Imagery and Structure - Writing Poetry #3
When people discuss poetry, they often use words such as “imagery” or “structure”. Often there are more specific technical terms — a lot of us may have heard of Shakespeare’s sonnets, for example, but are not entirely sure what a sonnet entails. Other times, things like similes and metaphors can be difficult to know how to create. This list will hopefully provide you with some knowledge of technical terms, whilst showing you how to apply them to your poem!
1. Similes and Metaphors
Similes and metaphors are foundational poetic devices and they can really improve your work. A simile is a phrase that uses a comparison to describe (saying something is like something else). A metaphor is poetically saying something is something else.
The easiest way to give examples of these is through cliches, which are well known phrases that have fallen into common use. A simile example would be “brave like a lion”, “fast as a cheetah”, “cool as a cucumber.” Similarly, examples of metaphor might be “America is a melting pot” or “life is a rollercoaster.” You also probably know lots of famous metaphors and similes without knowing it — remember Wordsworth’s “I wandered lonely as a cloud”? Well, that line is a simile.
It’s often best to avoid cliches when you are writing poetry as they can seem tired and it can be difficult to make your poem unique if you include them. The video above is very helpful for understanding how to write exciting similes and metaphors, but if you don’t have time to sit and watch you can go right ahead and start thinking about what different objects, people and animals remind you of.
Cliches can actually be a great jumping off point for this — you might want to instinctually write “my son moves as fast as cheetah” but before you do, stop. Think carefully about if this person actually moves like a cheetah - do they move like a predator, or more like prey? Are they as graceful as cheetah? Humans are often quite clumsy. Maybe they move fast but are jumpy and nervous, so move in starts — you could then instead write the simile “my son moves as fast as a lizard”. Sometimes metaphors and similes work even better if you extend them — “my son moves like a lizard skittering away from the shadow.” This makes the simile more intricate and unique, whilst emphasising the person’s nervousness: you don’t even have to use the word “fast” as the verb “skittering” shows this!
Remember, you’re not just stuck with animals either — look at belongings around you, things you see on walks, things you remember. Someone could be “as fast as skipped stones on a lake” (a simile) or they could be “a kite caught with the wind” (a metaphor). Be playful, be experimental and have fun with it!
2. Other Devices
When you feel comfortable with metaphors and similes, there are lots of other devices that you can try - there’s a list of poetic devices you can access here, for example.
However, this can seem a little intimidating, so I’ve chosen two of my favourite poetic devices to start you off.
Personification is when you give objects, plants and animals human characteristics. For example, in Larkin’s poem Coming, he refers to the “foreheads of houses” (as well as writing about Spring as if it is arriving as a person would). People also personify more abstract concepts - like depression, or death, or love. A very old example of this is Donne’s Death, be not proud, where John Donne directly addresses death. You can try it out yourself, much as you would a metaphor or simile — for example, if you want to personify love, think about what love would do if they were a person. What would they say if you invited them in for tea? This can open exciting possibilities.
Repetition is simply repeating a word or phrase throughout a poem. Repetition is a tricky beast because it can seem like you’ve done it by mistake, but it can often make a poem more powerful. See Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise for a great example. Pick a powerful phrase in your poem, maybe your favourite phrase, and try to repeat it throughout. See what happens and how it influences your poem!
3. Using Rhyme
When you think of poetry, what is the first thing that comes into your head? Is it rhyme? If so, you are not alone. Lots of people associate rhyming with poetry immediately. Some people even think you need to use rhyme in poetry. That’s completely not the case!
In fact I recommend that if you’re a beginner to writing poetry, you don’t focus on rhyme whatsoever. Completely put it out of your head. Though there are some amazing works with rhyme, beginners to poetry sometimes focus too much on the rhyme, which leads them to constrain the beautiful imagery of their work. If you’re desperately trying to rhyme a line with “house”, you might end up sacrificing a brilliant simile or metaphor just so you can fit in the word “mouse”, for example.
Instead, I recommend writing in free verse (without structural restrictions) and exploring metaphor and simile most of all. Think about where you instinctually want to end a line of a poem, rather than where it would be best for a rhyme. This allows you to play with structure and have more fun.
If you want to improve your poetic rhythm, why not periodically stop and read your poem aloud? This can help demonstrate any clunkiness or words that don’t sound right. This is a much better indicator of when you should alter lines around, rather than focussing entirely on something such as rhyme.
4. Forms of Poetry
If you really want to include rhyme in your poem, there can be some fun ways of doing it which make a poem sound a lot more technically interesting that just AABB couplets (i.e. “I had a mouse/ he lived in a house / I had a cat / He caught a rat”).
There are lots of different poetic forms, some of which you can find here. Poetic forms are essentially instructions on how to write a certain type of poem - they might tell you how to rhyme, or how many syllables can be in each line. These can be a fun challenge if you want a trickier poetry project.
I have picked two forms of poem which are my favourites and might be fun for you to try out:
A Sonnet is a 14 line poem typically associated with love poetry. There are usually 10 syllables in each line. There are many different ways to write a sonnet, which means there’s lots of variation. Shakespeare wrote sonnets which rhymed ABAB CDCD EFEF GG - if you want to understand this rhyme scheme better you can read a sonnet of his here. However, you can have a lot of fun with a sonnet — if you want to reference traditional love poetry, you can suggest it’s sonnet by keeping it 14 lines, even if you don’t want to hassle of the rhyme scheme. This can add another layer of depth and a lighter challenge.
A haiku is a short Japanese poem of only 3 lines - the first line has to have 5 syllables, the second has to have 7 and the third has to have 5 again. This means you have very little space to use your image and it can make for a beautifully simple poem. If you’re struggling to count the syllables in a word, try saying the word aloud and clapping your hands each time you hear a vowel sound. The number of times you clap your hands if the number of syllables there are!
5. Keep using resources!
There are so many ways to expand your the structure and imagery of your poem. Hopefully these have been of help, but keep using the internet and researching different techniques and skills if you want to technically expand your poem.
Above is one of the best videos about writing poetry — not only will it help you with technical skills, it will also make you feel confident about your own amazing poetic abilities.
What next?
If you’re ready to enter your poem into the King Lear Prizes you can do so here.
If you want to read more posts about poetry, check out our Hints & Tips blog here!
If you want to know more about the King Lear Prizes generally, please go here.
If you have any feedback on this post, or any other ideas of what hints & tips could be useful to you in your poetry, please email me (Matilda!) on matilda@kinglearprizes.org. I’d be delighted to hear from you.
