Analysing poems

How to write poetry.

Poetry is a form of writing designed to evoke emotions as you read aloud or to yourself. That sounds very complicated.

Where do you start with that? How about subject?

All poems need to be about something. Take Robert Burns. He wrote about all sorts. To A Mouse is about, well, a mouse. Address To A Haggis is about, you guessed it, a haggis.

So you can write poetry about anything you like. What's important in poetry is the language you use to describe your subject.

To create vivid descriptions of what you're writing about, you can use similes, comparing things using like and as.

Jackie Kay uses similes in her poem, Bushfire.

'That fire they said was red, as red, as red, as red as a fox, your lips, a cherry.'

William Wordsworth also used similes skilfully to create imagery in the head of the reader.

'I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills.'

Mr Wordsworth also used metaphors, comparing two things which aren't alike, but have something in common.

'When all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils.'

He also used personification, which is describing an object as if it were alive.

'Beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.'

You've got a subject. You've got some great images. Now, you need to fit this into your poem and there are lots of different structures to use with their own rhyme, rhythm shape and length.

If you want something short, you could try a traditional Japanese haiku. Just three lines long, five syllables, then seven, then five, like this:

'An old silent pond

A frog jumps into the pond

Splash. Silence again.'

It may seem like poems have lots of rule, but they don't have to.

Free verse is poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular rhythm.

'Bacon sizzling on Sunday mornings.

Hot buttered toast.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.'

It lets you do anything you want with the words, the length, the structure, even the punctuation.

The important thing to remember is that anyone can write poetry.

You can write poetry about whatever you feel like, in whatever way you want, for whatever reason you choose.

Why not try a limerick? Five lines long. Something like this.

'There was a young boy from Peru

with something in important to do

so he found a quiet place

to get some head space

and wrote poetry while on the…'

Nah, okay, maybe not then.

Poems are like trees.

They come in all shapes and sizes.

There are big ones.

Messy ones.

Ordered ones.

Small ones.

Haikus are small poems that share a moment in time with very few words.

They have a set number of syllables (sounds) in each line.

Every word is made up of sounds.

If I place my hand under my chin, I can count the syllables.

Each time my chin hits my hand, that’s one.

The word assembly has three: AS-SEM-BLY.

The word today has two: TO-DAY.

There are just three lines in a Haiku, with a set number of syllables in each line:

Five in the first.

Seven in the second.

And five in the third.

You have to keep trying different words until you have the right number of syllables.

The winter trees shimmer.

Hmm, that’s six. Too many syllables for the first line. I need just five.

The winter trees sway.

OK, that can work for my first line. Now I need seven syllables for my second line.

Their branches creak into song.

Good. Now for the final line I need just five syllables.

I can hear them grow.

Haikus are often written about the different seasons. But you can write one about anything.

I raced to the goal.

The match is almost over.

The ball hits the net.

That’s one of the things I love about different forms of poems. They force you to redraft and edit, which is a vital tool for anyone interested in writing. There are longer forms, like sonnets, that also use rhyme. They have fourteen lines split over four verses.

Verses one, two, and three have four lines. The last verse has two lines.

He is old and tall—the Oldman tree.

His branches reach into the sky.

The Oldman tree has knobbly knees.

He towers tall, he towers high.

His bark is rougher than a rock.

There are leaves curled in his hair.

His canopy hides an eagle flock.

You must not climb him, you must not dare.

Oldman tree sings a sappy song at night.

He hides in every forest path.

His songs are gooey-sweet, filled with delight.

Listen out for his creaking laugh.

Oldman tree grows in every wood.

Singing songs and doing good.

Just like there are trees that are balanced and ordered, and others that are wild and messy, you can write poems without any form, with verses that just sound right to you.

The monkey puzzle tree was like a giant’s hug.

Embracing me and my friends with its green hands.

Lifting us up to the sky and always caught us if we fell.

With poetry, there is no right or wrong. In fact, anything grows!