A no-fuss guide to writing poetry

Wordsworth, Milton, Burns. All those big names of poetry, those who dared to pick up the pen and write beautiful words about daffodils and haggises. So beautiful, in fact, that many people are too intimidated to try creating a poem themselves. But that should never hold you back. I've been writing poetry for years and even won a few prizes, so grab your quill and let's get cracking. . .

Where do those daffodils grow?

Contrary to popular opinion, most poets do not receive their ideas by divine intervention, a magic hat, nor a visit from Shakespeare's ghost. We struggle to come up with them as much as everyone else.

But how do we snare those pesky ideas? Rather than waiting for the bolt of inspiration to hit, you could do some freewriting, try out some writing prompts (like these ones from the National Poetry Society(this link will open in a new window)), or go for a walk.

Let's say I do the last one. And I see a Labrador (let's call him Larry) sniffing around at a park. What's Larry sniffing? Ooh, perhaps it's an old hamburger – and just like that, I have my idea.

Let's get technical

Alliteration, enjambment, similes – these are the words you learnt in Higher English and were frankly glad never to see again. But for poetry-writing, using them can give you that extra 'Zing!'. Let's see it in practice with Larry the Labrador, shall we?

The Labrador's snout is softly sniffing

A half-eaten hamburger lying there

Where the roots grow like big brown snakes.

How many techniques can you spot? And what would we lose without them? But before you go crazy with alliteration, I'd recommend using them sparingly – if you can imagine the page as a pizza slice, then techniques are the toppings: they add flavour but shouldn't cover the whole thing.

Poetic photographs

Imagery is such an amazing tool for the poet that it warrants its own heading. Using strong sensory language can turn your poem into something memorable. Why? Because it creates a picture in your reader's brain – the more detailed or unexpected, the more vivid the image.

Edit with aggression

I'm all about being polite and peaceful, but when it comes to editing poetry, you have to be brutal. Because of how short poems are, every word has to pull its weight; look at each one with a suspicious gaze and ask yourself, what is that word doing? If the answer is 'I have no idea', then click delete.

Here's an example. In the first draft of Larry the Labrador, we had 'big brown snakes'. I'm looking at that word 'big' and I'm thinking it's adding nothing to the poem. And like a poetic Dalek shrieking 'exterminate!', it's gone.

The other thing to bear in mind here: no poem is ever created perfectly the first time. If your first draft looks awful, that's absolutely okay – now aggressively edit it and we'll see something beautiful emerge.

And that's all we have time for, folks. I hope this little guide to poetry writing has been useful. If you take only one thing away with you, take this: a poem is like every other type of writing – it's intimidating at first, it takes practice, and once you get into it, it's a lot of fun. So, are you up for giving it a try?