The Poetry Editor

The Poetry Editor website gives poets more for less

2012-01-31T21:37:00.000-05:00

Have you seen the new layout and design for The Poetry Editor website? You’ll find less wordage but an extra page for hotlinks to lists of traditional Poetry Markets such as literary journals, e-zines, and other publishers open to your poems and your manuscripts for children too.

If you prefer to self-publish a poetry book or chapbook, you will find a reduced price for a much-needed final Edit. Fees have also been lowered for a Writing Consult on your children’s picture book text and also on proposals for your full-length fiction and nonfiction book for any age group.

Although the Poetry Critique pricing could not be further reduced for batches of poems and poetry chapbooks, The Poetry Editor will try to work with you on a full length book of poetry. Just email a summary of your theme, purpose, publishing plans, number of double-spaced pages, and the general time-frame for your project.

For ongoing tips about writing, revising, editing, and marketing poems in all forms and sizes, Follow this blog, which, hopefully, will be on a more regular schedule soon.

~~
© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved.

Poetry Insights from The Poetry Editor of vox poetica

2012-01-05T13:43:00.001-05:00

The Poetry Editor blog began in hopes of helping poets to become their own best poetry editors, and with experience and practice that will indeed happen, but the New Year offers a timely time to take another tack and revise the initial intent. Therefore, in this article, and, hopefully, others to come, The Poetry Editor will bring you interviews with real-live poetry editors to give you a realistic view of the editorial work that goes into poetry-making and poetry publishing. If you’re a poetry editor who would like to participate, I’d be glad to hear from you. At present, I'll start with poetry editors I’ve worked with – ones who accepted my poems for publication (thank you very much!) and, preferably, ones who write their own poems in addition to editing ours.

This naturally brought to mind Annmarie Lockhart, whose words appear in fine journals, online and in print. She’s also the founding editor of vox poetica, an online literary salon dedicated to bringing poetry into the everyday, and the founder of unbound CONTENT, an independent press for a boundless age. A lifelong resident of Bergen County, NJ, Annmarie lives, works, and writes two miles east of the hospital where she was born, but her creativity and innovative work on behalf of poets and poetry is, well, unbound.

Annmarie, how did you get started with vox poetica?

I think the same way a lot of editors get started with journals: I was looking for something that didn't seem to exist. I wanted to read a journal that published daily poetry content and that spoke to a wide variety of readers. I was reading amazing work on personal blogs, so I knew there were tons of good writers looking to be read. I wanted to create a space where those writers and others like them could come to share their words. We are lucky to live in a technological age with few barriers to entry. Creating the website was simple, sending it out into the world was exciting, and watching it grow has been a creative life source beyond my expectations.

That’s wonderful to hear! Sometimes expectations limit us, for example, when poets expect or, perhaps, fear that revising and editing will ruin their poems. As a poetry editor, how would you help poets to see the value of good editing?

Editing can be the difference between a good poem and a great poem. At the very least, it can help ensure that the words are all spelled correctly and that any unconventionalities of grammar/ usage/ punctuation are intended for artistic merit and not mistakes. Sometimes editing reveals where a writer might have gone off point or, inadvertently, composed a second poem somewhere within the first. Or it can clear away the redundancies that many of us build into our poems because we're so focused on words and not meaning. It's hard to learn to cut mercilessly. Sometimes it's easier to let someone else do that, but whether it's oneself or another set of eyes, an edit stage is crucial to all poems.

A great example of this is a work-in-progress at unbound CONTENT where Alice Shapiro's manuscript Saltian became a living editing experiment. Alice wanted to explore the idea of there being many views of the same poem, so we assembled a board of editors and assigned them all individual poems from the manuscript to critique. We then posted those at unbound CONTENT's blog to open the poems and the critiques up to readers. After that Alice took the work back and revised each poem based on the collected feedback. As the author she reserved the right to make any, all, or no changes to her original poems, of course. But the result is a collection of work and a sampling of other ways to render that work. It really speaks to the creativity and wonder of the editing process. I would encourage writers to have fun with editing and definitely not to fear it.

Does a poetry edit or revision risk any loss of the poet's voice?

It shouldn't. If the voice fades in the editing process, the editor failed the work. It's very important for the editor to hear the voice of the narrator within a poem. That voice may or may not be the poet per se, but it is the teller of the story in that particular poem. If anything, voice should be stronger at the end of the editing process. For writers who edit their own work this can be difficult as sometimes a writer hears a different voice when editing than when writing. This is where the ear and the gut really matter in the process. Read the work. Listen to it. If it doesn't sound right, chances are it isn't.

What about the spontaneity of a poem? Do revising and editing mar the lyrical impulse or emotion initially captured?

That's a great question. Many poems come from a very in-the-moment inspiration and seem to write themselves. These poems are often quite complete in a first draft. I know several writers who use this technique exclusively. But again, editing shouldn't change the inherent energy of any poem. It's still important, though, to read for spelling, inconsistency of image and voice, word choice, and tone. Many writers who work this way find the editing phase useful for minor revisions, a word here, a line break there. Editing doesn't have to be extensive to be effective.

How important is style or form?

Style or form is as elemental to a poem as voice or selection is key. Certain poems lend themselves to formal construction, while others fight against rules. It's important for a writer to know the difference. Sometimes a phrase within the poem is the determinant. It calls for language that fits a sonnet format possibly, but it seems stilted and undirected in a free verse format. Sometimes a writer is using a form as a prompt or a creativity challenge. When that works it's great, but when it doesn't, the writer might try applying a different style or form to it to see if that alters the viability of the poem. I've seen great results when a writer steps back and alters the construction of a poem just to see what happens. Trying something new is good for creativity essentially all the time. The worst thing that could happen is if you don't like the results. So you scrap it and you keep the original structure as it is. You have nothing to lose in trying.

True! And experimenting eventually helps poets to improve the literary quality of their work. What else can poets do to take their poetry to the next level?

Improvements in writing can only come from two things: reading and writing. You want to write better? Read more and write more. Discipline yourself to do both of those things. Read with a critical eye, absorb what you're reading, write just for the sake of writing, apply techniques of craft to your work. Above all, mimic what you like and experiment.

Excellent advice! Before we close, is there anything else you would like to say to poets who want their poems to be published?

If you want your poems to be published, you have to submit them. Often. You will get rejection notices. Embrace them. Use them as an opportunity to take a fresh eye to the work. Sometimes the work really needs some revision. Research the outlets you're submitting to. Don't send Goth poetry to a romance poetry journal. It will not be accepted there. Read what a journal publishes. Does your work fit with what you read there? If not, try another journal. But be persistent. If the guidelines say send 3-5 poems, don't send one. Don't send ten. Send five. Give an editor a chance to see something she likes. Send your best polished work, not your first drafts. Keep track of where your work is being considered. Be respectful of your work and the editor's time. Apply yourself to the task of writing and the goal of publishing.

Thank you so much, Annmarie, for giving poets a better understanding of poetry, the work of a poet, and the vitality of the editorial process.

~~

For more articles on poetry writing and information on how to get a poetry edit or critique, visit The Poetry Editor website.

~~
© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved. Please do not use without permission. Thanks, and may God bless you and your New Year!
~~

Resolutions for sober poets in the New Year

2011-12-30T15:29:00.000-05:00

The word sober means clear-headed, so as you approach the New Year clearly ahead, consider what you hope 2012 will bring for your poetry and your life as a poet. For example, do you want:

A book of poems published by a traditional poetry publisher?

A published chapbook?

The top award in a reputable poetry contest?

A self-published poetry book?

Each of those goals requires some clear-headed thinking. For instance, a book will be more likely to be accepted by an editor if you have 50 to 120 pages of your best poems ready to go to a publisher who publishes that very type of poetry. Similarly, a chapbook will be more likely to place if you have 18 to 24 poems centered on a single theme that interests your potential publisher.

Manuscripts of poems can also be submitted to a contest for books or chapbooks, either of which you can locate in Poets & Writers' online classifieds. For individual poems prepared to compete, consider entering the international contest sponsored each year by Writers-Editors.com. Since I’m one of the judges in that competition though, be sure you do not submit poems I have previously edited or critiqued.

You have more control over the outcome of your goals as a poet if you self-publish, but please, please do not do this until you have gotten a critique or poetry edit! The Poetry Editor (aka me) charges for one-on-one professional help, of course, but the fee is comparatively low, especially considering your overall costs of time and money for self-publication and subsequent ads or marketing.

