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How To Tell Your Story

August 23, 2021

Vocabulary words:

* form
* style
* texture

The arrangement, manner, or method used to convey the poem’s content is called form. In other words,
it is how you present your ideas or story.

Once you know what you want to say, you need to determine the best way in which to say it—how you are
going to put “the best words in their best order.” Would your content be best expressed through rhyme and
rhythmic pattern? Would your topic work well within the rigid structure of a particular poetic form, or
would it be better conveyed by verse following the natural rhythm of language? While you will learn more
about rhythmical, metrical, rhyming, and formal options in later chapters, it is important to decide early
on—generally—the best way to present your content.

The poet’s style is his individual creative process, as determined by choices involving diction, figurative
language, rhetorical devices, sounds, and rhythmic patterns.

All the decisions you make in your writing—from content and rhyme patterns to form and word choice—
work together to create your personal style. The better you learn to infuse your poetry with a unique view and
feel, the more convincing your work will be.

Texture is the “feel” of a poem that comes from interweaving technical elements, syntax, patterns of
sound, and meaning.

The texture of your work will vary from poem to poem, depending on the stylistic decisions you make with
each piece. This varying texture is part of your personal style. Later you will learn how different poetic rules
will dictate the way certain types of poetry must be structured; however, the elements that create your poetry’s
texture, and thus your personal style, are entirely up to you. Texture depends on your ideas, the language you
use to express them, and how you choose to arrange each word to be most meaningful and make each word’s
role in a phrase intentional and well thought-out.

Related

Category: Improving Your Poetry
This entry was posted on Monday, August 23rd, 2021 at 10:00 am. Both comments and pings are currently closed.



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  • Editor’s Note

    The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”

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