Poetry Structure help required

manonthemoon

I am working on a poem at present. I need help as in what structure to use. Now I know here are no rules as to how to structure poetry, but I feel I am better using a structure, as it will provide more discipline

I know there is the sonnet. 14 lines is it?

I am looking for information basically on rythming techniques, lenght of lines and any other tips of note. Helpful websites would be good too.

Any help would be much obliged

Motm

cjs19

Are you for real? 14 Lines is it? Ok you seriously should not be attempting poetry if you do not have a basic understanding of the evolution of poetry. Ok granted you dont have to know everything but knowing at least that theres more than one type of sonnet would be a start. Yeah you guessed right with the amount of lines, but how can you justify even asking anybody for other structures if you dont know why they have been used in the past? If perhaps you want to continue this naive approach, whereby knowing little is advantageous to your style, then maybe invent your own style and structure and forget about anything else. Alternatively I suggest you educate yourself. If you have begun writing poetry yet are unsure of what a sonnet entails then you must stop and read more first. It seems to me you are blissfully unaware of the depth a poem can reach not just in it's words but in it's structure. How can I tell you what structure is suitable for your poem? A haiku would be my only sane suggestion. Go to http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/ and read some poems. It's a good site too for grasping style and technique.

Oakburner

cjs19 wrote:

Are you for real? 14 Lines is it? Ok you seriously should not be attempting poetry if you do not have a basic understanding of the evolution of poetry. If perhaps you want to continue this naive approach, whereby knowing little is advantageous to your style, then maybe invent your own style and structure and forget about anything else. It seems to me you are blissfully unaware of the depth a poem can reach not just in it's words but in it's structure. How can I tell you what structure is suitable for your poem?

as far as i can see motm wasn't looking to get flamed so take it easy. that response was seriously patronising. and as for having to have read a lot of poetry before you can do it yourself. i totally disagree with that. if you can express yourself on paper then thats enough.

Blush_01

Hey Motm,

I don't know if you're near a college library or could get access to one, but if you could, the Norton Anthology of Poetry goes through poetic forms quite well. I don;t knoiw if they'd have that in an ordinary library as I used it as a college text. It's about €40 or €45 to buy, which is a bit pricey if you're just looking for information on poetic forms, as the majority of the book (it's huge and the paper is like parchment it's so thin) is filled with a huge range of poems. As well as that (I don't know how helpful these will be because I've just googled them, I'm not huge on poetry but I'm sure something will help) these sites might be of some use - but don't kill me if they're not what you're looking for!

thewordshop.tripod.com/forms.html (just took a peek at this and it seems pretty good, it links to lots of different and more specific sites, which should be helpful!)

ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm

www.thepeoplespoet.com/pages/poeticforms.htm

www.writing-world.com/poetry/triolet.shtml (supposedly has step-by-step insttructions of the forms - sounds like it could be good!)

I hope that'll help you on your way. If you can't find anything in any of them, google has a long list of sites that might be more suitable. If you've already tried google and had no luck, sorry.

I look forward to seeing what your finished product is like!

manonthemoon

Thank you