Regardless of your personal goal as a poet, a New Year’s resolution can re-solve or revisit solutions you believe to be most needed for you and your poetry. So keep on writing. Keep on reading your poems and each revision aloud. Then be soberly honest with yourself as you clearly see where you want you and your poems to head during the coming year.

~~

For additional suggestions from previous months, see these helpful posts:

Sending your poems to poetry journals

Start your New Year with new tools for writing and revising your poems

Line breaks can make or break your poem

Scan a poem. Catch the beat. Change the rhythm as you revise.

Righting haiku and writing syllabic verse

Revising your poetry can be a smooth move.

Three techniques for revising your poems

~~
© 2011, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved. Please do not use without permission. Thanks, and may God bless you and your New Year!
~~

Poetry editors are people too: an interview

2011-12-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

Martin Willitts, Jr., the retired Senior Librarian in central New York, is also the former poetry co-editor of hotmetalpress.net. Nominated for two Best of The Net awards and his fifth Pushcart, Martin had several poetry chapbooks accepted in 2011, including True Simplicity (Poets Wear Prada Press), Why Women Are A Ribbon Around A Bomb (Last Automat), Protest, Petition, Write, Speak: Matilda Joslyn Gage Poems (Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation), How To Find Peace (Kattywumpus Press), Swimming In The Ladle Of Stars (Pudding House) and Secrets No One Wants To Talk About (Dos Madres Press.) When I met Martin, however, in the lively discussions about poetry in the Poetry Editor Group on LinkedIn, I had not yet discovered his work before learning about our similar experiences as poetry editors, poetry contest judges, and traditionally published poets who try to help other poets and writers, and so I asked:

Mary Harwell Sayler: Martin, if you were to give poets advice, what would you say?

Martin Willitts, Jr.: There is no shortcut answer to writing poetry since there are so many ways to write a poem. Being open to revision is hard for many writers.

MHS: That was true for me when I first began to focus on revising. Since I enjoy word games though, I began treating revisions as a game – playing with connotations and sounds in synonyms. What other ways might poets go about the work of revision?

Martin: Have a self-critical eye. Listen to yourself as to how to write in your unique voice. Be aware that if you have something new to say that it must be new.

MHS: Yes! Many poems I’ve critiqued over the years had musicality or a rhythmic beat but nothing new to say that had not been said many times by many people. Similarly, advanced poets have sometimes sent poems for an edit or a critique that came across as workshopped. In other words, the poets wrote on a literary level with lilting lyrics but did not invest themselves in their poems, so their work sounded like everyone else's.

Martin: What happens a lot is that writers listen to friends who pump them up with positive feedback, so they think they are a great poet. Or they belong to a writers workshop where the dominate voice influences all the other writers, and everyone writes like that one writer.

I work alone, do not belong to a workshop, do not teach at a college, and have no contact as I write. This is a blessing in terms of keeping my "own" voice and vision, but it is also a curse since I do not have a sounding board to tell me when I need revision.

MHS: That’s been true for me too, especially since I live in a rural community. Thankfully, though, my husband developed a discerning ear and has become an excellent first reader who helps me to gain balance in my work by pointing out the strengths and weaknesses I might not notice.

It’s far easier to see or hear what needs improving in someone else’s poems, and I understand that, when you edited poetry, you actually gave each poet a one-on-one response. That’s rare!

Martin: I used to give feedback to every submission. I took time with some kind of comment rather than the standard rejection slip. Then I found some writers did not like the word "no" with an explanation. They insisted on writing and justifying how great their poem was and how "stupid" I was to reject them. I stopped writing comments after that experience. I still get nasty emails from one rejected person five years later. If it was such a great poem, why didn't someone else publish it? In other words, it was so terrible, no one wanted it.

MHS: (Sigh.) In poetry groups on the social networks, I’ve noticed the word “idiot” used in references to poetry editors, and I just do not understand! Why do poets treat editors as idiotic enemies? (More sighs!) I’m beginning to think that, with the availability of free blogs for posting one’s poems, some poets have begun to write, but not read poems, with such profusion that they have disconnected from our literary past and become, well, unteachable.

Poets who are serious about their work, of course, will read and study poems by poets who write with skill. They welcome and listen to professional feedback even if it causes a temporary ouch! But, after all that, their poems still might not be accepted by poetry magazines or publishers of poetry books and chapbooks. Why does this occur?

Martin: I have been fortunate this year to have had nine chapbooks accepted for publication. I know how rare this is, and I appreciate the good fortune which came out of hard work and determination.

Although there is no right answer to your question, I have seen enough bad manuscripts and enough good manuscripts to say that a lot of rejection is due to a really bad collection or where the contestant did not read the instructions (i.e., too many pages; rhyme for free verse contests; no theme for theme contests). I once received a 100-page manuscript for a 25-page limit.

MHS: I’ve noticed this too. It’s as if poets or writers get in such a rush, they cannot slow down enough to catch crucial details in contest rules or writers’ guidelines.

When poets do follow the rules or guidelines or patterns established for the forms in which they write, does their conscientiousness pay off in terms of having their work accepted more often?

Martin: Acceptance rates are highly unpredictable. As an editor, I was limited by the number of acceptances (let's say ten), and I would get 100 submissions. Therefore, 90% would get rejected due to space. The same in a contest where only one entry could win, and I would look at several hundred manuscripts. After a while, things seemed blurred until I decided to go with immediate yes/no piles. I would go back a second time to look at the yes pile and narrow it down. One contest I had five poems that I liked and wanted to publish, but there could be only one winner. It was difficult picking that one winner. As it turned out, all the other four were published later, which vindicated my difficult decision as well as the strength of the last five choices.

MHS: Again, I’ve had a similar experience. When I first began judging poems entered in the international writing contest sponsored by Writers-Editors.com each year, I felt overwhelmed by the responsibility of honoring some poems at the expense of others! Deciding between good and good can be most difficult!

Martin: The selection process relates to a purely subjective view of the judges or editors, based on what they like.

MHS: That makes sense, of course, but when I first began judging, I was afraid of playing favorites, so I probably did the opposite: i.e., I became more critical, technically speaking, of the poems I liked. Now I judge poems according to the merit shown in use of technique or form, but I also look for readability or something to connect a poem with other people.

As a freelance poetry editor, I try to help poets improve their poetry, but I do not accept or reject poems for a publication, nor do I publish poems. So our experiences differ here, Martin, since you edited a specific journal and accepted poems that later saw print. But what about poems you did not accept? What word of advice would you now offer to those poets?

Martin: Sometimes it is a matter of sending your poetry elsewhere. For example, if you write rhyme, look for formal magazines, and make sure the rhymes are good. If you write experimental poems, search for places that accept them.

MHS: Thanks, Martin, for all of the helpful suggestions you have given to other poets. What do you hope for your own future work?

Martin: I would love to find another magazine to co-edit but would not want to expose myself again to negative feedback from rejected writers. I, too, have been rejected many times, and I, too, am willing to resubmit. I have even accepted an editor's suggestion for revision.

MHS: Yes, good editorial advice can help even well-published poets write with greater skill. But, oh, your poetry has such gorgeous imagery that you have been nominated several times for a Pushcart. And now that I have seen such exquisite poems as your “Swimming in the Whispering,” which recently appeared in Ragazine, I look forward to reading your poems again and again.

~~

P.S., A Word to Wise Poets: If poetry editors keep returning your poems, visit the Market and publishing Resources pages on The Poetry Editor website. Also, consider getting a professional Critique for a reasonable fee. If you plan on self-publishing your poems, get an Edit of your final draft before you self-publish.

~~
© 2011, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved
~~

Good times to write in rhymes

2011-11-30T14:52:00.001-05:00

Steady rhyme and rhythm with no variations usually produce boringly predictably poems with a sing-song beat and end-line ping that sometimes prejudice readers (and other poets!) against rhyming poems of any kind. Nevertheless, rhymes have been popular for many, many centuries, and their echoing sounds continue to expand our options as poets, writers, readers, and people ready to learn.

Repetitive sounds help readers to remember the poems they like. Strong rhymes and a lively beat also help people of all ages to learn, relearn, or retrieve information. Therefore, poems with rhythmic rhymes can be very useful in helping children to learn new information or helping elderly patients and stroke victims to retrieve information and recover memories.

Effective rhymes emphasize thoughts and feelings. If rhymes happen to be key words at the end of the lines, the emphasis increases – again, making a poem easier to recall.

Sometimes poems with regular rhymes and rhythm readily sing their way into song lyrics and hymn ballads.

Poets with a strong sense of musicality – and poets who fret over where to break a line in free verse – may find traditional forms useful to study and liberating to write.

