We are emphasizing the creativity of your thinking and imagination
in relation to project topics and inviting you to express that creativity
in words and images rather than offering formal instruction in poetic principles.
Your original poem composed during and for this project should be at
least 12 lines long. Other than that, you decide whether to have no
rhyme (known as open form, which used to be called free verse) or traditional
end rhyme (arranged in a conventional pattern or not) or any variation.
You can compose a poem for print or for the Web as a hypertext.
- Draft your poem the same way you would a work of prose: prewriting
activities like freewriting, brainstorming, and mind mapping or clustering
can help you get started.
- Choose words, phrases, and images, in particular figurative images
such as metaphors and similes, for their suggestiveness, richness, and
concentration of meaning.
- Revise your poem to arrange units of meaning in lines and groups
of lines: Poetic lines make their own margins according to meaning and
sound rather than follow predetermined page margins, and poems
have stanzas instead of paragraphs.
- Sound is of particular importance in poetry, so consider the
sounds of your own poem: read it aloud, listen to it read aloud. Edgar
Allan Poe said that sound was more important than sense in poetry (although
I'm not sure he really meant it, he did say that the most melancholy
English word was—you guessed it—"Nevermore!").
- To anticipate eventual publication of your poem to a Website,
try your poem with an audience: read it to a friend, have a friend read
it to you, have a friend read it to you and talk to you about it.
For more detailed notes, see Poetry Guide: Reading and Writing for Understanding. For more examples and information about poetry and other literary sites online, see Online Literary Resources.
for educational purposes only
Website developed 1996 and modified February 2005 by D. Reiss
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