Lesson 1: Writing Poetry

Editing and Revising Your Work

Many poets don’t like to revise their work. After all, writing poetry can often be an expressive, emotional experience. If you are writing for publication, however, your work will likely require some editing or revising. In fact, the well-published poet Mary Oliver once wrote that she often goes through forty or fifty drafts of a single poem before settling on the final version!

Go through the following steps with each poem. Each time you make a change in your work, go through all the steps again. Yes, this can be a time-consuming process. It will be worth it, though, because your work will be of the highest quality.

1. Do the words seem to flow?
2. The way the poem is written on paper contributes greatly to the rhythm of the poem when read. Poems are usually most readable when each line contains approximately the same number of syllables. If one line is suddenly much shorter than the others, attention is drawn to that line. Make sure that is where you want attention placed.
3. Identify the key images in the poem. Are they descriptive? Evocative? Will your intended audience be able to relate to them?
4. Check your rhyme. In free verse, you can get away with an occasional rhyme if it feels natural and not at all forced. If in doubt about a rhyme, toss it. Replace it with something else that gets the same point across but sounds better. Try to rely on techniques such as alliteration more than rhyme.
5. If you are writing a type of poetry that requires or permits rhyme, that’s a different matter. Make sure the rhyme doesn’t sound forced. Try to avoid common, simple rhymes, such as tears/fears, etc. Be more original and creative.
6. Read the poem one or two lines at a time. Does each line say what you want it to? Do the words sound good together? Do they sound good with the rest of the poem? Can you improve them in any way?
7. Read the poem out aloud again. Notice any emotions that the poem evokes. Are these the emotions you want to evoke in your readers?
8. If your poem is something other than free verse, make sure it conforms to the rules of the particular style.
9. Check your grammar and spelling. Poetry doesn’t always conform to standard rules of grammar, and it doesn’t have to. Make sure, however, that any unusual use of grammar or spelling is intended, not just accidental.
10. Sometimes you may need to further edit or revise a poem to fit a particular publication. For instance, you may have a wonderful piece of work that is thirty-four lines long, but the publication you want to submit it to might have a line limit of thirty. It is often possible to reformat your work so that more words are on one line and then your poem will fit the guidelines. Make sure to run through the above steps again, though, to make sure that the poem still reads smoothly.

There are several ways you can improve your poetry writing skills.

Read a variety of poetry by a variety of poets. You’ll learn from them, and find inspiration for your own work.

Practice, practice, practice. Like any skill, your writing will improve with practice.

Join a writers’ group. You’ll get to hear a variety of work by others and also receive feedback on your own poems.

Finally, sometimes editors will comment on rejected poems. Take advantage of this free advice.

Edit and revise your selected poems as needed.

  1  2  3  4  5   

Print this page