Poets who enjoy writing humorous poetry can often bump up humor with the drum roll of a strong beat and sound of true rhymes. If those rhyming words have three or more syllables, so much the funnier.

Amusing or not, end-line rhymes work best when active verbs and strong nouns add sense to each sentence.

Conversely, end-line rhymes usually do not work well when they consist of abstract concepts or weak words that cannot be pictured such as love/of/above.

End-line rhymes can become problematic, too, when they hinder creativity or the flow of ideas, locking a poet into rhyming words that torture syntax (sentence structure) or thwarting poets from developing their unique voice.

If you like to write in true rhymes but don’t like end-line jingles, enjambment will often soften the sound as you wrap a sentence around one line onto the next.

To vary sound echoes, slant rhyme and alliteration provide interesting substitutes for true rhymes.

For more help with rhymes, see these articles on The Poetry Editor blog:

• Freeing Your Verse in Rhyme
• Rhyme, rhythm, and reality: traditional English verse
• Unlocking clockwork rhyme

For lively discussions about rhyme and other aspects of poetry and being a poet, join the Poetry Editor Group on LinkedIn.

For one-on-one help with your particular poems - rhymed or not, get a professional Critique for a minimal fee from The Poetry Editor.

~~
© 2011, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved. Please do not use any of the above contents without permission.
~~

Title Tales: on finding effective titles for your poems

2011-11-01T12:47:00.000-04:00

The other day a poet said he always starts a new poem with a title, which bothered me only because of the word “always.” Poems often do offer up their names by way of introduction to get our attention or coax us into taking the time to write down whatever follows. However, an effective title – for the poet and for the reader – generally acts as an open door. If, though, that door locks the lines too tightly before they have their say, the title can hinder the poet and also the readers from getting to know a poem beyond the nodding acquaintance of a name.

To give you examples of titles that seemed to work reasonably well, I scanned the list of poems I’ve placed over the years, and here’s what I found:

A title hints but does not give away the story. For example, my title “After Selling Joseph into Slavery” draws on a familiar Bible story to examine how Judah might have felt after he and his siblings sold the younger brother of whom they were so jealous.

A title might be one word, one phrase, or one long sentence that meanders into a poem. “The Middle-Aged Mother Goes Up, Up, Up in Iambic Pentameter with Champagne After” sets the stage for a rhythmic poem about my terrified then buoyant experience of riding in a hot air balloon.

A title entices but does not tease readers with fake labels. “Abracadabra” sounds like a magic trick but was actually the title rhat came to me for a light poem with a rhyme scheme of a, b, c, and d with r for repetition.

A title gives a poem a tag your readers can remember. “Bugged” tagged a humor piece about my efforts to kill a cockroach that just would not stay dead.

A title plays with words, sounds, thoughts, and symbols until the poet finds an appropriate name. As I stressed over a subject to write about, the title “Following the Brick Road” played with a Wizard of Oz symbol for finding my way home and writing about what I care about or know.

A title seldom repeats or replays what the poem says or shows. Using a title to repeat words or phrases in a poem usually seems like a waste of space! Nevertheless, I entitled a poem “Wait” to emphasize something my religious readers (and I) often need to consider. Apparently the title had the desired effect because the poem has been accepted and published over the last fifteen years by five different editors, but see what you think. Better yet, read the poem aloud and, hopefully, you will hear why I chose to repeat a word from such a short poem for the one-word title:

Wait!

Wait for God to respond.
He hears.
He turns toward His crying child.
He reaches down into your clay crib
and brings you up, high,
high,
into His bosom.
He sets you on His shoulder.
He jostles you on His knee.
And when you're comforted and quiet,
He holds you closely
and teaches you to speak,
to pray.

© 1996, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved.

~~

If you need help finding titles or almost anything else for your poems, consider getting a professional Critique for a minimal fee from The Poetry Editor.

~~

© 2011, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved. Please do not use any of the above contents without permission.

~~

Punctuation and grammar provide poets and writers with language tools of the writing trade

2011-10-12T14:46:00.000-04:00

Poets from countries outside the U.S. have recently been requesting critiques and edits from The Poetry Editor more often than American poets, which usually brings up correct usage of English grammar and punctuation. Both of these crucial aspects of language have been touched on in previous articles on The Poetry Editor blog such as “Revising your poetry can be a smooth move” and “That Punctual Punctuation (Anyway) How” but to recap a few important reasons:

• Punctuation guides readers through a poem.
• Punctuation and good grammar assist understanding.
• Punctuating a poem in a weird way punctuates imperfections and weirdness.
• Well-woven syntax (sentence structure) threads each line with artistry.
• Awkward or unnatural syntax confuses and loses a reader.

Almost every poet wants to stand out or be different, but breaking rules, peppering and assaulting poems with periods and commas, or twisting syntax into pretzels seldom has the desired effect. Most often, freshness comes in other ways as poets decide to:

• Be observant.
• Be clear.
• Be accurate.
• Be highly visual.
• Keep looking to find a fresh picture, perspective, insight, or comparison.
• Keep listening to the music by reading aloud each version of each poem.

Being consistent makes an effective choice too. For instance, some poets put a comma at the end of each line whether it’s needed or not, or they omit punctuation along each line then suddenly add a period at the end of a verse. Since a number of poets seem to be doing the same thing, this might be a trend (albeit ineffectual), or maybe the poet doesn't know normal punctuation works well, or maybe poets in general no longer learn about punctuation and grammar in grammar school.

Regardless of the reasons, poets and writers really need to fill or refill their toolbox of primary writing aids. If, for instance, you do not know how to apply punctuation or grind out grammar in appropriate times and places, you can improve your language skills by finding out what is correct and what is not. How?

Poets and writers with Microsoft Word software can:

Go to “File” then “Options” then “Proofing” and check the boxes needed.

Or call up a file you have saved in Word. Go to the “Review” tab on the menu bar, then click and activate “ABC – Spelling & Grammar.”

Your best options, however, include these suggestions:

Get a grammar textbook, preferably one written for grammar school kids! Why? Well, why not make learning as easy as possible?

Visit the Resources page on The Poetry Editor website to find hotlinks to language and grammar sites on the Internet. For example, you will find:

Chicago Manual of Style online

Guide to Grammar and Writing (college level)

Online Resources for Writers (from the University of Richmond)

Purdue Online Writing Lab

Yes, studying proper use of grammar and punctuation might take some time, but then you will know the information and be able to use it in innumerable ways. Even more, though, as a poet or writer, your writing deserves whatever you can give – not tricks or weird maneuvers but skillful use of the tools of your trade.

~~

P.S.

If English grammar and punctuation do not come easily for you, consider getting a Critique for a reasonable fee.

If you plan to self-publish your poems, please get an Edit of your final draft before self-publishing.

~~
© 2011, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved
~~

Sonnets traditionally require poets to use rhythmic rhymes and argue nicely in fourteen lines

2011-09-30T11:43:00.000-04:00

Poets who prefer writing with rhyme and rhythm do well to get acquainted with traditional forms of English poetry. Why? Traditional verse forms, such as the villanelle discussed last time or the sonnet this time, have been popular since their appearance many years before Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450.

If you’re inclined to write poetry of 20 lines or less with strong rhymes and solid rhythmic beat, consider revising those poems with the sonnet in mind. If you’re inclined to write poems with strong opinions and solid arguments, that’s even better!

So, what do you need to do to shape a poem into a sonnet?

Even up the meter. Although other types of meter can certainly be used, let’s stick with the old standby – iambic pentameter. As discussed in the previous article “Scan a poem. Catch the beat,” iambic pentameter means each line has five feet, most of which are iambs. And, as previously discussed in the same article and in “Poetry forms help re-form a poem as you revise,” an iamb is a foot of meter consisting of two syllables that end on an upbeat note.

Occasionally, a poem might have an extra syllable or two to allow variation without losing the beat, but generally a line of iambic pentameter has 10 syllables per line with the even numbers accentuated the majority of the time.

Confine your sonnet to 14 lines.

Follow a rhyme pattern of your choice. An “a” marks the first rhyme, “b” the second, and so on with the most long-lived patterns being Italian (Petrarchan), Spenserian, and Shakespearean. Each of those forms has its own rhyme scheme as follows:

Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet – The first eight lines (octave) have a rhyming pattern of a b b a a b b a, while the last six lines (sextet) offer rhyme options such as c d c d c d or c d e c d e.

Spenserian Sonnet – Edmund Spencer, author of The Faerie Queen, invented the pattern of a b a b b c b c c d c d e e.

