEELINGS, THOUGHTS, OPINIONS

What is a poem without words?  This is something worth considering.  Why?  Because you have so few words in a poem.  Rambling and going off topic brings richness to a novel; it is the creation of bad or weak poetry.

* MAIN TYPES OF WORDS

The best poems always include concrete words.  What are concrete words?  Things so real as to be immediately sensed or seeming hard and hard wired.  CONCRETE WORDS are structure, good words to use, understandable words. Tree, rock, book, queen, king, girl, boy, rose, heart, air, bell, ring, bitter, sweet, hit, stroke, press, sun, moon.  Things anyone can immediately see, taste, touch, hear, smell.  Concrete words can be used alone. Concrete words tend to be nouns!

One good exercise is to sift through your dictionary or computer dictionary and simply note concrete words.  You'll find they almost immediately appear in the mind.  These are anchor words.  But for flavor, since words are the paint in your poem; paper is your canvas, mix things up a bit with abstract words.

ABSTRACT WORDS are structure, but don't use too many.  Abstract words tend to be nothing or everything words.  Love, hate, pain, frustration, joy, happiness, wonderful, what do they bring to mind?  No particular thing or so many things.  Abstract words have to be used carefully with concrete words.  If you have to choose between abstract words and concrete words choose concrete.  Abstract words must be used with concrete words.  My love is a red, red, rose by Shakespeare comes to mind.  Love is abstract. Red rose is concrete.  By the way excellent metaphors come from combining concrete and abstract words.  Abstract words tend to be adjectives.  Verbs tend to be abstract words.

DENOTATION AND CONNOTATIONS WORDS are structure.  If these sound familiar and you're getting a sense of feeling, touching, seeing, hearing, tasting denotative words, you'd be correct.  DENOTATION words are exactly words like concrete words, but not of the most perfect word for your particular poem. 

CONNOTATIONS should give you a hazy, probably feeling or mind image--similar to abstract words.  So yes these connotative words suggests several meanings so they are a good for poetry.  These words have a kind of abstractness about them.  

Vehicle is a connotation of car.  Car is a denotation word for vehicle.  As you've notice vehicle could suggests an airplane, buggy, wagon, train, car, motorcycle.  Well car is basically a car, maybe some different type of car, Lexus, ford, Honda, but car is all you get out of the word.  Connotations tend to be nouns.

Real pleasure in poetry comes from blending these fsix types of words together:

                                            CONCRETE + ABSTRACT

DENOTATIVE + CONNOTATIVE

NOUNS + VERBS  

You'll be surprised what fancy, imaginative pictures, feelings, concepts and even entire topics can surface by simply combining these two differing sets of words.  One of the brilliant results is what's call a metaphor -- a striking image.  The Pen is mightier. 

METAPHORS are structure.  A type of imagery.  Imagery is very important in poetry because again it has a concrete-conotation/ denotative-abstract quality about it.  Best of all worlds.

*  HOW TO MAKE METAPHORS.

  I am a CONCRETE WORD + ABSTRACT WORD.
  I am a DENOTATIVE WORD + CONNOTATIVE WORD.
  My boat is a ABSTRACT OR CONNOTATIVE WORD.
  __________ is a feeling/touch/taste/sound/sight word.


SIMILIES are structure.  A type of imagery.  Similes are a combination of concrete-conotation/ denotative-abstract words as well. 

*  HOW TO MAKE SIMILIES.

  I am a CONCRETE WORD like a ABSTRACT WORD.
  I see DENOTATIVE WORD like CONNOTATIVE WORD.
  My boat is like ABSTRACT OR CONNOTATIVE WORD.
  __________ is like feeling/touch/taste/sound/sight word.

SYMBOLS are structure.  They often come from a metaphor or simile. the imagery grows in importance as the poem proceeds.  Use three times at least in a short story, but perhaps twice in a short poem and at least three times in a longer four stanza plus poem.

ALLUSIONS are structure.  A type of historical imagery.  She didn't believe in dropping crumbs in the hopes of finding her way out of the forest of love, if her relationship failed miserably.  Well this alludes to Hansel and Gretal.


*  HOW CAN YOU IMPROVE THE WORDS YOU USE IN POEMS?

1) Start paying attention to what physical form the word is?  What does the word look friendly?  Does it look cold or warm?  Does it look sensual?  Does it look complicated or hard?  Is it hard to pronounce or read?  Can you sing the word?  Is it an old fashion or archaic word?  For example, Jack and Jill's relationship grew cold.  Really?  Exactly what type of cold did it grow into?  See list box below in the side bar to your right..








2) More importantly start putting random words into your poems.

3) I gave you a link to a free poetry program.  This program enables you to collect list of all kinds. 

4) Another way to collect list of words is crossword puzzles and word search books.  Those tiny little books you find at the checkout stands in grocery stores.  They cost about $1.00 or $2.00 and list all types of category of words to search for.

5) When you read certain magazines or books, start writing down their terminology.  For example you're reading an art magazine.  Jot down the art terminology.  Jot down the sailing terminology. 

5a) At The Beach words: bag, ball, barbeque, bathe, beach, beach beer bikinis birds blue
boards boardwalk boating boats body breeze bum burn burnt cameras castles cave charcoals cold  conch  condo dip diver dog drinks drip fish swimming swimsuits tan
teenagers teens terrytapp tide tourists towel

6) Collect one syllable words, two syllable words and three syllable words.  These make simple poems and great songs by the way.

7) Collect words that sound the same, like all the house, mouse, louse, spouse. 

