Does "Show, Don't Tell" Apply to Poetry too?

I was recently thinking about the famous writing advice: "Show, Don't Tell". For the prose writers out there, I'm pretty sure they've been told to "Show, Don't Tell" at least once. I'm wondering if that advice also make sense when writing poetry. For example, if you wrote (an extreme case):

I'm happy

It sounds rather bland in my opinion. Something more specific, like how the narrator was happy would be better right? In poetry, I don't feel so strongly attached to the speaker because they're telling me "They're happy". I'm not a huge fan for listing emotions in poetry actually.

To the poets of YWS, do you think the "Show, Don't Tell" advice can also work for poetry too? I'd love to hear your opinions.

I almost never write or read poetry, and when I do, it's basically limited to prophecies. However, I think that "Show, Don't Tell" applies more to poetry than it does to novelization. I think that's really the purpose of poetry; the focus isn't on the story itself, it's on the words and language making the story. Poetry is all about showing the reader the subject of the poem as vividly as possible.

In ways, it does, and I think in some form it applies to all literature. Showing and not telling in this case, is the difference between showing scenes in a poem if there are any rather than telling about them.

A big part of showing and not telling is imagery when it comes to poetry because you want to show and describe what you're talking about rather than just talking or telling about it.

Figurative language is meant to make it easier for the reader to connect or understand, and it's especially used in poetry. I see this to be a form of the rule "Show don't tell" in a way.

So, your short answer: Yes.

What an interesting question.

I think for the most part the rule of thumb with "show don't tell" still applies generally. But I think there are also cases when the poetry is more experimental or asking a lot of questions in which maybe "show don't tell" wouldn't apply. I think showing readers what your scene is (especially in more narrative driven pieces) is generally really engaging and a great way to build interest with figurative language & imagery, but on the other hand sometimes there are poems that are just meant to be more thought provoking than image/scene/emotion provoking. I'm struggling to think of a specific example but it just seems like poetry has more variety than Short Story & Novels and some of those varieties might just not entail a need for scenes or imagery.

So the short version of that is: for the most part, of course! But sometimes, no.

Yes!

S1:
Missing you,
so
I get to write
a poem.
(A statement)

S2:
I hate the smell of your perfume
how it's left stranded in your room
when I'm alone, rich in this scent
yet, worthless without your presence.

(Notice there is some imagery, there is scene here, notice rhyme can also serve to paint a picture. This is okay as a poem, some may enjoy it. I prefer it loads more than the first example even as everything is still told to the reader in this example)


S3:
Those Colorado wild roses,
a husk gathered in sneezes.
How it cripples my nose
phlegm to the throat
and when I spit it out,
spit it all out
every sun crying in our summers
every whinny of those pony laughs
bountiful freckles lining strong arms
and callused fingers crawl out of me too,
the allergies of the log house we stayed,
you pushed your tongue and me on a barge
and sailed away and I can't swallow anymore,
in your absence, your scent suffocates.

(Notice specificity :not just an undefined smell but colorado roses. There is now metaphor and more use of figurative language. More is showed via moment to moment experience. We're no longer told that the narrator hates a smell, but we see the narrator's reactions to the smell/memories. Even here there is *still* some telling, there will always be telling, a balance is good, but mainly by just showing more you transform the experience of the poem for the reader)

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PrincessInk wrote:I was recently thinking about the famous writing advice: "Show, Don't Tell". For the prose writers out there, I'm pretty sure they've been told to "Show, Don't Tell" at least once. I'm wondering if that advice also make sense when writing poetry. For example, if you wrote (an extreme case):

To the poets of YWS, do you think the "Show, Don't Tell" advice can also work for poetry too? I'd love to hear your opinions.

When you ask if it will work I assume that you mean will the poem manage to accomplish its purpose. If the poem's purpose is to cause laughter and it does, then the poem worked. If it is to engender rage or outrage over some injustice and it does, then it worked. If the poem engenders wonder in the reader or a sense of deep awe as intended, then it worked. Even if its intention was to bore the reader and it bored the reader, then it worked.

However, if it intended one thing and did another, then it didn't work regardless on whether it told and didn’t show or employed a mixture of the twain.