Write a Poem or Sonnet Using These Expert Tips

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Video: Write a Poem or Sonnet Using These Expert Tips

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Hello and welcome to VisiHow. In this series of videos, we are exploring the world of poetry. In this particular video, we're going to talk about some of the top tips to write a poem, sonnet, prose, or even prose poetry. It depends on what you deem to be most important. The most important aspect in all areas of life is action. Talent and desire are great, but they are nothing without physical work. The best way to write a poem is to start writing and see what happens. The best thing you can do is pick up a pen and start writing a poem right now. That is the best piece of advice that anyone will ever give you. Here are some tips to help you structure the process, or to inspire you to think about poetry in a different way or different ways in which you can write poetry.

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   First, record your dreams

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   They are full of rich, surreal and powerful imagery, but the don't linger long in the memory. So keep a notepad by your bed and try to record them as soon as you wake up. In your dreams, look for repeated images, themes, situations, narratives and behavior. Try and link them together, or try and contemplate them. Use that rich material to create poetry.

   

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   Poetry has always been used to express out extreme emotions, from helping us deal with grief and sadness, to celebrating love and life

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   Try to remember a powerful moment in your life, how it made you feel, the aspects, however innocuous, that you recollect. Try to do this with one happy and one sad memory to contrast the results. Use these two memories or moments in your life. Recollect them now and try to create a poem, one happy and one sad. Remember how you felt then and what was happening.

   

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   One of the best ways to habitually write poetry is to make time every day to write

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   It can be any duration you choose, from minutes to hours, but allotting time to write makes the process habitual, a part of your routine, and converts your thinking. It is wonderful to wait for inspiration to strike, but first you must arrive at a point where your creative thoughts scream loud enough to be extrapolated from the ululating chaos that ricochets inside our craniums. By giving yourself a set time every day to write, you give yourself the ability to learn how to write, to go through the process every day, to condition or train your brain, so you're thinking about writing. You see things, and you think about how you would like to express that in written form. By writing regularly and setting a time to write, you make that part of your routine. You make it natural or instinctive. That can only be a good thing.

   

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   Another way to inspire yourself to write is to write about a personal secret

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   This is a good exercise. Write about the secret itself and how it feels to keep it.

   

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   Another form is to make a list of things you've done or will do today

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   Try and write about them in an original and creative way. You can be observant, wry, or use another style. Also, you can delve deeper, giving history to your actions or your future actions. Even something, per se, everyday and routine, such as what you will do this day, can be used and turned into poetry through creativity and identification of the details. By being observant, comical, sarcastic or bitter, having emotion, putting emotion, or defining and really bringing a lot of color and richness to situations, you can make any situation interesting to read. A large part of poetry is just observing what's around you, the people, the behavior, and putting that into a unique written form.

   

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   Another exercise you can do is to write about something that you wish you could say to someone but can't

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   I think we all have a sense of having internal monologues or solipsisms and soliloquies, internal soliloquies where we say everything on our minds, but we don't say them to people for multiple reasons. In this exercise, you can try and think of something you wish you could say, but you can't. This is about tapping into repressed or hidden desires and thoughts, about bringing them to the surface, where you can reveal and release some surprising, powerful and creative ideas and inspirations.

   

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   With the next exercise, you can describe yourself as an animal or as another entity, such as a plant, tree, or the weather

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   You can describe yourself as that or describe that imbued with your personality. This is using personification of animals or inanimate objects, giving them human characteristics. For example, using personification to explain how the weather affects mood, how the earth or nature is reacting based on human emotions. This is something that is very common in poetry, and this is a good exercise to become more familiar with this concept.

   

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   A very simple exercise is to look out of your window

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   Try to poetically record all the subtleties of the scene. Try to observe the small details that complete the mosaic. Watching people is a very rich form of inspiration. Looking out of the window, seeing the world go by, watching people live their lives; there are so many details there that make up the complete mosaic. A poet's eyes are able to observe these details and really emphasize their magic or their power, to give such color to such simple things.

   

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   Another exercise is to make a list of the first words that enter your mind

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   Now use each word to write a line or series of lines. This is a very good exercise for revealing your subconscious. If you happen to instantly write down some words, then you will use the words that instinctively come to your mind. There obviously will be several reasons why words just pop into your mind, and you can use them to create some structure in the poem. If you have ten pretty words, as many as you need, already written out, they are waypoints for you to follow that can direct you. It can also help you to reveal some things about yourself.

   

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    Finally, the last handy hint is to be honest with yourself right now

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    If you're sitting down right now, and you want to write a poem, be honest with yourself. How do you feel today, in this moment? There is no topic, subject, or mood that cannot be written about or that is not acceptable. Everything in the world, in the universe, inside, externally and internally can be written about. It all depends on how and the style that is used. If you're honest with yourself, and you can write about that, then you can really portray and convey true emotion.

    

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    So if you'd like to try all of these suggestions, you can do one at a time or one each day

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    Try and write a poem in every style that is being suggested in this video. If you'd like to share the results with us, we'd really like that, and you can leave them in the comment section below. I hope that this will be a fruitful process for you, and I look forward to seeing the results. You've been watching a video on some top hints and top tips on how to write poetry, sonnets, or prose poetry. You've been watching VisiHow. Goodbye.

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If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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