Shakespearean Sonnet – William Shakespeare experimented with the use of three quatrains (verses of four lines each) in his sonnets, which closed on a couplet (two rhyming lines.) That rhyme scheme usually followed this pattern:

a b a b
c d c d
e f e f
g g

The couplet at the end of a Shakespearean sonnet can nicely close a debate or open the ending of the poem into a new way of thinking. An Italian sonnet, however, might state a case in the octave and present the other side in the last six lines. So, while a villanelle works well when you want to emphasize and repeat a particular thought or obsession, the sonnet works great when you present an unusual viewpoint, express an opinion, make a case, or just feel like arguing!

~~

If you want professional feedback on traditional poems or free verse, see the minimal fee and info about what to expect on the Critique page of The Poetry Editor website.

~~
© 2011, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved. Please do not use without permission.
~~

Villanelles need something worth repeating

2011-09-13T11:40:00.000-04:00

Do you find yourself saying the same thing, over and over? Great! Try a villanelle.

Start by writing a sentence stating a strong opinion, belief, warning, or lament.

Say, for example, you wonder if it’s always right or wise for victors in war to redesign a culture. Can an outsider really know what will work best for a people with a different geographical landscape, different natural resources, or different traditions? I had those thoughts as I tried to convey my father’s questions and war experiences in a series of poems, which brought to mind these two lines: “We come along and tell them what to do/ but who knows what is right for them or true?”

Shape your two key lines or sentences into iambic pentameter.

As discussed in a previous article, “Scan a poem. Catch the beat,” an iamb is a two-syllable foot with the accent on the second syllable, and pentameter (penta meaning five) is a line of poetry whose meter (measurement) consists of five feet.

For example, the first line to be repeated in my villanelle has five straight iambs, while the rhyming line has four iambs with a spondee (two-syllable foot with both syllables stressed) to give a little variation without losing either the pentameter length of the line or the iambic beat:

we COME/ aLONG/ and TELL/ them WHAT/ to DO

but WHO/ KNOWS WHAT/ is RIGHT/ for THEM/ or TRUE?

Follow the traditional pattern of a villanelle.

This form of traditional poetry consists of 19 lines with five stanzas of three lines each and a quatrain (four lines) at the end.

After placing the lines you will repeat in the first and third lines of your first verse, you then alternate those lines throughout the poem, bringing them together at the end to close the poem. As you might imagine, though, this could get boring! So the catch is to have a slight variation, say, in the connotations of your key rhymes, as the poem builds momentum and deepens its meaning.

Use easy-to-rhyme rhymes.

Another trick to writing a successful villanelle comes in finding words that readily rhyme but contribute to the meaning of the poem. Since you only have two rhyming sounds for the whole poem, give plenty of thought (and ear!) to rhyme A for the two key lines you repeat. Also, you need new words with an A rhyme for the first line of every verse.

Consider, too, the sounds and meanings available in rhyme B since that sound will resound from the second line of every verse. For example, rhyme A in my villanelle echoes do/ true and rhyme B way/say, both of which offered many rhyming words I could choose from as the poem proceeded.

Trying to Get the Story Straight
by Mary Harwell Sayler

We come along and tell them what to do
and pay their workers in a different way,
but who knows what is right for them or true?

Demands made on the rich are rare and few,
but the poor have little choice in what we say
when we come along and tell them what to do

about living their own lives, but tell me. Who
can speak for another or even know how to pray
for what’s best for them – or right or true?

With food scarce, black market prices are too
high for anyone but the very rich to pay
unless we come along and tell them what to do

with their own money, capping costs, so you
and I can afford things too, if we have our say,
but who knows what is right for them or true?

Workmen stand around like there’s nothing to do!
And standing in rubble, they laze the day away
until we come along and tell them what to do,
but who knows what is right for us – or true?

© 2002, Mary Harwell Sayler, Winning the Wars chapbook, available from the author as shown in the right side of this page, all rights reserved

~~

Unlocking clockwork rhyme

2011-09-02T13:14:00.000-04:00

If you noticed the lock/ clock rhyme tucked into the title, you discovered a subtle option for poets who want to tone down the sound of end-line rhyming pairs:

Slide rhymes into unexpected places.

Traditional metered poetry in English seldom uses that option, preferring instead true rhymes placed in the end-line position, which empathetically ends a line as predictably and regularly, yeah, as clockwork.

There’s nothing wrong with that. However, it helps to have a reason. For instance, you might want to stay in line with a previously cut pattern of verse, such as the sonnet or villanelle. Or, you might want to emphasize something strongly, knowing full well that end-line rhymes offer full impact.

Heavy repetition of sound can seldom be ignored. If you want to turn up the volume, active verbs or strong nouns give you the strongest emphasis with the heft to carry the weight of your thoughts and rhyming stress. Conversely, the use of weak words such as of/ above, when/ then, or me/ the does not help a thought, sound, or picture.

Scattering rhymes within the lines provides one possibility for toning it down. Another is to use slant rhyme or off rhyme instead of true rhyming pairs. Generally, this involves a slight change in one word to make a similar, corresponding sound echo, such as occurs in summer/ simmer.

If thinking of off rhymes gives you a headache, aim for assonance or consonance.

To define:

Assonance – Repeats vowel sounds to create a mood or poetic alternative to rhyme. For an example of the moodiness that often echoes in an “o” sound: “Only a forlorn loon broke the silence on our pond.”

Consonance – Repeats consonants and adds a stronger sound echo than assonance. For an example of repetition sizzling with “s” and “m” sounds then flaring into the roar of “r”: “Summer simmered in smoldering fires.”

~~

© 2011, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved

~~

For reasonably priced professional help in unlocking the regular rhymes in your poetry or toning your poems up or down, see the Critique page on The Poetry Editor website.

~~

Three techniques for revising your poems

2011-08-09T07:56:00.000-04:00

Poetry revisions sometimes occur with a new vision or “Aha!” moment, which can lead a poet to rewrite a poem, rather than revise. If, however, the poem just needs a little tweaking, these techniques can help you to revise: connection, compression, precision.

Connection

Does the “I” of the poem present an exclusive incident that readers won’t relate to or recognize as their experience too? If so, find a way to connect the poem with common concerns, interests, and encounters that most people have.

Also, see what happens if you change the viewpoint from the first person to the second person account to make the poem more personal to each “you” whom you address. Or, try switching the perspective to third person, so “they” will become what you the poet and I the reader can witness together.

Compression

Does the poem go on too long? Traditionally, print publications only have space for X number of lines on the page, and readers seem to prefer this too. By decreasing the word count, you often increase editorial interest and generate more interest from busy readers, but quite likely, you will also increase the rhythmic flow and literary quality of the poem.

Precision

As you read your poem aloud, listen for the sound and sense. Ask yourself:

Does each word and sentence speak with clarity?

Is there another phrase or word choice that would be more precise?

Is there a synonym that repeats the sound of nearby consonants or echoes vowels, thereby increasing musicality?

Would another word add connotations and deepen the meaning of the poem?

© 2011, Mary Harwell Sayler
All rights reserved.

~~

If you need professional feedback to increase your options as you revise, a poetry critique from The Poetry Editor can help!

~~

Poetry Revision: Less can bring more to a poem

2011-07-20T10:41:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite poems came about as a poet re-envisioned a scene he had originally tried to capture in 30 lines. Since those lines did not begin to show what he saw, he tore up the poem and, six months later, tried again. Instead of using more words, however, the poet wrote a poem of half the original length, but that version still did not show readers what he wanted them to see. Another six months went by as he looked, not for more words, but for the essence of the scene – the color, the beauty, the movement, the energy, and so, one year after he had first noticed a bouquet of lovely faces at the train station in 1911 Paris, Ezra Pound completed this poem in two exquisite lines:

In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals, on a wet, black bough.

Pound talks about his initial vision and his re-vision process in an essay posted on the Internet by Modern American Poetry. That webpage, which is well worth reading, also includes essays, literary criticism, and commentaries by various poets and poetry critics on the poem and the poet’s brilliant choice of words.

If you go on to read the biography of Pound located on the website, too, you might wonder why this free-spirited, free-willed, visually-oriented man became such good friends with the anxious, cerebral, musically-oriented poet T.S. Eliot. Perhaps being unlike each other drew them into an unlikely friendship as they became the ideal poet-peers for offering each other feedback on their poems.

For example, Eliot counted on Pound to say what he really thought about The Waste Land even though he pounded home the importance of being fresh and not competing with couplets that, a couple of centuries earlier, Alexander Pope had handled with greater skill!

