Poetry Tips: Reading

Today’s tip is relatively easy, or is it? Reading other people’s poetry will help you write your own. You’ll learn knew clever uses for language, new designs for stanzas, imagery, syntax, and all those other fancy terms you had to learn in school when it comes to writing. Don’t just read poets you like, read poets you don’t like as well. Find out why you find certain poets unnerving. For me, I can’t stand poets who use “O!” at the beginning of their lines. Unless they’re from the 1800s, I don’t want to see it. It’s a personal thing. Learn what kinds of poems you would like to grow into or out of. Reading poems of all kinds from all over the world will give you so much more insight into your writing than trying to employ all the “tips” you come across from other writers. Poets themselves are teachers to other writers by virtue of their own works. Discover new ideas and techniques. Read!

Thanks for dropping in, please stop by tomorrow for another poetry blog…