HEY Guys , lately I’ve been writing poetry and I’ve absolutely loved it, but i’d like to touch on a topic that might help beginners for writing better poems, (Btw I am no expert by any means) A lot of times we want our poems to sound better, in order to stand out and overall give it more meaning, so here’s some tips for you in order to get to a better place! (Again not an expert, just what i’ve learned from some trial and error)

1. Structure Your Work! (Also Add Pictures)

Alright guys, to some, this may seem painfully obvious and you may ask, “why are you pointing this out”. But structure is king! What I sometimes like to do, is add 4 lines and jump to another 4 lines, separating them by paragraphs. For example.

When I was a boy,
I lived by choice,
Made a lot of wrongs,
But I had a voice,
When I was a girl,
I was cool,
Jumping and swimming,
The water was filled with drool,

Lol not the greatest poem of course ^ but you get my point, structure is king, you want your poem to flow easily so that people can read and understand it, Instead of,

When I was a boy,
I lived by choice,
Made a lot of wrongs,
But I had a voice,
When I was a girl,
I was cool,
Jumping in swimming,
The water was filled with drool,

Not exactly the best to read ;/ I mean I can read it, but I much prefer the first one, I mean, that's just me though…



2. Utilize Other Peoples Examples & Topics

A Lot of people, including me, feel like if we look at other peoples stuff and get some inspiration, that's “bad”. Not at all (don’t copy or plagiarize though lol)! If I want to write a poem about war, how do I write it If I don't research? Looking at examples can be beneficial to upgrading your poem, by knowing the “standards” to what a good poem is in that topic.





You’re probably thinking, "but HelpingOthers :(, what if I don’t have a topic or I have writer's block", well, I’m not sure bud, what I usually do is head to google, type in “poem topics” and I go through all the topics and ideas people have and expand on them, this is a great way to come up with ideas. For example:







3. USE Motifs

A lot of people fail to realize the importance of using motifs, good holy jolly, they are very important, According to, lol, GOOGLE, a motif is essentially a dominant-consecutive idea in a poem , take for instance my last poem “To Steem Poets”, in this piece, I used the motif winter in order to talk about poets on Steem.

I would say things like


“These words flow like the cold-breeze,
At ease with winters needs.”
Or
“Let your words be curse to all dullness,
Building your snowman,
Unite them like bridge”

in this instance and throughout the poem, I was comparing and contrasting everything to “winter” which was essentially my main idea for the poem, as I tried to motivate poets to create better work. Motifs basically keep the writer consistent even when the main topic (which could be anything, war, poems etc) isn’t, or when the story is all over the place. Motifs are great! <3.



4. USE Illustrative Wording!

Look, I’m not one to talk, because a lot of my stuff can be basic as hell at times (like this how-to), but please, change up your descriptive words, take for instance this poem.

Mama always told me life was great,
Till I grew up and saw this place,
Oh yes, it wasn't the best,
But hey, I just wanted to impress

Now, if I went to this website: http://www.thesaurus.com/, I could replace some of these words, to make it more colorful and better!

Mama always foretold, this era was ample,
Till I matured and saw this place,
Oh yes, it wasn’t the finest,
But hey, I treasured the impressions,

Lol, that wasn’t a great example, but you get what I mean , sometimes, adding more illustrative wording, can be a great way to improve your poetry (sometimes xP).



5. Change up the Rhyme Scheme

Alot of us, including ME of course, have a basic rhyme scheme, well that's not even really bad, not everything needs to be complex, like check out this poem.


When I was born I was cool ,
Look at me now, I feel like a fool ):
Crazy, so I cry like a baby,
Maybe, all I need is my lady,


Now you see that? This Rhyme Scheme is essentially an AABB, AABB (first two lines rhyme AA, second two lines rhyme BB) is fine, don’t get me wrong, but there are many other rhyme schemes as well, (Check: https://literarydevices.net/rhyme-scheme/ for all the common ones) Like take for instance, ABAB,



When I was born, I was cool ,
It’s so crazy, so I cried like a baby,
I mean, Look at me now i’m a fool ,
Maybe all I need is my lady.


Look, maybe a basic AABB is all you need for the poem, I get that, just sometimes switching it up can keep the reader on there toes, and be unexpected.



6. Use Common Literary Devices

Yes, I know I already touched on one literary device (motifs) but also, don’t forget similes, metaphor's, imagery etc (here’s more literary devices if you want: http://study.com/academy/lesson/literary-devices-definition-examples-quiz.html) , they can make all the difference for the reader.. Like let me give an example:

When I ran I could taste the win,
I ran fast it was like the wind, (simile)
I once thought I was nothing
But a hound dog who was bluffing (metaphor)
The blueness of the sky,
Created red drops of rain that fell like the pain,(imagery)

(btw the similes are when you use like and metaphors are when you don’t :x)
This is a poem, to which utilizes these common literary devices, and can allow the reader to truly imagine what's it like to be inside your reading, sometimes, it even creates much needed emotion. So always utilize literary devices in order to make your poem better.



7. So Yeah

A Lot of this stuff is just about writing and editing later, don’t get to bogged down by my explanations and truly just enjoy the art of writing, These are just tips to help you think about your writing and possibly improve upon it, I hope I’ve been some help and if you liked this content and would like to show support to my work, upvote and resteem, also comment feedback on things I could improve on, or areas you might not have understood, I could always use advice.

(Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gifs or pictures, these belong strictly to the owners, and are being used under the creative common license.)