Lesson 15

Writing as Poetry: Painting a Picture with Words

Poetry can open our eyes to noticing more beauty all around us.

What is poetry?
Poetry is the use of supercharged language to paint a picture with words. We use a variety of tools and techniques to lend power to our wordsto stretch it beyond the limits of simple prose. We seek to pack it with
emotion and description and power. AND, we seek to do that in a controlled, condensed structure.
That may mean that you take a snapshot and then boil it down to a few words. Rendering an image down
to its purest essence. The most mundane pieces of life can be shown in beautiful simplicity. The softness of a
puppy. The joy of a babys smile.
Or, you can write about something huge. That attempt to describe expansive subjects in a restricted space
fires our imaginations and can lift us above the mundane strictures of language. When you compress an
elephant-sized description into a mouse-sized poem, there is tension there, a pressure.Your words explode
because of it.
And, even if poetry is not what you normally write, forcing yourself to look for the strongest and best words
to describe the world around youseeing things with a more artistic eyewill help to improve whatever
you DO normally write. Fiction or non-fiction, all can be improved by better word choice and creative sentence structure. We learn to be more economical, more efficient with our words.

Non-Poetic versus Poetic Writing

Compare these two versions of the same story.
The path through the forest split in two. I looked down one path as far as I could see, and then looked down
the other. One of the two looked to be less worn, though on second glance, maybe not. Both were covered with leaves. I chose a path, meaning to come back and walk the other later, but I must admit, I probably
wouldnt be back again. I imagine that sometime in the future Ill be wistfully talking about this, talking about
taking one of two paths, talking about taking the path used by fewer people. Taking that one was probably the
better decision.
Now compare the following:

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The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The Tools of Poetry:

1.
Structured versus free verse There are a wide variety of structured poetry forms that you
can use, breaking your poems up into lines and stanz as. Most poetry forms structure by organizing lines
into grouped sets of stanzas. Lines may be rhymed using simple or complex rhyme schemes, or they may
be unrhymed. Structured verse may be organized based upon syllable structure (for example, Haiku). Free
verse on the other hand, does not use traditional structure to limit the organization of the poem, but instead
allows it to take whatever shape best suits the poets vision.
2.
Metered poetry Beyond basic structure, some poems rely on specific meter, groups of
stressed and unstressed syllables, organized into lines, which are then grouped into stanzas.
3.
Rhyme When words within the poem have similar sounds, either in a specific pattern (called a
rhyme scheme) or within sequential words in a line or stanza. Some examples of different types of rhyme
follow:
syllabic: a rhyme in which the last syllable of each word sounds the same but does not necessarily
contain stressed vowels. (cleaver, silver, or pitter, patter; the final syllable of the words bottle and fiddle are /l/,
a liquid consonant.)

imperfect (or near): a rhyme between a stressed and an unstressed syllable. (wing, caring)

weak (or unaccented): a rhyme between sets of unstressed syllables. (hammer, carpenter)

semirhyme: a rhyme with an extra syllable on one word. (bend, ending)

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forced (or oblique): a rhyme with an imperfect match in sound. (green, fiend; one, thumb)

assonance: matching vowels. (shake, hate) Assonance is sometimes referred to as slant rhymes, along
with consonance.

consonance: matching consonants. (rabies, robbers)

half rhyme (or slant rhyme): matching final consonants. (Roxie, Lexie)

pararhyme: all consonants match. (tell, tall)

alliteration (or head rhyme): matching initial consonants. (ship, short)

General Rhyme The types of rhyme above can be joined together into rhyme schemes a pattern of
rhyming lines within a poem.
Tail rhyme (also called end rhyme or rime coue) is a rhyme in the final syllable(s) of a verse (the most common kind).
Internal rhyme occurs when a word or phrase in the interior of a line rhymes with a word or phrase at the
end of a line, or within a different line.
4. Word choice One of the most important tools for a poet to use is word choice. The goal is to string
together the best words for a given poem, seeking the most powerful ones to use. When choosing words for
your poems, make sure to choose strong, active, descriptive words. If you read a poem and anything feels verbally vague or uncertain, you should consider revising. A thesaurus can be helpful in adjusting your word choices.
But be careful when doing so. Make sure that if you use a word, that you look up its definition before doing so.
Just because a word is a synonym, doesnt mean that it has the exact same connotation. Words that are similar
may lend an entirely different feeling to your poem.
5. Simile and Metaphor

a.
A metaphor is a comparison of two things, used for description or emphasis. A simile is a metaphor that uses like or as in the comparison. All similes are metaphors, but not all metaphors are similes. For
example: He came crawling back, like a whipped cur returning to the hand of a vile master. That sentence is a
simile. As a non-simile metaphor, the same sentence would read: He came crawling back, a whipped cur returning to the hand of a vile master. Metaphor tends to be descriptively stronger. If youre making a very strange
comparison that might be more jarring to a reader, using a simile, rather than a plain metaphor might make the
comparison easier on your reader.

b.

The Frost poem we just looked at is a larger metaphor about the life choices we make.

