Young Writers Society

Ah! A poem about poetry! Sort of a meta-topic, that I've been seeing more of lately. @StaticScum & @Sheytato have written poems on the subject with more of a humorous and somewhat ironic turn. I recommend both of them for a laugh! (How to Write a Poem) and (Poetry is Easy)

The first poem I ever posted on YWS was a poem about poetry writing, (The Mind) but since then I've written another poem on the subject as well: (Poetry is Still Not Easy)

I wonder why this particular topic ends up coming up often in poetry (you rarely see novels about novel writing, and it doesn't seem as common to hear songs about song writing). Curious if anyone else has thoughts on this, and would like to add to the discussion... or add a link to your poem about poems/poetry!

I like the perspective you took in your poem @popsicles about how poetry can be more of a method for processing life.

I also notice you use some rhyming in your poem, is there a particular rhyme pattern you're using, or is it added for another reason.

Oh, and I wanted to mention - it's perfectly fine to post pieces in the Poetry Discussion forum to generate discussion on your piece. In fact that's one of the main purposes of the forum to get discussion building on different poetic topics! But if you're looking to get some more reviews a great place to go is The Will Review For Food Forum, where you can post on different threads asking specific users for reviews. Hope that helps!

Hahha thanks

I actually have seen quite a few books about book writing, although it's not really in that context. Usually what you get instead is a novel with the main character being a novelist or a writer of some sort. "The Great Gatsby" had the MC being a news reporter if I remember correctly. There's a teacher for a MC in "Jane Eyre" who loves to write.

Meanwhile, poems about poetry are frequent and vast. Poems about writing poetry have been around since the beginning of writing poetry. You don't get it as much in the commercialized eras of poetry like Shakespeare, but you do later, like with Walt Whitman where he talks about how he wants his readers to respond to him, or what his readers would be like. Today, we even have poets like Billy Collins who write to poetry writers, like with "You, Reader" which says in the first stanza "I wonder how you are going to feel / when you find out / I wrote this instead of you," which basically takes a poke at all the poets who didn't think to write THAT of all simple sentences and ideas.

As for songs about writing songs, again, there are a lot of them. "2 A.M. (Just Breathe)" by Anna Nalick is a hidden example, but she does say in the song. "Maybe I'll just sing about it" and then goes on to the metaphor about writing songs being her "diary screaming out loud" which is totally about her writing process. Moreover, there is a song called "Hook" by the Blues Travelers which is about the chorus of a song. Then we get songs about not wanting to write a significant other love songs, like "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles which has the chorus of "I don't wanna write you a love song / cuz you asked for it, cuz you need one, you see" so I do think that there are a plethora of others writing about writing.

The question for me is Why?

And I think to start answering that, we have to look at what people call typical advice. Write what you know. After all, if you're a writer, you know writing. why not write about it?

[quote="Aley"]I actually have seen quite a few books about book writing, although it's not really in that context. Usually what you get instead is a novel with the main character being a novelist or a writer of some sort. "The Great Gatsby" had the MC being a news reporter if I remember correctly. There's a teacher for a MC in "Jane Eyre" who loves to write.

Meanwhile, poems about poetry are frequent and vast. Poems about writing poetry have been around since the beginning of writing poetry. You don't get it as much in the commercialized eras of poetry like Shakespeare, but you do later, like with Walt Whitman where he talks about how he wants his readers to respond to him, or what his readers would be like. Today, we even have poets like Billy Collins who write to poetry writers, like with "You, Reader" which says in the first stanza "I wonder how you are going to feel / when you find out / I wrote this instead of you," which basically takes a poke at all the poets who didn't think to write THAT of all simple sentences and ideas.

As for songs about writing songs, again, there are a lot of them. "2 A.M. (Just Breathe)" by Anna Nalick is a hidden example, but she does say in the song. "Maybe I'll just sing about it" and then goes on to the metaphor about writing songs being her "diary screaming out loud" which is totally about her writing process. Moreover, there is a song called "Hook" by the Blues Travelers which is about the chorus of a song. Then we get songs about not wanting to write a significant other love songs, like "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles which has the chorus of "I don't wanna write you a love song / cuz you asked for it, cuz you need one, you see" so I do think that there are a plethora of others writing about writing.

The question for me is Why?

And I think to start answering that, we have to look at what people call typical advice. Write what you know. After all, if you're a writer, you know writing. why not write about it?[/quote

thankyou!







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@Aley, you make good points. Actually now I'm realizing there's like so many songs about song-writing, I'm thinking of raps in particular... but then again lyrics are a form of poetry so maybe it sort of goes with the territory.

Also you mention Shakespeare's era didn't do as much with the whole "poems about poems" but arguably one of Shakespeare's most famous pieces (Sonnet 18) "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" is all about the power of poetry.

Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

I always thought that the "eternal lines" were referring to poetry itself (although I guess it could be interpreted as familial lines/off-spring as well).

Getting back that question of why do we do this? I think your answer is spot on -- we write what we know.

alliyah wrote:@Aley, you make good points. Actually now I'm realizing there's like so many songs about song-writing, I'm thinking of raps in particular... but then again lyrics are a form of poetry so maybe it sort of goes with the territory.

Also you mention Shakespeare's era didn't do as much with the whole "poems about poems" but arguably one of Shakespeare's most famous pieces (Sonnet 18) "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" is all about the power of poetry.

Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

I always thought that the "eternal lines" were referring to poetry itself (although I guess it could be interpreted as familial lines/off-spring as well).

Getting back that question of why do we do this? I think your answer is spot on -- we write what we know.

Omg thanks for helping me out!