THE FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD LESSON OF POETRY

   Writing  a poem is just like writing a short story, you need to include the 3 W's (Who, What and Why) if you want your readers to understand your work. Many poets only write part of the story, they make the mistake of thinking everyone is in their head and assumes everyone knows or understands what they know. Say you are writing a poem about a girl you know, if you don't tell that to your readers how are they going to understand about the Who of your poem. I read hundreds of poems that say things like "She broke my heart" but never bother to explain who she is or how she did it or even why she did it before they move on to something else like "I forgot her and moved on". If you read a book that was so cryptic or vague you most likely would lose interest in it and not finish reading it. I tell every poet I know they need to have someone read their poetry out loud to them so they can hear how it sounds. When you read it yourself your mind fills in the gaps because it knows the whole story, but when you listen to it being read out loud to you, you'll only hear the words written. Hearing it read to you is the best way to catch the small mistakes we all make.
                   Bear

THE SECOND LESSON OF POETRY

A Poem by Bear

   Vocabulary! Write it the same way you would say it. Another mistake I see all the time in poems is where someone used a word that they didn't understand what the word really meant. This is the problem of using just a thesaurus, you look at a list of words with the same meaning but this is not always true. An example of this is the word LOST, say you are writing about something you lost, well absent is the first word that comes up on your thesaurus. An absent sock doesn't really mean the same thing as a lost sock. Also, you can't smell green or see happy without explaining just what you mean. Oh you can say (It was such a good day you could see the happiness.) If you use just that line without a supporting line then people are not really going to understand. Oh, you will get comments on your work but if you were to ask people what they thought that line meant their answers would be as vague as that line. Some of the best poems use simple words to get great depth and emotional meaning so: write it the same way you would say it and only use words that you know what they mean and if you are going to use a writing tool like a thesaurus also take the time to look the word's meaning up. Dictionary.com - The world's favorite online English dictionary! is a very good reference site for any and all writers.
                                   Bear

THE THIRD LESSON OF POETRY

A Poem by Bear

    What is the difference between a poem and a short story? Styling and sentence structure! A poem can be broken up into stanzas (an arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme) whereas a story is broken up into paragraphs (a distinct portion of written or printed matter dealing with a particular idea, usually beginning with an indentation on a new line). Poems tend to be read with a meter or set timing for each line (much like a song), and a story is read at the same pace all the way through. Sentence structure also dictates the length of sentences, if you have ten words in a line and two in the next pairing line then you have changed the flow and meter the poem will be read. I am not saying each line should be the same length, I am saying that the length of each line determines how the poem is read. Think of it like this, long lines are read slow and short line fast, slow fast slow fast is a rhythm or pattern that make sense but slow slow fast slow slow slow fast fast is not. Try it, read a few poems out loud and see for yourself how the timing and flow is changed by different sentence length.

Well, that covers the basics of writing poetry. Feel free to send me a note if you have any questions, I will be happy to answer your questions if I am able.
                                 Bear


                      ANOTHER LINK JUST ADDED TO A GREAT WRITING TOOL
Grammarly makes you a better writer by finding and correcting up to 10x more mistakes then your word processor, do yourself a favor and check it out.
https://www.grammarly.com/1?affiliateID=1959&affiliateNetwork=ho
Or try this link https://app.grammarly.com/

                                    JUST ADDED
Sorry everyone but It occurred to me that I should have included this link from the very beginning http://www.naturalreaders.com/index.html This it the text to speech program I use. There are other programs, I like this one because it is easy to adjust the speed and voice sound to my liking

I just came across this website and fell in love with it, if you only want one site to help with your writing this is it!!! http://www.wordhippo.com/

Well, it seems I have overlooked a very helpful writing tool: The Thesaurus! If you have never used one it is a dictionary of words with the same or nearly the same meanings, it is a great writing tool that lets you find just the right word. Here is the link to the online thesaurus and dictionary that I use if you don't have one.
     http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thesaurus

Another helpful writing tool is the Rhyming Dictionary, for those of you who don't have one here is the link to the one I use from Itools:
     http://itools.com/tag/rhymes
Here is a link to the gateway to the internet and from here you can find anything. A must have link: http://www.refdesk.com/

Author's Note

As you can see I have put all three lessons of poetry on the one page, I hope this is easier to read.

Reviews

[...]

Some my thoughts on your lesson. In poems and short stories is,for me important secrets and discovering during the reading.when I write I let reader to cooperate and let him create own version what he or she reading. Flow in poem is important but don't must kill mesage and my own language. Same with grammar sometimes bad grammar can better express my feeling then right one. On other hand I think you should be very neat what are you writing. Think what kind of impact this,will have on reader. What are you trying say. Find right form .Find right flow and build strong base of your structure . Be open and,focus on what are you doing.