Again, the Modern American Poetry site posts an essay discussing the revision of Eliot’s famous book-length poem The Waste Land, and larger bookstores often stock an edition of the poem that includes annotations by Ezra Pound. Studying the comments and suggestions that one brilliant poet made to another provides an excellent mini-course in revision.

© 2011, Mary Harwell Sayler
All rights reserved.
The Poetry Editor

~~

Do you wish you had a published poet or poetry editor or poetry instructor or even a lifelong poetry student to comment on your work and offer workable suggestions? If so, check out the articles and resources on The Poetry Editor website to guide your work in general as you research, write, and revise your poetry. For a minimal fee, you can get also get one-on-one feedback with thoughts and suggestions to consider as you revise and revive your poems.

~~

Revising your poetry can be a smooth move

2011-06-22T09:56:00.001-04:00

Occasionally a poem presents itself in full, so the poet does not need to change a thing. Usually, though, revising a poem can coax out something hidden or work out rough spots, making the revision – literally – a smooth move.

Unless a poem calls too much attention to its shiny self, a well-polished poem may be more likely to gain a positive response from editors of poetry journals, anthologies, and e-zines.

To help your poems find their full potential:

First, make and keep a copy of the original. Refer back to this as needed.

Let each poem sit and rest. Later, when you return to the work, treat the poem as if someone else had written every line.

Clarify meaning. As you put aside a poem, you might forget the exact wording or initial train of thought, but both should be clear when you go back to re-read. If not, recast lines or change any words that cause confusion.

Keep an eye out for errors. If you have trouble proofreading your poems for errors in grammar, syntax, spelling, or punctuation, you might consider such word processing software as Microsoft Word, which includes those editorial features. Or, for a reasonable fee, The Poetry Editor will edit your final revision of your poems and offer feedback too.

Keep an ear out for musicality. Read each version of the poem aloud and listen to its rhythm. Sometimes, just switching a word or line can change the rhythmic flow or smooth out a bumpy beat.

Play with line-breaks in free verse. For suggestions about where and when to break a line, see previous articles on this blog such as, “Breaking line with free verse” and “Line breaks can make or break your poem.”

Avoid overworking a poem. Too much revision can douse that spark of spontaneity that began the poem. If you suspect this has happened, set aside both the revised version and the original poem, then resume your revision when you no longer recall every aspect of the poem.

Read aloud each version. If something seems “off,” diagnose what and where as accurately as possible, so you can correct the problem. If that does not work, put the revision aside, focus on another poem, and, if need be, find another perspective.

Get professional feedback on your poetry. Another poet whose work you respect – and whom you can trust to respect yours – can often pinpoint flaws and also recognize and encourage your poetic strengths, which helps you to improve your poems in general.

Use reliable resources for poets.

For one-on-one feedback from The Poetry Editor, see the minimal fee and other information about a poetry critique on The Poetry Editor website.

For free resources to help you write and revise your poems, Follow this blog, so you won’t miss a thing! To keep the blog going, visit ads to the right of this page that interest you, add an RSS feed to your blog, and invite your poet-peers to check out these articles and poetry resources.

For more suggestions about revising, look for previous articles on The Poetry Editor blog such as, “Getting A New Vision For Your Re-Vision” and
“Editing, Revising, and Otherwise Improving Your Poems.” Also, visit the Revise page on The Poetry Editor website.

If you have found something workable that helps you to revise, add your tip, suggestion, or other encouraging word to poets in the Comments space below. Thanks - and have fun playing with words and lines and fresh visions in each re-vision.

Haiku: what works and what does not

2011-06-07T07:55:00.000-04:00

Writing haiku looks easy, so most poets eventually try this ancient form of syllabic verse. However, haiku has more to it than snapping 17 crisp syllables into three fresh lines of 5/ 7/ 5 syllables.

To recap:

Haiku draws from nature, including human nature.
Haiku almost always includes a word or a symbol for one of the four seasons.
Haiku usually presents an insight and/or an experience.
Haiku often has a dash of emotion or quick brush with humor.

As you write haiku, think of Asian art or lines lightly drawn to sketch a scene with a minimal amount of ink.

Also consider these dos and don’ts as you revise:

Omit end-line rhymes.

Tighten each line by removing articles (a, an, the), prepositions (to, of, for) and conjunctions (and, but, or) whenever possible.

If you use those “business words” to be clear, do not end a line with them.

Think of haiku as a word game poets play and/ or a good exercise for using your poetic muscles to press content into a tightly compressed form.

If your poem packs too much into the small space, consider another form to say what you want to say without being cramped.

Sometimes, the tiny space will help you find The Word or image you might not have looked for if you’d had more room.

Remember: the Japanese language that developed haiku does not have syllables, but a shorter sound or onji, which translates closer to 4/ 6/ 4 English syllables than the 5/ 7/ 5 usually used. So experiment. Play! Have fun!

~~
For more info about this syllabic verse form, see the blog posting “How to write haiku.” If you would like The Poetry Editor to personally read and professionally respond to your haiku or other poems, visit The Poetry Editor website for fees and information about options that help you help your poems.

How to write haiku

2011-05-18T13:20:00.000-04:00

To write haiku in English, most poets start with the familiar three lines of 5/ 7/ 5 syllables, which we will talk about in a moment. More importantly, haiku conveys an up-close, insightful encounter with the natural world so your readers can enjoy a similar experience.

Traditionally, this means you will use a symbolic word or phrase, such as plum blossoms or snow, to bring to your reader’s mind one of the four seasons. With Basho’s famous frog, for instance, Spring springs from the page and hops onto the reader’s lap – splash!

A quick sound, a close look, or a touch of humor adds splash to your haiku.

During his lifetime in the mid to late 1600’s, the now-well-known Japanese poet Matsuo Basho was not known for his haiku but for hokku – the three opening lines of a renga, whose five lines have 5/ 7/ 5/ 7/ 7 syllables, respectively. However, a 5-line renga often does not stop there since, like haiku, a renga can become a linked poem that goes on and on for dozens – even hundreds – of stanzas.

But what about those individual little syllables mentioned earlier?

In the Japanese language, syllables do not exist as such! Instead, the shortest possible sound is called an onji, which is usually said with greater speed than an English syllable. Therefore, poets who write in English but want a rhythmic feel similar to lines written in Japanese might not use a 5/ 7/ 5 syllabic form but a shorter approximation such as 3/ 5/ 3 English syllables.

Some poets prefer three lines of 2/ 4/ 2 syllables, but an odd number per line seems truer to the ancient forms which typically used an odd number of short sounds or onji.

Having said all this, though, American and British poets have written haiku for so many years now that the 5/ 7/ 5 form has long developed its own English tradition. So the form you choose will depend on your personal preference and on the haiku market you have in mind.

If, for example, the guidelines for a haiku journal or contest specify the syllabic count, consider those instructions to be the hard-and-fast rule for that particular outlet or publication. Otherwise, how to haiku is up to you and the private moment with nature you give to your readers through your clear eye, sharp ear, quick insight, and maybe a fast dash of totally charming humor.

~~

To expand your options as a poet, look for upcoming articles here on traditional poetry and syllabic verse. If you have not yet studied poetic techniques and forms, you might want to order one of my last few copies of Poetry: Taking Its Course – the book version of the poetry home study course I wrote and used for years in working with students.

For one-on-one feedback on your poems in any form, look for the current fee and other info on The Poetry Editor website.

Poets who shaped poetry provide good reading for NaPoMo and beyond

2011-04-30T11:49:00.000-04:00

This last day of National Poetry Month can begin a new or renewed commitment to poetic excellence in your own work as you resolve to read some of our most influential poets before the next NaPoMo. At first that may sound a little like a homework chore, but if you’re beyond the public school years, you might be as surprised as I was when I re-read and totally got those “Say what?” poems from high school days.

Since my favorite example gave me the shock of understanding and actually liking the once-baffling poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” let’s start with Pru’s poet-maker.

T.S. Eliot – Recently reviewed in The New York Times, this Nobel Prize poet reflected less than noble views as a man of the times who recorded what he saw. A long list of still-familiar quotations may give you a truer perspective of his perspective, but regardless, notice the brilliant metaphors in Prufrock, then read the poem aloud to hear the amazing musicality. Also, contemplate the multiple meanings in another must-read, “Journey of the Magi.” If you like Eliot’s poems, as I do, you might want to check out his essays on poetry too.

Ezra Pound – A friend of Eliot, but frankly not mine, this controversial figure and founder of the Imagist movement wrote essays about poetry, got arrested for his fascistic views, and was eventually declared insane. Acclaimed though he continues to be, I never connected with Pound or his poetry, yet he wrote one of my all-time favorite poems in two exquisite lines, “In a Station of the Metro.”