6. Word repetition Repeating the same word throughout a poem, either within the same line or at the
beginning or end of subsequent lines can give continuity to your poem. The important thing is to make sure that
youre reusing words for emphasis and effect, rather than simply because you cant think of another word to
use. Use word repetition with intentionality to increase the power of your work or to drive home a point.
7. Sound repetition The rhyming tools listed in the previous section on rhyme (assonance, consonance,
half rhyme, pararhyme and alliteration) can be very important in increasing the power of your poetry. These
tools can improve the musicality of your poetry and also lend themselves to giving a specific rhythm to your
words. Be very careful to read your poems aloud when using lots of sound repetition to make sure that you
dont overdo it. If youre not careful, your poems can seem too singsong, and alliteration taken too far can quickly become annoying. Use it in brief bursts for emphasis. As with all of these tools, be intentional and read your
poetry aloud.
8. Onomatopoeia These are words that sound like what they describe. Hiss, Quack, Oink, Sizzle, Bang
All are examples of onomatopoeia.
9. Emotion The strongest poems link in some way to human emotion. Even a simple description can be
heavily emotion driven, depending on context and the words used. A good example of an emotion driven story/

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poem is the six word story sometimes attributed to Ernest Hemingway, For sale: baby shoes, never worn. Readers
can overlay their own experiences of family and loss on this simple sentence and it can evoke strong emotion. The
important thing to remember about emotion in your poetry is write about subjects that stir your emotions, and
write your poem as well as you can - being as transparent as you can - and your audience should be moved by the
emotion you are attempting to convey. If it moves you as you read it (aloud), often it will also move your audience.
10. Imagery Poetry, as with any type of story, is driven by image. Try to depict your images concretely, but using
the fewest words necessary to do so. Poetry is a powerful minimalist sketch. A larger story is a more elaborate
drawing with greater use of line and color and shading. Keep your images unique, powerful, and intense. Use all of
your senses in writing your poem. Some of the strongest sensations we have are linked to smell and sound. Use that
to paint your picture.
11. Story Some poems simply paint a static picture but most tell a story. The story may be short (like the Hemingway example used previously). While you may start a poem by putting together words in a free-form stream
of consciousness, at some point, its good to take a step back and look at your poem to see if a story or a theme
is evolving. Seek words lines and stanzas that improve the strength of your story. Make sure that your whole poem
supports the story that youre telling. As with stories of any sizeif the words youre using dont further the story
youre telling, cut them.
And a final reminder to read your poems aloud to get a real sense of how they flow and how they sound. Seek out
poetry you enjoy and listen to poets read their own works. Use those examples as a starting point for your own
poetry if youre not sure what you want to write. Try to pick out the tools the poets have used in their works and
mimic the overall patterns and meters in your own work, much as visual artists will copy the work of the masters in
order to learn techniques. And, most of all, have fun!
Listen to these poets performing their own works:

Aoife Mannix

http://www.applesandsnakes.org/page/84/Performance+poets/217 I Will Survive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iHciy_yozA Word

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKgOv6UCqUQ Marked

Maya Angelou

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAYm1uJeSxQ Still I Rise

Seamus Heaney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIzJgbNANzk Digging

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhBK5_zLwJY Blackberry Picking

Apples and Snakes

Here, you can watch many poets reading their works some are performance pieces, some are poems that are
simply read by the poet.
http://www.applesandsnakes.org/page/84

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
Exercise #1: In this exercise, were going to ask you to take a hike (or just a walk). Take your pen/pencil and a pad
of paper and head outside for a walk. Walk for about 5 minutes and then stop and look around. What do you see?
Whom do you see? Where are you? Write down descriptions of what you see or just words that will help jog your
memory later when you look back at it. Are there children playing? People riding their bikes? Are there flowers?
Trees budding? Is there a distinctive sound or smell? Is it cloudy? Sunny? Warm? Cold? Wet? Dry? Really take in
everything youre experiencing and try to document it.
Begin walking again. After another 5 minutes, stop and repeat what you did above. When youve completed the second set of observations, repeat this pattern for a third time.

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When you have completed the three 5-minute intervals, go somewhere and write a poem about your experience.
When you turn in your assignment, please include a description of your walk and your observation notes. (Did you
walk at lunch? Were you walking the dog in your neighborhood? Did you take your kids to the park? Where were
you when you took your walk?)
If you absolutely cant get out for that 15-minute walk, next time youre driving somewhere, take a pad of paper
and a pen (or a camera of some kind perhaps your phone). When you have to stop for a traffic light (or for some
other reason and please dont try to do this while youre moving or when youve stopped at a stop sign and there
are people waiting behind you!), look around you. Jot down descriptions or words about what you see. Or take a
few photos to use as reference later (out the front and out of the side windows). Do this at least twice, preferably
three times.
Use those words or the photos to write a poem about what you experienced. As with our walkers, please include
your words/phrases that you wrote down and a copy of your photos (if you can include them).
If you absolutely cannot get out of the house to do this assignment in either of these ways, go to Google.com and
use one of the following search parameters, then choose Images. From the images that come up, select one (or
more) that inspire you, and write a poem about it. Please include a copy of the image(s) with your poem and let us
know which search parameter you used.
Landscape
Architecture
Travel
Plants
Family

Classic Painting

Exercise #2: Go to the website www.textfixer.com/tools/random-words.php and scroll down to the box that
says Random Word Generator. Inside the box, it says Click the button below to generate __ random words. (We
think 6 is the default. Change that to 10.) Then click on the button that says Generate Random Words. Write
down the words you see.
Now, write a poem using one, or some, or all of those words. If you just cant seem to make any of the words work
in a poem, generate a new set of words and try those. Try to use as many of the words from your generated list as
you can in your poem If you feel that you absolutely cant make it work with either of the two randomly-generated-word lists, go ahead and pick a combination of ten words from the two lists and use as many of those 10 words
in your poem as you can. (Please really try to make a go of it with the words generated by the site in either the first
or second list, rather than jumbling together lists. This is one of those stretching/growth assignments. Our goal
here is to get you to think outside of your own mental box.)
When you turn in your assignment, please include the word list you generated and the resulting poem.