A Beginners Guide to Writing Poetry ©

Rhyming Poetry

Below is an example of a rhyming poem, written in the traditional couplet form - that is each pair of lines rhymes.

Ideally the lines will also flow well, something best highlighted when you come to read a poem out loud.

This example is not intended to be perfect, so do try to spot and comment on parts that could be changed.

Poetry Forms - The Triolet 

This is a traditional form originating from France circa the 13th century, which became popular here in England with poets like Thomas Hardy & Robert Bridges (poet laureate 1913 - 1930) as a form to develop serious pieces, after a long period during which it was primarily a vehicle for comic poems.

The form is quite easy to pen and is one that probably deserves a 'come back', and may well suit those poets who wish to take a step beyond the less formal styles. You can choose to take the comic or serious paths to suit your topic.

Triolets are short poems of eight lines with only two rhymes that are repeated throughout.

The rules of this fixed form are straightforward:

The first line is repeated in the 4th and 7th lines;

The second line is repeated in the final line;

The first two end-words are used to complete the tight rhyme scheme.

Therefore we only write 5 original lines, giving the triolet a deceptively simple appearance - the main trick is to ensure the first two lines will suit the repeat pattern:-  ABaAabAB, where capital letters indicate repeated lines.

Examples:

How Great My Grief

How great my grief, my joys how few,
Since first it was my fate to know thee!

What Is 'Real Poetry'?

'Real Poetry' would be defined differently by many simply because it is a 'living' form of writing that speaks with many voices to millions of people who do not all view poetry with one homogenous viewpoint.

My own preference is for Rhyming forms such as couplets, sonnets, etc, which are inherently lyrical and as such add an extra dimension to those forms that are nearer to being prose. But looking around the world we can find so very many forms that due to widely varying linguistic structures are harder to appreciate at first sight.

The western world has taken a growing interest in the rather compact forms of poetry that originated in eastern countries such as Japan, Korea, etc. 

Presentation will make a big difference to how your work is viewed by readers, so it is worth considering this for every poem. There are many variations that you might like to use, such as dividing the text into stanzas, use of puntuation, capitals on the leading words, etc.

Visually the poem can look more appealing when it is formatted with a degree of care - a left hand justification or a centre justification are the most common choices - try both to see which looks best before you show your poem to others.