When is my poem finished?: Writing Poetry #5
So you’ve written a poem. Well, have you? That can often be a question that plagues writers. It’s so hard to truly know when your poem is done. And how do you even edit your poetry? We’ve put together a list of useful tips to help you finish your poem.
1. Think about your title
If you haven’t chosen one already, remember that your poem needs a title. Even if you decide not to give it a title at all, make sure this is an intentional choice. Titles help signify to the reader what the poem is going to be about — no title might be mysterious, but does it work with the poem you’ve written?
The easiest way to pick a title is to think about what is at the core of your poem. What are you, as a poet, trying to say? If it’s about someone you love or miss, perhaps the title could be their name (first name only though!). If you want to be more subtle, maybe look at the line or image in your poem that encapsulates what you want to say. This doesn’t have to be clunky or obvious — Mary Jean Chan’s beautiful poem The Window is titled because of a window that is central to the piece as a whole, beginning and ending the poem. Yet, it still manages to be subtle, opening the reader up to a multitutde of metaphors. The best titles don’t tell the reader how to interpret the poem, they just hint!
2. Don’t be afraid to experiment a little…
Editing can be something really daunting - you don’t want to ruin a poem you’ve worked so hard on. Even so, you can’t let this fear hold you back from trying something new. Take editing slowly first — try splitting the poem up into various sizes of stanzas, or mess with line length. Sometimes how a poem reads on a page is half the battle. Also, try removing words that might be unnecessary, such as conjunctions. Though these would be really important if you were writing a story, a poem can flow much much better if you replace an ‘and’ or ‘but’ with a comma or dash. Be free and try new things with your phrasing: with poetry, you are the one who is making the rules.
Similarly, try reading your poem outline several times between edits. Pause where you’ve put pauses, intentionally follow your punctuation and line breaks — does it sound like you want it to sound? If not, edit it that way. It might take a few tries to get right, but once you love the way your poem reads, then you’re pretty much finished.
Don’t be afraid to rework your poem several times. No great writers wrote masterpieces with their first draft!
3. …but try not to be overly enthusiasic when you edit.
Sometimes if you don’t feel too confident in your writing ability, it is easy to be overly critical. You might read your poem back and scribble out or delete phrases in the heat of the moment or when you’re full of self doubt. This can mean you can regret cutting certain things, and even if you try to put it back it just doesn’t feel quite right.
This is why you should always keep a base copy of your poem — whether it’s in a separate document, or on a separate notebook page, don’t let your original first draft be lost until you’re sure you want it gone. I often go back to first draft of a poem and pick up an image I cut out at the very beginning of the process; as your poem evolves, certain things you didn’t think fit at first can eventually perfect the poem.
Remember, you’re not destroying anything when you re-draft and edit, you’re adapting. You want the original soul of your idea to remain. If you accidentally cut that out at the beginning, you also want to make sure you can get it back swiftly and easily!
4. Rest your poem (and yourself!)
If you have been writing a poem for a long time it can be difficult to keep a fresh and honest perspective. The best thing to do if you’ve been staring at your work for ages is to take a break from it — preferably sleep on it or go for a walk. Try to forget about poetry all together!
Once you’ve sufficiently cleared your head, you can read your poem with a new perspective. Try reading it out loud, and put yourself as much as you can in a new reader’s shoes.
Taking a break like this can mean you gain some distance from your poem. Often you can be too close to your work to be able to edit it well! Taking a break before you decide your poem is finished can help perfect your work.
5. Perfect your final line.
Read your poem. Read it again. Does it say what you want it to say? The best way to know this is if you’re left with a contentment when you finish, a sort of satisfaction that your concept (whether it’s an event, a person, or an emotion) has been shown through your perspective.
I often think we can narrow that feeling down to the final line — in my opinion, it’s even more important than the opening one. How do you want your readers to be left? With a sense of joy and satisfaction, or fragmentary uncertainty? Play with different ways to show this emotion — to sum up what you wish to say. You can even hint this in whether you wish to end a poem with a full stop or not. When you think your final line works, it’s very likely the rest of the poem works too.
Congratulations, you’ve finished a poem!
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.