8) With the free IPoetry program, you can collect random words from various list.  I collected these random words:

mention greatest brazers incase rearing snicker degree
roundup spraying papaws
stillness pushers strudel acting
verdict cahoot linkup
lardy brussels tidbit beetles
exert tosses afar yanqui
monstrance shimmers mandrels bustlers gipsy
puckish quatrains jitters punch-out ingrown flashcubes
lumping sextant silty entrains tableau
brando hatless pollster
rebuffed procure decimal masseur

Almost some instant metaphors in this random list.

9) Take your list and switch words around within the sentence and within them.

10) Take your list and create some incomplete sentences:
monstrance  _____ shimmers _________mandrels bustlers ____________gipsy
puckish quatrains ______  jitters punch-out ingrown flashcubes
_________ lumping _______sextant silty _________entrains tableau
brando hatless pollster _________
_______ebuffed procure decimal ______masseur
Now fill in those blank spaces with words.  One way is to put simple words and short words next to long and complicated words.

11)  Take these random words and put them at the end or beginning of a sentence.

______________________shimmers
mandrels__________________gipsy
puckish quatrains ______________ 
jitters _________________
punch-out flashcubes ________________

Next, make complete, sensible sentences.  Maybe you'll have to drop the plural from shimmers for example to shimmer.

And all night long the fairies shimmer
Like dancing mandrel gipsies.
Jitters and dew fell amongst the leaves.
Punched-out flashcubes jewels of light.


12) Often times we get stuck on familiar words.  We all have a collection of words we use over and over again and don't notice them.  Those reading our works do notice these constellation words.  Break this up by tossing in random words and making them fit the sense of your poem.  This will freshen up your poetry quite a bit. 

13) Freshening up your prose also stretches your poetry mind, as you scramble to make the line make sense.

14) How about a poem with one concrete word in the middle of each line.

15) Put rhyme words at the line's end and make sentences to match them as you write.  This will greatly improve your ability to rhyme without sacrificing the meaning of your poem. 

Off they went bolts of light
handoffs into the dark night;
Chekhov would love to write
How the baker loved to goof-off

16)  Listen to the words you write as you write them.  Listen for their sound.  Listen for their meaning.  Listen for their rhythm.  Listen for their taste. 

The crunch and screech clutter and crash
did not stop the monkey from his watery splash.
So the trees did bend and spend their weight.
The Malaysian tree monkey mumbled aloud
and avowed like a clown before he kerplunked.


* TO HELP YOU HEAR WORD'S SOUND FOLLOW THIS GUIDE

LIQUIDS:        L--M--N--NG--R--GLIDE OR SOFT AND MELLOW
ASPIRATES:  H--Y--G (SOFT)--SOUND IN THROAT, UGLY SOUNDS
SIBLIANTS:    S--Z--C (SOFT)--HISS
LABIALS:       P--B--F--PH--V--SOUND WITH LIPS, EXPLOSIVE SOUNDS, STOP ABILITY
PALATALS:    K--C (HARD

Euphony – Harmony
Ps – Bs Plosives
Ts – Ds –Ths  Dentals
Ss – SHs – Zs  Sibilants
Ms – Ns – NGs –Nasals
Fs – Vs Fricatives
Gs – Ks Gutturals

Soft (c as in cellar words) use L-M-N-R-S-V-W-Y  Hard  (c as in crazy)  use G-H-K-P-T-Z

Words repeating vowel sounds (assonance)
-Os   -an hour   more   nor  
-Es   -less
-Is
-As

Cacophony–dissonance – disharmony means mixing euphony words together not in proper groupings
Ex.  Were they not forced with those that should be ours.


* WORDS HAVE METERS OR RHYTHMS OF STRESS AND UNSTRESS

Double Meter Words

1.  IAMBIC  METER   (ta-TUM) (double meter)

* =   *   =    *    =      *    =
Iambic feet are firm and flat

  *       =        *      =   * =  *      =
And come down heavily like that.     Rising meter    




2.  TROCHEE METER (TUM-Ta) (double meter)

=        *       =    *   =   * =     *
Trochees dancing very lightly

=       *      =    *    =      *  =       *
Sparkle, froth and bubble brightly.      Falling meter use for incantations





3.  SPONDEE METER (TUM-TUM) (double meter)

  =        =
Head- Long

  =      =
Robs not



4.  PYRRHIC METER (ta-ta) (double meter)

  *    *
With a



Triple Meters Words

5.  ANAPEST METER (ta-ta-TUM)  (triple meter)

   *      *     =       *     *     =     *       *     =    *   =
While for speed and for haste such rhythmn is best,

*     *   =     *   *    =    *    *    =      * *  =
As we find in the race of the quick anapest.     Tripping, skipping meter for excitement




6.  DACTYLIC METER (TUM-ta-ta) (triple meter)

=     *  *  =     *   *  =    *   *  =    *  *
Dactylic daintiness lilting so prettily.

=          *   *    =   *  *    =    *   *     =  * *
Moves about fluttering rather than wittily   Awkward meter for grotest  uses




7.  AMPHIBRACH METER (ta-TUM-ta)

*  =     *
Believing

*   =    *
Abandom




8.  AMPHIMACER / AMPHICRETIC METER (TUM-ta-TUM)

=    *  =
Manifest

=     *   =
Matternal


SO GET OUT THERE AND PUT PEN/PENCIL TO PAPER
OR COMPUTER KEYBOARD TO SCREEN AND WRITE YOUR POEM!
This page was last updated: July 2, 2011
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