A Wattpad Poetry Guide

Prose vs Poetry

Let's start with a common misconception on Wattpad.

"If I add line breaks I can make a poem out of pretty much anything."

No Billy. Well yes line breaks are a distinct characteristic of poetry, but without any meaning attached to them they might as well just be chopping up a paragraph. In many Wattpad poems that is the case.

Of course free verse and spoken word poetry have a little more wiggle room than a starkly metered poem when it comes to line breaks, but there should still be some purpose to them. Typically the last word of any line is stressed in a poem, and that can have an echoing effect on the next line. This is obvious when the lines rhyme, as your ears pick up on the similar sounds. Rhyming isn't the only reason to break up lines though.

Let's not forget about enjambment. Creating suspense can be a crucial factor in a poem. When a thought is only half complete and pushes into the next line, the reader is forced to stop and momentarily ponder the half of the thought they read.

"Sometimes I cut myself
off at the worst time."

Above is an example of enjambment being used to create tension for the reader. The first line goes from sounding alarming to comical when read in context of the second line.
This is a fairly obvious example, which in the context of the poem is meant to point itself out. Try using enjambment to catch your readers off guard or on the edge of their tablet.

"But what if I make my line breaks super short, like one word! Yeah one word lines has to be a poem!"

No Billy. That is a grocery list you are thinking of. Sometimes a one word line can be a perfect fit, but it's not to be used liberally, and only when it supports the central theme of the poem. (This is just my opinion)

I don't really want to focus on meter, but it deserves being mentioned. Poetry is traditionally metered, but many modern poets choose to write in free verse. Either is fine, it's not the amount of syllables that matters, it's all about purpose. If your poem is about how sad and hopeless you feel then why should the syllables line up perfectly? Chop up your line breaks to reflect that teenage angst! And if your really good you can fit in some nice enjambment to make your poems structure really outstanding.

Thanks for reading! I hope this is useful to somebody. Agree? Disagree?
Feel free to comment what you think.