[Bear]

I welcome your thoughts, I wrote these guidelines over 20 years ago to help members of a poetry group I ran to help them get their work in front of editors and a chance at being published. They are more for the novice writer looking for a place to start. Thank you for your thoughts.

[ROXANE DORSEY]

Hi my name is Roxane. I stumbled across this very valuable piece of knowledge for me and my poetry. I began writing back in the 70's(1st grade). It wasn't til recently I picked up my flow. However some knowledge left me over the years. Your lessons on poetry brought my memories to light. Thank you very very much. can I save this for future references?

[Bear]

Feel free to use them as you wish, I wrote these for a poetry group I was part of back when poetry.com started and everyone was publish conscious. These would at least get you past the interns and as far as the editor back in the 90's. I hope you find them useful :~)

[AcasualPawn]

Thankyou for guidance sir, its very helpful...

[Bear]

I hope you checked out the links at the bottom, they lead to some very helpful writing tool.

[Avia]

Thanks for sharing, this is very useful.

[Bear]

Thank you for stopping by, be sure to check out the links to some useful writing tools at the bottom :~)

[Avia]

You're welcome, i sure will.

[Surya]

Learnt much from your explantion and I appreciate your efforts to make us learn something of utmost importance and sharing some knowledge with us..Thank you..:)

[Bear]

Thank you and it was my pleasure, I hope you checked out the links at the bottom as there are some very helpful writing tools listed.

[Gee]

Jeepers, I give no thought to any of the above (perhaps it shows !!)
Personally I would find this to restrictive. I write from head to key to post with little or no editing.

[Bear]

Not long after poetry.com started the publish craze back in the 90's I put this together for my students and poetry circle members who were thinking of getting published. If your wanted your work to make it to an editors desk it had to make it past his staff looking for one reason to trash your work. The nice thing is that you don't have to follow these guidelines they are here for novice poets looking for a place to start. I thank you for your thoughts and criticism :~)

[Gee]

To the bin it would have been then. Cheers Bear

[Great Aunt Astri]

OK, but, Sir,
1. Not knowing too much about the Who, Why and What is sometimes a benefit ... allows the reader to use their imagination and perhaps, identify.
2.You are right, we should know what we are saying ,but sometimes ambiguity adds to the mystery of the poem(if that is your intention!)
3.You are right.. tried and tested forms of poetry are good, But sometimes an unconventional 'deviance' can be interesting. and of course there are many many different forms of poetry each with their own merit!
Finally, I think ... if you use too many writing aids it may destroy the originality and 'heart' of the poem, don't you think? The thesaurus etc can be marvellous and give rise to all sorts of creativity.
I am just glad there is Spell Check, as I am actually dyslexic! But thank you, Bear for all the advice. I have read it and inwardly digested it, and I will bear it in mind hen I next write (but I often go for the unconventional! I always tick my poems as 'experimental'!!!!!!

[Stacy Purvis]

Very glad you shared this. However, there's something to be said about the air of mystery...some things are not meant to be known by all. ; )

[Bear]

That is true, but again there should be a page like this for those who want to know. Even if you have no use for the lessons I hope you took the time to check out the links to the various writing tools I have at the bottom of the page :~)

[Daisy]

This has got to be my new writing lesson henceforth! And a lesson can't be reviewed..
So all I can say is a heartiest THANKS from a writer to a writer :)

Cheers to good writing !

[Bear]

everyone is welcome to speak their mind here, I put this together back in the 90's for a poetry group I hosted and poetry.com had everyone thinking of getting published. These were the things you would need to at least get your work before an editor not just an intern. feel free to contack me if you have questions.

[Daisy]

That is a very kind thought! You are helping writers of every age group in general to develop and evolve into better writers and better humans. Keep up the good work.

[Bear]

I am just trying to repay the help I received from my Aunt who wrote song lyrics in the 40's and 50's and her friends who were in the writing business back them. I really like working with novice writers, it is like being young all over again :~)

[Daisy]

Absolutely :)

[Jared_Laskowski]

This shall be my new guideline especially the lesson about vocabulary. I'm often guilty of that

[Bear]

It took me years to learn these rules even though they were explained to me when I was a teenager by my Aunt and her many writing friends. Just like most writers I wanted to do things in a new way and create a new understanding. I wrote a lot of stuff over my early years that I had to explain what it meant to everyone who read it and if you have to do that then you didn't do a very good job. I learned my lesson an now try to save novice writers the time it takes to learn it the hard way :~)