Robert Frost – Despite a whirl of poetic movements moving around him, Robert Frost kept writing in traditional forms and meter, winning four Pulitzers in the process. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” reminds me to say that most people warmed to Frost, whose poems these are we think we know, but if you read his work again and aloud, you might be surprised how the possibilities for interpretation continue to snowball.

Gerard Manley Hopkins – This inventor of tightly compressed “sprung rhythm” became a Jesuit priest who wrote religious poetry of high literary quality that continues to be appreciated today. For example, “Windhover” orchestrates a symphony of sound echoes, and “God’s Grandeur” pictures the shining of shook foil, but my favorite is the insightful, quietly sensitive response to a young child in “Spring and Fall.”

Emily Dickinson – Reclusive for reasons people still speculate about, the real Em comes through her recently published letters and the museum that honors her. Numerous websites post her poems too, but as you read her work, listen for the music of a traditional ballad form and look for dashes of punctuation that show her dash of thought.

Walt Whitman – Known as a liberator of free verse in America, Whitman liberated lines of poetry and lines of thought in the expansive, inclusive lists or catalogs in his poems, many of which can be found on the Internet. Like Pound and other well-known poets who invented or re-invented poetic forms and styles, Whitman self-published his early work, including a slim volume that kept growing and growing as Leaves of Grass.

This list could keep growing, too, but not begin to touch the hundreds, indeed, thousands of years of great poets who greatly influenced poetry – poets such as Horace, Sappho, Basho, Aristotle, Petrarch, Shakespeare, Donne, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Yeats, and Auden. Hopefully, you’ll read them all!

If you already have a favorite, you’re once again invited to add the name of an influential poet or poem in the Comments section below. Feel free, too, to invite your poet-peers and poetry-loving friends to read and respond to articles on The Poetry Editor blog.

If you want to help The Poetry Editor website and blog continue to help you help your poems and appreciate poetry more fully, investigate the blog ads posted here and also professional services, such as the poetry critiques and writing consultations, available (at least for now) from The Poetry Editor.

Poets and poems to celebrate during National Poetry Month

2011-04-18T11:18:00.002-04:00

Poets often ask each other about their favorite poets or poems, so here’s a list of personal Favs with hotlinks to poems for studying or just reading to enjoy. Feel free to add your favorites in the Comments section below.

Mary Oliver – The insightful and observant nature poetry of this Pulitzer Prize-winning poet drew me back into reading and writing poetry after years of writing almost everything except poems!

Charles Wright – Another Pulitzer Prize winner who weaves amazing metaphors and insight into exquisite free verse, this contemporary poet initially interested me because he was born in my native state of Tennessee, but his work appeals to a wide, global audience.

Donald Justice – This 20th Century Pulitzer poet had a home tie to Florida, where I’ve lived for years, but I especially enjoyed the insight into people and relationships often shown in his traditional poetry and free verse.

Pablo Neruda – Surrealist poetry, political poems, and odes of joy distinguish the Nobel Prize-winning poems of this 20th century poet, originally named Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto, from Chile.

Billy Collins – A winner of numerous prestigious prizes, this former U.S. Poet Laureate has won a non-poetry-reading public with skillfully written humorous poetry, noted for asking such questions as why the farmer’s wife cut off mice-tails with a carving knife.

Maya Angelou – Loved by the general public, this former nightclub singer, actress, activist, and highly versatile poet has also written song lyrics, picture books for children, a Pulitzer-nominated screenplay, and a poem for President Clinton’s 1993 Inaugural.

Jorie Graham – The brilliant, insightful poems of this Pulitzer Prize-winning poet may require multiple readings if you approach her poems, as I first did, from a mind-brain that goes for comprehension, but if you read her poems aloud as an experience, you’ll feel the poetry and perhaps keep coming back for more.

Richard Wilbur – A veteran of WWII, this veteran poet has won more than one Pulitzer and pretty much every major award for poetry. More amazing, though, has been his ongoing dedication to writing traditional metered poetry during the ongoing reign of free verse.

Mary Ann Hoberman – Our Children’s Poet Laureate writes books for kids and lively poems with humor and bounce.

The Poetry Editor – Hopefully, your poems are your Favs too! To read some of mine on the Internet, this link takes you to specific titles and a Bio.

If you would like to post a hotlink to your poetry page, provide your info in the Comments section. Then keep on reading, writing, and enjoying good poetry. Be sure to tell poet-friends about The Poetry Editor website and blog too. They might thank you, as I do!

National Poetry Month and the 3 Rs

2011-04-02T08:45:00.000-04:00

NaPoMo reminds us of three R’s important to poets, not just in April but throughout the year: Reading, ‘Riting, and, you do the ‘Rithmatic to know it’s also time for Revising.

Read Poetry
To become a serious poet become a great lover of poetry.
Enjoy poems more and more as you learn how to read a poem.
Support poetry! Buy poetry books and journals.
Borrow poetry anthologies from your public library.
Study classical and contemporary poems on the Internet.
Investigate Poetry Resources in an earlier article on The Poetry Editor blog.
Check out the Resources page on The Poetry Editor website.

Write Poetry
Write a poem a day until May.
Research an interesting topic.
Remember a happy/ sad/ scary time.
Describe an event and how it made you feel.
Write a poem to recall a favorite person/ pet/ holiday.
Focus on something in your home or outside your window.
Let thoughts flow without editing, revising, or censoring yourself.
Put these poems aside.

Revise Poems
Each day of NaPoMo, revise an older poem that doesn’t seem quite finished.
Read the poem aloud. Listen for any jolts or flaws in sound or sense.
Ease the process of revising as you get a new vision for each re-vision.
Use this checklist for Editing, Revising, and Otherwise Improving Your Poems.

If you need a professional opinion of your work, see the minimal fees and options available to you on The Poetry Editor website.

Have a Happy National Poetry Month! And keep the NaPoMo momentum going all year long.

Poetry forms help re-form a poem as you revise

2011-03-29T12:58:00.000-04:00

Poems, like people, come in a variety of sizes, lengths, and styles, so a form that fits one poem may not suit another.

With the poem itself to guide your choice of options, consider these common poetic forms, not necessarily as you write but as you revise:

Free verse – Free of all patterns of rhyme, rhythm, or design

The definition may seem obvious, and yet “Free verse” labeled an entry for the poetry contest I judge each year even though rhyming words ended every other line. You can scatter random rhymes in free verse if you like, but a fixed pattern or a regular design or the constant confines of rhyme and rhythm will not let a poem be free enough to be free verse.

Syllabic verse – Pattern designed with X number of syllables per line

Traditional haiku, for example, counts on five syllables for the first line, seven for the second, and five for the third. So the formula for this ancient but ever-popular three-line poem may be shown as 5/7/5. For modern examples of a variety of syllabic verse patterns set in English by an American poet, look for the collected works of Marianne Moore.

Accentual verse – Poems with X number of beats or accents per line

For this poetic option, study Old English poetry in particular. Generally speaking, accentual verse has the same number of beats per line, regardless of the number of syllables.

Accentual syllabic verse – Often known as metered or traditional poetry

This type of poem counts both accents and syllables, grouped into little units known as “feet.” With the iamb as the foot most often used to measure each line, other common feet of accentual syllabic verse include the trochee, spondee, anapest, and dactyl.

Easily found on the Internet, examples of this popular verse form range from 16th century poems by Shakespeare to the traditional poetry by contemporary poet, Richard Wilbur.

For more information about traditional verse, see previous articles on The Poetry Editor blog, such as “Scan a poem. Catch the beat. Change the rhythm as you revise” and “Scan A Poem. Get The Picture.”

To study and practice writing the forms mentioned above, order the book version of the poetry correspondence course I wrote and used for years in working with students, Poetry: Taking Its Course. If you would like my one-on-one feedback on the practice assignments you do at the end of each chapter or a critique for any number of poems, see relevant info and reasonable pricing on The Poetry Editor website.

Righting haiku and writing syllabic verse

2011-03-08T15:46:00.000-05:00

Writing poems usually means letting the lines flow onto a page or into a computer then going back later to revise. At that point, it usually helps to read your work aloud, listen to the poem, hear the form that seems to suit it best, then recast the words or lines until you have lively line breaks in a free verse poem or the formal form found in a heavily structured pattern such as a traditional sonnet, limerick, or villanelle.

You can revise or rework a poem to get haiku and other types of syllabic poetry too. More likely though, a poem that’s based on the number of syllables per line will start, not as you tap your foot or count feet into lines of regular meter, but as you count each syllable on your fingertips.

