Young Writers Society

I'm writing a poem and have been searching through the forums for help. I want to make my poem powerful, effective (and somewhat persuasive.) What are some ways that I can develop my poetry to get a point across? How can I give it that extra power and depth??

This is a great question!

Yeah, I know teachers always say that and then they don't have an answer, but I sort of do. There's no specific answer for every single poem since poetry is something that touches us and there are a million ways to achieve that goal, but I can tell you about the different things poets use to make this goal met, and then it will be your job to combine the right words with the right mood, to get the right result.

Here's a list of the steps I would keep in mind if I was trying to write a persuasive poem with a lot of power in it.
1) Write it.
2) edit it a bit
3) Leave it alone.
4) After a while, come back to it and really Edit it

Here's another way you can go about it
While Writing consider
a) rhyme (Yes or No?)
b) figurative language (metaphor, simile, etc.)
c) capitalized and punctuated (Yes or No?)
d) include a turn if it shows up
e) Surprise yourself
f) check for content (Do I have something concrete the reader has experienced?)
g) check for cliches
h) re-write it after saving draft 1 elsewhere

And here's yet another method:
I) Write it
II) Read it out loud to yourself multiple times while writing it
III) Have someone else read it
IV) Edit it
V) Repeat steps II - IV

These are ways I've used to develop my poems before. The different methods each work for different problems, and they're not really methods so much as just different mindsets. You can either go into a poem thinking about poetic devices, the sounds of the poem, or the poem as a poem.

There are a lot of different ways to write poetry, and all of them will work differently for different content issues. For instance, if you were writing a poem about how annoying text talk was, you might want to show what you're talking about by using it through the poem. It depends on what you want to say.

Here are some articles that are in the resources section of this site which might help you get a better grasp on writing poems. Just remember that poems are something personal, and should have some elements of truth to them, so what these articles say might not work for you due to your subject, your style or your audience.

Emotional Poetry
How to Write Good Poetry
Poetry-Editing Checklist

If you want to develop your poetry, read a lot of poetry, write a lot of poetry, and critique a lot of poetry. The more you read, the more you will pick up on what other people do and that will help you develop your poetic style, and breath of understanding about how emotional content gets into poems, as well as how to convey a story without telling one.

I can't stress this enough, read poetry. Read, read, read. If you're writing a novel, you should be reading novels, if you are writing a genre specific novel, read that genre, if you're writing a short story, read short stories. We have to be an audience in order to understand that mindset so the more we read, watch, listen, and work with what we're trying to do, the better we'll be at it.

One of the great things about this site is we can read a lot of a single poet, and read comments from critics right underneath. We don't have to go searching Scholastic journals to find out what some critics say about Billy Collins' poem "Introduction to Poetry" because we have the critics right here about how @Hannah wrote memoni or a critic on how @Persy wrote chewing and ways that they can improve too. Reading, and critiquing, therefore, go hand in hand.

Writing poetry is something that I think is useful too because you have to get there somehow. I've noticed that there's typically a transition period in poems when you get all the stuff out that you wanted to write just because it sounds cool, or it rhymes, or it has a beat you really like, or because it is something you have to figure out. These things are not going to be things you necessarily want to try to get published, but they are things that you can definitely learn from. Not only can you learn what doesn't emotionally effect someone but you can develop a sense for how much people are not going to want to puzzle things out without you just telling them. There's a balance you have to find.

This is getting really long.

Okay, so in summary, read poems, and explore the articles on YWS for help about specific things. The more you read, critique, and write, the better you'll get just from experience. I think the biggest thing people tend to tell people trying to write a poem is to let it come from the heart, but that's really vague and not that clear, so basically, write what you Don't want to say. If you're feeling an emotion because you're hearing the words as they come out, then you might be doing it right.

I hope this helps and I hope some other people get on here to tell you their opinions too because I really think this is a great discussion to have and I'm not the be-all end-all just because I think I know a lot. there are people on here like @Audy and @PenguinAttack who have been at this longer than me, and I think getting a variety of opinions is going to help you the most when it comes to the questions of "How do I develop my poetry?" and "What makes a poetry strong?"

For me, powerful poems come from using your own emotions in the most not-from-you way possible.

Translation:

Write poems from your heart. Put everything you're feeling in the poem, using personal details to really make the poem you're own (can be a lot, can't be a little, depends on the level of minimalism or dirge you're going for). You can use whatever poetic techniques you want, whatever metaphors you want, whatever techniques you want, but make it personal. Avoid using the standard, broad strokes, "here's a rough idea of how I feel" vague statements. Dig deep and really throw your heart on the page.

Then make sure readers don't have to know anything about you to understand the poem.

By stripping yourself out of the poem, you let readers latch onto these raw emotions and interpret them in their own way. You develop this thing I like to call "ache", which is a feeling in your chest that comes from really resonating with a poem. But you can only get ache when you give readers something specific to latch onto, a story, personal details, something deep. The surface phrases everybody uses either don't fit or only work when you've given enough personal information that the lines work because they've been elevated.

So write from your heart. Write out the exact way you see the world, and exactly how you want to say it. Don't pull punches.

But don't make the poem about you.

Writing, in general, is all about the rhythm. Poetry, even more so. One of the best books I have ever read that helped with every aspect of my writing was "Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies For Every Writer" by Roy Peter Clark. I've read it twice. It is amazing.

I find that the active voice produces extremely strong sentences. Formulate your poem around the active voice. Add passive voice to change up sentence structure but always make your strongest points active, energetic, and descriptive. <--- This can be done with one word. A strong word.

Don't write a poem to be confusing because poems tell a story. People read for the story.

That's all I got!

Take care and good luck!

-Fred

So I know this post is a bit oudated but I wanted to reply anyways.
First things first, I want to say that I am not that great of a poet and still have a lot to learn. But I have found that I am much more satisfied with my poems if I use some of the following tricks, and I find that when other people follow these rules, I enjoy reading their poems much much more.

• Don't use cheesy or overused metaphors or similies. Saying "her eyes were as bright as stars" or "her eyes were bright stars" isn't as intriguing as something more original like "her eyes glistened and sparkled with the radiancy of the stars"
• Don't use slang or funny sounding words. Try to avoid saying things like "big, blue sea" or any sort of slang if you want your poem to be serious (obviously this changes for comedic or satiric poems)
• Don't get worked up about rhymes. Rhyming is great, but don't base your poem of it. The emotions, and the words come first, you can change things around to add rhyming later, but never force a rhyme, and never chose your story because it rhymes.
• Write about something that matters to you. YOUR emotions are stronger than what you think someone else's are. Putting REAL emotion into your writing is always the best way to find success

People might disagree with this list, and that's totally fine, but in my experience it creates a much more "powerful poem" like you originally requested.

Hope that helps!
~Hadj