Poetry Magic
SITE DESCRIPTION: Welcome to Poetry Magic, a resource centre for the theory and craft of writing poetry. Whether you're a veteran of the poetry circuit, or taking your first tentative steps, these pages are here to help you. What is poetry? How does it differ from prose? Why is poetry special, and so difficult to write? This site provides the answers to these and other vexing questions, plus a vast array of material to make your own poetry writing more compelling, authentic and relevant.
Tips for Writing Poetry
SITE DESCRIPTION: This site contains a number of valuable tips on writing poetry. Be sure to check it out.
How to Write A Cinquain
SITE DESCRIPTION: This site has a detailed explanation of how to write a cinquain.
How to Write Poetry (For People Without Poetic Talent
It is highly unlikely that real poets
-- people with a gift for creative insight and articulate, creative use
of language; people who seem to be able to think in poetry -- write poetry
in a way I am about to outline here. This method would be too slow and
too contrived, I believe, for a real poet. But for the rest of us, it
at least will work, relatively quickly by our poem-writing standards,
and it will sometimes yield a very good poem.
This is a manner of writing a poem somewhat by logic and algorithm, rather
than by instantaneous insight. It may serve to interest children in writing
poetry who would not otherwise become interested. But it is definitely
not "the" way to write poetry, and it should not be taught as
if it were. It merely serves when all else fails. If you are a teacher
introducing this to students, they should know that. And if any of your
students can write poetry more "naturally", they should not
be required to use this method
Poetry Writing Top Ten Tips
SITE DESCRIPTION: Kara Ziehl, a creative writing major, compiled these tips in order to help students in my English 110 ("Introduction to College Writing") class. I have fine-tuned and expanded her text somewhat, but I think she did an excellent job. Her tips, which are now required reading for student-versifiers in my classes, should also help other budding poets. --