Take haiku, for example. To write those three lines of traditional Asian verse, you need 5 syllables on the first line, 7 on the second, and 5 on the third. Traditionally, you need to refer to some season of the year, too, touching your pen lightly to the scene you sketch, quickly and exquisitely, with your words.

Knowing the background of any type of poetry can help you to write or revise well. For instance, haiku comes from ancient cultures that developed the form as a means of entertainment at social events, so a traditionally written haiku often has the levity found in party talk.

Assuming you do not readily read Japanese or Chinese poems in their original languages, your introduction to haiku will probably come through one of the excellent translations found, many centuries later, in most bookstores today. This means, however, that poems translated from one language to another will vary in the original syllabic count. So an English version of an ancient poem, say, by Basho might have 2/4/2 syllables on their respective lines, rather than the 5/7/5 syllables the poet initially used.

Over the years, poets who write in English have varied the count of syllables and the number of lines, omitted seasonal references, handled hot and heavy subjects, and called it haiku, when they really have their own innovative verse set as a short syllabic poem. What you do is up to you, of course, and also the editors of journals or e-zines where you plan to send your haiku in hopes of getting published. Personally, though, I prefer the original 5/7/5 form because of the appealing pattern but also because, when I write haiku regularly, the words and thoughts just seem to fall into that mathematic formula or sound.

Actually, the same can be said for writing in traditional English forms that rely on, say, iambic pentameter. After a while, the lines seem to slip into your thoughts, already shaped into your chosen meter.

You can find out more about formal and informal poetic possibilities in the book Poetry: Taking Its Course. Also, if you’re interested in hearing more about a specific form on this blog, vote for your preference in the poll posted on the right-hand side of this page.

But what about your own poems? Are your revisions going well, or do you need professional help in sorting out the strengths and flaws, objectively?

To get a thorough reading and professional opinion of your poems or revisions, look for information about your specific needs and the minimal pricing shown on The Poetry Editor website. Be aware, though, that a request to “take a quick look” at poems for free comes up every week from all over the world, so please do not even ask! The answer will be no – or a quick delete with no apology.

Every professional in every profession requires a professional fee for a professional service, and just to be clear, there is honestly no such thing as “taking a quick peek” at anyone’s work, but, especially, not yours – not if you’re here, reading this and sincerely wanting to learn more about poetry.

Reading poems takes time. Taking poetry seriously takes more. But taking all you have learned and bringing all you know into your reading of the unique poems of a unique poet – well, that is not quick, nor free.

For no charge whatsoever, though, you can subscribe to The Poetry Editor blog and suggest the discussion topics that really, really matter to you the most. Also, give your encouraging feedback in the Comments below. Investigate any ads that interest you, and tell your poet-writer friends about The Poetry Editor blog and website. Doing this helps all of us to have the opportunity to continue talking here about poetry.

Scan a poem. Catch the beat. Change the rhythm as you revise.

2011-02-17T12:51:00.000-05:00

Scansion sounds scary to some poets, but scanning a poem just means seeing how to measure each line.

Across many centuries and continents, poets have found various methods of measurement such as counting syllables or accents or a combination of the two. Often, a well-tuned ear hears the beat as a poem is being written, but most of us count on fine-tuning the rhythm as we revise.

Practice will perfect the accuracy of your ear, but your eyes can also help you to catch the beat. How? As you scan a poem, you find feet to use for measuring or to discard as you would any footwear that doesn’t quite fit.

So let's get on our toes, poetically, and take a look at our feet:

In traditional, metered English verse, the most common feet come nicely shaped in pairs. With two syllables each, you find the upbeat iamb (ta-DAH), downbeat trochee (HO hum), stress-free pyrrhic (blah-blah), and double-stress spondee (ALL RIGHT!)

Once you recognize those simple two-syllable foot patterns, you’re ready to play with three-syllable feet such as the dactyl (HEAV-en-ly) and anapest (as-we-SEE.)

You might also look at those classical styles as having these designs:

Iamb = no stress then stress = _ X

Trochee = accent then no accent = X _

Pyrrhic = no stress or accent = _ _

Spondee = accent on both syllables = XX

Dactyl = accent followed by two unstressed syllables = X _ _

Anapest = two unstressed syllables ending on an accent = _ _ X

What does that info do for you? It puts your whole body to work!

Those common feet train your eyes to see what your ears hear as your mouth emphasizes each accented syllable and your hand thumps out each beat.

You then put that information to use as you revise a poem, changing words around or reworking lines until you have the number of feet needed for the particular pattern of your choice.

Say, for example, you want to write a classically patterned sonnet in iambic pentameter. To do this, you traditionally need five feet of iambs on each line:

_ X | _ X | _ X | _ X | _ X |

As you can see, the same old beat looks as boring as it sounds! So now, to help you vary the rhythm, your mind and eye can show you where to replace at least one iambic foot with a trochee or spondee. As you scan the poem and see a good spot to substitute one foot for another, you do not totally rely on your poetic ear but on other senses as well.

But what if you don’t want to write traditional metered poetry? What if you want to write free verse where line breaks make or break the poem? Will scansion help you then? It can.

Scanning the lines to find the feet (or lack thereof!) can show you where to change the beat if the rhythm seems “off” in almost any type of poem. For example, scansion can be helpful in revising a prose poem, even though your main method of measuring consists of those same little blocks or paragraphs you use in writing prose. You can also use scansion to see where the rhythm got off-beat in your free verse. For that style of poetry, most poets just keep experimenting and breaking lines in various places until they like the look and sound and feel of the poem, but scansion can help too.

Look at this line, for example, then read the words aloud:

His VOICE/ HELD SAD/ness = _ X | X X | _

See how the accents huddle together in the middle with no beat at either end? That could give you the sound effect you want, but if not, mix it up at bit. For example:

SADness/ HUGGED his/ VOICE = X _ | X _ | X

See the difference? If you read both versions aloud, you will hear a rhythmic difference too, but either way can work in a poem, depending on the sound effect you want.

Typically, a poetic ear prefers one sound or rhythm over another, but your eye can help you to discern what needs to be changed and where. So, inform all of your senses instead of relying on just one. Scan your poems. Play with meter. Order the reader-friendly book Poetry: Taking Its Course and stay tuned to future discussions on this blog.

Line breaks can make or break your poem

2011-02-05T12:32:00.001-05:00

Whether you write free verse, prose poems, traditionally patterned poetry, or experimental verse, the artistry often comes with such poetic techniques as musicality, sound echoes, internal rhyme, insight, imagery, or unusual juxtaposition (comparisons, contrasts, or even weird positioning) of thoughts and pictures.

Since all types and forms of poetry need at least one or more poetic traits, they could all sound or look alike except for one big difference:

The dividing line comes in dividing lines.

As you write prose poems, for example, you divide the lines into blocks of paragraphs that look like those you normally use in writing articles, stories, books, and business letters.

As you write and scan traditional metered verse, you extend each line only as far as your choice of patterns will allow. For instance, if you write in the classical English pattern of iambic pentameter, each line scans into five feet of iambs, which, hopefully, we’ll talk about again in upcoming articles. Or, if you choose to write syllabic poetry such as haiku, you count the syllables to determine where to break each line.

And then there’s free verse.

Poets often assume that free verse is the easiest type of poetry to write since they think they can do anything they want. However, freedom comes in being free, not of poetic techniques, but of the constraints, predictability, regularity, and consistency found in counting a predetermined number of syllables, beats, or metric feet per line.

Free verse is free of pattern.

Free verse is free of refrain.

Free verse wears no uniform.

For instance, you can scatter rhymes into free verse unless those sounds start to get predictable, which means the poem has lost its freedom from a set pattern or routine.

The freedom of writing free verse comes in freely breaking lines.

Unfortunately, this freedom can also bring indecision. Choices! Choices! Where do you break each line? What look will your new poem wear? Will you go for long lines? short lines? tabbed over lines? dropped down lines? Or, will you go, not for how your poem looks, but how it sounds? Or, as yet another option, will you break lines into fragments of thought to generate mystery, shock, emphasis, or surprise?

Regardless of your goal or deciding factor, each line break needs to lend a poetic feel or quality to the poem, which brings us back to an ongoing motto:

Read each poem and each revision aloud.

Listen carefully to the effect of each word, phrase, pause, and line break. Then revise the poem until you get the effect you want.

Usually, your poetic ear will let you know what works and what does not. The last time we talked, though, I gave an example of lines broken by similarities seen in syllables noticed by the eye or mind. In the following poem, the line breaks show a choice to emphasize connotations or layers of meaning that accompanied some of the words.

