Poetry Prompts Central

Are you feeling stuck in your poetry? Maybe caught a spot of writer's block? Well you've come to the right place!

This is Poetry Prompts Central. Below you can find a host of threads and links to inspire you from past and current contests to prompts you can use to generate some ideas. Feel free to browse and grab some inspiration.

Add A Prompt

Have a prompt that you like to use? Go ahead and add it to the thread! The more prompts the better no matter how intricate or simple they are. If you have something you like to do to get your creative gears wheeling, share it with us!

Index

Previous NaPo Contests
April Madness 2014
April Madness 2015
April Madness 2016
Poets Universe thread 2015
of the day challenge thread 2016
Aley's 2016 prompts
NaPoWriMo Mini Event's Catalogue

Resources for Poets
Poetry Tutorials Article Index
RhymeZone
Syllable Counter
Shadow Poetry
Poetry Soup Forms

Prompts
30 Prompts for National Poetry Month
Creative Writing Prompts
Lit Bridge Creative Writing Prompts for Poetry
Poetry Prompts on Tumblr
Poetry Prompts
Poetic Line Generator
Random Art Creator

Previous NaPo Contests

The following are all of the previous contests that have run on YWS in the past for National Poetry Month. While it isn't a complete list, the majority of them are here. You can use these previous contests to either scavenge their prompts and use them this year, as most of them are still very relevant, or as inspiration to write.

April Madness

April Madness is a bracket style tournament in which poet's faced off against each other throughout the month of April. Previous year's threads and results can be found below. Including this year's Madness:
April Madness 2017
April Madness 2016
April Madness 2015
April Madness 2014

30 Days of Prompts

Aley's "30 days of prompts" was a thread crafted last year with a variety of prompts adding up to 35 unique ideas. The prompts often included structure suggestions, quotes, pictures and even musical selections to get your creative gears working. These prompts can still be accessed and used today.
30 Days of Prompts

... of the Day

The "... of the day" thread contest was created by Iggy in 2016. Each day a new prompt with a word, scene, noun, feeling, and poem would presented that poets used to write their own poems. The prompts are still available for you to view here.

The previous entries of those who participated can be found here: "of the day tracker" 2016

Poets Universe

Poets Universe was a challenge created by Audy in 2015 which awarded badges shaped like jewels for poets who followed prompts as she posted them throughout NaPo. Those prompts are still available to use today and each day has a picture, a poem, and a prompt. Audy's 2015 Thread

NaPoWriMo Mini Event's Catalogue

NaPoWriMo Mini Event's Catalogue was created by Audy in 2014. Here you'll find a host of past poetry events that you can still check out today. NaPoWriMo Mini Event's Catalogue

Websites for Poets

The following list is combination of resources, lists, and tools for poets. It has everything from a rhyming dictionary, to a few websites that list different structured poems. Alongside them is the index for our own home for poetic resources on YWS.

Poetry Tutorials Index

This is a tool on YWS that you can use to understand anything poetic that might get you tripped up. There are ways to critique, write, edit, and motivate yourself all waiting at the click of a button.
Poetry Tutorials Article Index

RhymeZone

Writing something structured and stuck on a rhyme? RhymeZone can help with a large database that provides monosyllable to heptasyllabic solutions to your rhyming needs. Enter in the word you are trying to rhyme with and take the guess work out of identifying direct rhymes. Some slant rhymes are also listed.
RhymeZone

Syllable Counter

Using syllables but don't want to count? Simply copy and paste your poem or section into the syllable counter and watch it do it's magic. It will tally up the most likely division of syllables for a standard English speaker, which means that accents, slang, and dialects are not accounted for along with the trailing "S" and some other suffixes or prefixes.
Syllable Counter

Structured Poetry Forms and Terms

This website features explanations for a variety of different structured poems as well as different poetic terms (everything from assonance, metaphors, and less well known terms like "zeugma").

Now if looking through these lists don't inspire you try generating a random number from 1-50 and your favorite letter. Then use those to determine what type of poem you have to write. For instance if I got 14 and "A", I would go to the poem form list pick the 14th form (which in this case is a "kyrielle sonnet" and then go to the list of poetic terms click my letter "A" and then choose something interesting from that list to include in my "kyrielle sonnet". Sounds a bit tricky, but forcing yourself to write in a new form might just help you generate some new ideas!
Shadow Poetry

Poetry Soup

This website, "Poetry Soup" has a host of different great resources to generate ideas, from explanations of poetry forms and terms (alphabetically listed), famous quotes, syllable counters, and even a "poem of the day" to inspire you. If you're lost on what to pick for your master-piece try clicking the different letters, find a form you're not familiar with (or maybe never even heard of) and just go for it!
Poetry Soup Forms

Prompts

Here you will find a variety of websites filled with different prompts for you to use in your poetry. Take a look, read through some of the options, and if you want to randomize your prompt selection use the "random number generator" below or try using our suggestions for using a specific prompt.

Random Number Generator

30 Prompts for National Poetry Month

This website has 30 prompts ready for national poetry month. The prompts are pretty varied and random. If you can't decide which one to use, try just picking the one that corresponds to the day of April it is. For instance if it's April 4th, I'd use the 4th prompt. 30 Prompts for National Poetry Month

Creative Writing Prompts

Here's a website that offers 20 different prompts for you to choose from. Some of them are pretty random others involve using a list of specific words. Here's an example, "Write a poem using all of the following words: dim, hinge, dingy". Try counting the number of letters or characters in your username and then counting down to that prompt.
Creative Writing Prompts

Lit Bridge Creative Writing Prompts for Poetry

This website has a list of 50 different prompts ready for you to explore. Many of the prompts set a scene or give you a point of view to work from like this one: "Write a poem that incorporates both the view of the antagonist and protagonist in a fairy tale". If you're stuck on which prompt to use pick the day of the month you were born on and then use whatever prompt is listed next to that number.
Lit Bridge Creative Writing Prompts for Poetry

Poetry Prompts Tumblr Edition

Here's a thread from tumblr containing a few different poetry prompts that users have created. Take a look and see if any inspire you!
Poetry Prompts on Tumblr

Poetry Prompts

This website contains over 50 prompts for poems. Many of them ask you to use a specific phrase or title others give you an idea to just jump off of. Some of them are fairly simple, like "write a poem that focuses on sound" others are more complicated. (If you can't pick one yourself, use my favorite from the list and "In honor of Julia Child write a culinary poem celebrating food".
Poetry Prompts

Poetic Line Generator

Follow this link to find YWS's own "poetic line generator". You can click this generator and it will create an interesting phrase to use. Sometimes they're a bit crazy and sometimes they're quite beautiful. Try generating a new line and then using the words in the line to inspire or start out your poem.
Poetic Line Generator

Random Art Creator

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words right? This website creates an interesting abstract picture based on the word you type. For instance I typed in "potato" and got a lovely swirly green image. You can try typing in your favorite food or the name of your favorite super hero and then use the colors and shapes to inspire your poem.
Random Art Creator