Art is Born

An Essay on writing poetry.

This essay is about how I write poetry. It is not a formal course on writing, but a glimpse at how another artist creates their work. Whether you are a new writer, peer, or a vastly superior artist I hope that this can contribute something to your own writing. Perhaps a slightly different perspective that can be used in a project you have been meaning to begin, or a tool you can use often. Whatever you get from it, I hope it is edifying.

Before I begin, let me state that I do occasionally have an artistic epiphany and will sit down and write a poem. With no more than a couple of mechanical errors to correct. This is the exception and not the rule and I would be remiss if I did not point out that this is not always my best work.

Some writers will tell you that a good writer can write about anything. Right, and it will be well formed and I am sure your English teacher will give you an A or maybe a B+. There is a difference between an article for a paper or technical book and a poem or novel. Literary Artists write about what they are passionate about. Art reaches into our audience and pulls a part of us out of them. For a moment in time they can see through our eyes. Feel how we feel. You will not meet this challenge by randomly writing well formed work. It may be pretty with good form and perfect scansion. It may even be an interesting read. Though it will not be art. It will be a writing that you once did.

So the first thing I do is decide what I want to write about. Today I chose a topic that has been pressing on me for a while. Balance, a center in us where we can find peace and contentment away from the turmoils in life. To find balance I reference a phrase that I tell people often. You will not find the balance at the end of an extreme. It is a comprise between extremes. The poem I wrote today was 'Between'. After I decided what I would write about I took a ride on my bike (motorcycle) to my mum's house to resolve an issue that she had with her computer. On the ride there and back I thought of what I would write about.

I knew I would not remember every last thing that went through my mind though from phrases and ideas I made a mental Outline. I was writing about balance, I wanted to express how I felt that we can find that balance between two extremes of a situation. So I decided on the Extremes. This is the outline I came up with.

Birth

...Feast

...Famine

...Love

...Hate

Death

Birth & Death, Feast & Famine, and Love & Hate are common literary subjects so I should be able to draw a good picture with these topics. I decided that I would write the poem as we would watch a life. As the outline depicts, starting with birth and encompassing the lesser topics of feast and famine and love and hate concluding with death.

I wrote each stanza independently though married them with a common scansion. Which helped develop the rhythm of the Poem over the six stanzas. I also decided to Use the same form in each stanza which was decided while writing and not part of my initial plan. I actually wrote Birth & Death first then the other stanzas in the order of the outline though that was not necessary. I escalated feeling throughout the stanzas until the remorse of the actual termination of the write and the life it embodied.

Now I typically use an outline though they are usually just this simple. If there are more words in the outline than the work, I consider it a bit dubious.

I hope this has been useful and I will certainly expand on anything that I may have unintentionally left ambiguous. I intend to write essays on Slant Rhymes/ Rhyming Schemes and Scansion later this week.

Oh, you can check out 'Between' in my writings. Be sure to leave a review and let me know how you felt about it.

Have a great day, and may good karma follow you on your path through life always.

Reviews

[Malister Mikey]

This was a very well informative work you done here, I have already used this many times in school as my 4th grade teacher taught it to me when he realized I did poems, though I tend to just write how I feel and get lucky sometimes with the stanzas and stuff. Though mostly I work on books and most my poems besides ones I make for a certain person, originate from a book or eventually become one. I will certainly think of this when I do write on my poems. Thank you and may good karma follow you as well dad.

[Jamie R. Robillard Sr.]

Thanks Jamie

[Taylor]

Thanks for sharing this. The creative process is a mystery and inspiration comes from so many different places/forms, it's hard to describe. However, you have done a fine job of outlining your process.