Since the setting for this poem includes the uncertainties of war in general and the concerns of a World War II soldier in particular, I also wanted the line breaks to help build drama appropriate to the scene but without becoming overly dramatic, maudlin, or sentimental. The latter especially concerned me since I wrote the poem from the “I” of my father’s perspective, basing thoughts and feelings on his WWII letters – letters, which I never read until decades later, not too long after his death.

Night Flying in Uneven Lines
by Mary Harwell Sayler

Everywhere the night explodes
in darkness –
blank and black
like a deep hole cut
to accommodate a casket.

Some nights before a mission,
sleep exhumes me,
draws me
from disarming
visions: relics,
recollections, and what still
remains.

© 2002, Mary Harwell Sayler, from Winning The Wars chapbook shown on the right-hand side of this page. Other poems from the chapbook have been included on the International War Veterans Poetry website.

Breaking line with free verse

2011-01-27T13:19:00.000-05:00

Last time we talked about how, in some ways, prose poems have more freedom than free verse since they act like little shoe boxes that let you freely drop in anything you want – from mental snapshots to contrasting thoughts that seem to have nothing to do with one another. When it comes to form, though, prose poems confine themselves to those same blocks of paragraphs that you use to write fiction and nonfiction, whereas free verse gives you the freedom to break the lines wherever you want.

The problem comes in knowing where you want to break a line and, more importantly, why.

Like prose poems, traditionally metered poetry and also syllabic verse have their own unique forms that keep them in line, but free verse gives poets so much freedom that they sometimes trip over the lines or choices. So, what’s the solution? What's a poet to do?

Experiment.

Play!

Break lines at the end of a phrase, in the middle of a phrase, or even in the middle of a word. For example:

Suspended Belief

I thought I had upgiven childhood fan-
tasies: toys from San-
ta Claus, bunny baskets, and monstrous mounds of can-
dy on All Saints Hallowed Eve.

But sipping my morning cup of Columbian
coffee with Christmas-like pleasure, I saw a man
named Juan
and his nameless donkey, bean-laden, on TV,
and I believed.

I believed in the goodness of coffee
for those who grow and pick and drink.

I believed in the kind-eyed man
and his mule – actors both,
bean-dropping on my reality.

And God?
Such belief comes so much harder than
the coffee man's assuring nod.

The One I cannot seem to see
is not so easy to believe,
and, therefore, as I live and deeply breathe,

I believe.

Mary Harwell Sayler
[Poem originally published in the now defunct Writer To Writer magazine and later in my chapbook, Speaking Peach, available through this site.]

As you probably noticed, those lines break with each “an” then “e” sound, which technically speaking, takes the poem out of the free verse realm for a while as it follows a particular pattern before, again, breaking free. Regardless, the broken pattern seemed to fit the theme of enduring faith despite the lack of logic, and, initially anyway, the lines got broken with broken words.

Does this set a pattern for you too? Not really, except to encourage you to play with something that first seems radical or even silly to see what effect you get. If the world’s weirdest line breaks work for you and the poem, great! If not, try something else, and let your ear be your final judge.

Read every poem aloud, allowing the tiny pause suggested by the end of each line break.

Listen carefully to the overall effect.

Do you like it? If not, revise until you do. With free verse, your poems have at least as many options as they have words!

To expand your options as a poet, look for upcoming articles here on traditional poetry and syllabic verse. If you have not yet studied the wealth of poetic techniques and forms available to you, check out Poetry: Taking Its Course – the book version of the poetry home study course I wrote and used for years in working with students.

For one-on-one help with your poems, explore the options, fees, and professional services available to you through The Poetry Editor website.

Do real poets read and write prose poems?

2011-01-18T17:37:00.000-05:00

As a poet and, hopefully, poetry lover, do you take prose poems seriously? I never did until now. Since I’m a life-long student of traditional poetry and free verse, I have read, written, and placed both types with traditional publishers, but instead of writing prose poems, I just wrote them off.

Apparently, the same can be said of other poets too, because, in all the years I’ve been critiquing poetry, I cannot recall a single poet who wanted feedback on a batch of prose poems. Like, who reads them – much less writes the things?

With their little brick-like blocks of text, prose poems offer about as much visual appeal as a business letter or block of type on a cereal box. Conversely, free verse not only provides eye-pleasing beauty in the typography but often contains exquisite images to help us better see. And, when it comes to musicality, what can possibly please the ear more than the fluidity of sounds made possible by meter and rhyme?

For years, I could not hear or see much poetic sense in reading and writing prose poems, and frankly, I’m not sure what changed. Maybe my curiosity about the form began to surface as I re-read the precedent-setting, Pulitzer Prize-winning book of prose poems by Charles Simic. Maybe I just got bored on a rainy day. Or (more likely) maybe I got frustrated with my work, stressing over where to break the lines in my free verse poems or chafing at how traditional forms confined me with their regular lines of meter that suddenly seemed to mimic the rusty bars on a jail cell.

So, for whatever reason, real or imagined, I began to surf the Internet for information about prose poetry, finally settling on three titles that floated up, then ordering, reading, and reviewing those anthologies on Amazon. I encourage you to read them, too, if for no other reason than to expand your poetry options, but here’s what I want to tell you personally:

I have fallen in love with prose poems.

Why? When it comes to writing the prose poem, I found more freedom than free verse allows. For example, you do not have to make a decision about where to break every single line to the best effect since the unadorned paragraph form of a prose poem acts like a shoe box where you can drop in almost anything.

Similarly, you do not have to count feet, syllables, or lines. Nor do you have to count on rhymes as you do in traditional patterns of English poetry.

Prose poets do, however, make a practice of using poetic device. For example:

Some prose poets sprinkle in a little alliteration.

Some add humor (drum roll, please) with a lively, rhythmic, often jazz-like beat.

Many prose poets rely on juxtaposition to startle readers, ignite thought, or create a verbal collage that utilizes almost anything from dreams and diaries to factual data to narrative episodes and incidents to poetic insight and imagery.

Generally speaking, prose poems come across as being intimate, real, fresh, lively, honest, and, sometimes, bizarre – like real people in real life, which reminds me to mention this unexpected bonus:

Because plain, old ordinary-looking prose poems depend on the same blocks of paragraph we use for regular writing, regular people come to prose poems without being scared. They just start reading, one paragraph at a time, not realizing it’s poetry until poetic aspects begin to surface, as they inevitably do. Then, they might think, “Huh?” Or they might wonder if they just read the shortest, most poetic nonfiction article they have ever encountered. Or they might start to think the paragraphs present a really short short-short until they realize the lack of story plot.

By the time non-poet readers and/or poets previously biased against prose poetry begin to realize they have just read a prose poem, they might, like me, be hooked. But wow! Wouldn’t it be wonderful for poetry to become accessible again? Wouldn’t it be wonderful for almost everyone who likes to read to fall in love with poetry?

How do you know a poem is ready?

2011-01-11T12:54:00.000-05:00

Knowing when you have completed your creative work is a concern encountered not only by poets but by artists, writers, composers, and chefs.

Take, for example, the now seldom fried chicken. Before the general awareness of cholesterol had seeped into our veins, a good cooker looked for a golden-brown hue, yes, and sniffed for that special yummy smell, yes, and felt with the touch of a fork or finger for a particular degree of softness, yes.

So, if you want to fry chicken in your kitchen today, those same traditional characteristics of a beautifully prepared bird will help you to know when the thing has cooked long enough.

But maybe you want more. Maybe you want a prize-winning recipe. Maybe you want deliciously fried chicken that you love and everyone else loves too.

If that’s what you want, you may need more than what you see, smell, touch, feel, or even taste, which often comes later anyway.

The unique identifier of tastefully fried chicken will usually arrive through your poetic ear. Since this may be subtle, listen carefully.

Listen for the sound of sizzle throughout the cooking process.

Get so familiar with that sound that you recognize it anywhere.

Then listen for subtle changes.

As you fry chicken, the sizzle stays about the same until the sound drops a decibel or two, and then you know it’s done.

Listen for that little sizzle of readiness in your poems. What does it sound like? A nicely done poem will sizzle with:

Tasteful subject

Fresh ingredients

Nothing artificial

Crisp detail

Hint of spice

Visually appealing presentation

Feel for reader interest

Tasty side-dishes with a sudden dash of insight

Thought-provoking layers of connotation in your word choices

Ear-pleasing sounds, echoes, and that little sizzle of readiness you will learn to recognize, yes, as you read each poem aloud

[If you need help hearing the sizzle in your poems, consider getting professional feedback from The Poetry Editor.]