An Overview of Poetry Writing

Though I've had no formal education in the arts, I am a poet, and have taught a course in poetry writing and have done individual tutoring, all on a volunteer basis. I am a registered nurse and an Anglican Solitary Religious.

When looking at poetry as a whole, I prefer various forms of what is called formal poetry. The opposite of this might be called free verse, but it also needs many of the same components, as do the formal types. In my mind, the most important of these requirements is imagery. In Warriner's English Grammar and Composition, imagery is defined as "a recalling of sensory perceptions when evoked by memory or words." Such a process is often done by the use of figures of speech. The use of these may evoke similar perceptions in the reader. The most used and understood of these figures of speech are metaphor, simile, alliteration, assonance, personification, onomatopoeia, paradox, and hyperbole. Now of course, prose also employs this figurative language, but the difference is that in poetry it is necessary. Literalism has a very minor place in poetry, while it may be well employed in prose, especially when the object of the prose is informational or educational.

I'm sure free verse is more popular and is more often seen in publications. And although I prefer writing in forms, I still think my best poems are those in free verse. So why do I prefer to write formal poetry? It's simply for the challenge. To create beauty and truth within mathematical constraints is irresistible to me. I like writing sonnets, villanelles, rhymed and metered verse, and syllabic verse. I also have a love for iambic pentameter, which I might use in six-line verses, and might decide to rhyme the last couplet in each verse. I might even invent my own forms.