How to Write Poetry: Enjambment and Haiku/Senryu
© April 3, 2017, by Olan L. Smith
When first starting out writing poetry, it may seem daunting, and you may ask, "What am I going to say, how do I say it, and what shape should it take?" The tendency for new poets is to write in choppy phrases such as:
My heart aches.
I feel I will break.
Where will I turn?
My life is over.
But use in an enjambment where the phrase is broken and carries over to the next line (some constraints do not use enjambments, so know the rules for your constraints).
Here is the same poem with enjambments:
My heart aches.
And I feel I will.
Break. Where will I
Turn? My life is over.
The other thing about writing in short phrases is that it makes the eye of the reader track back and forth, and they tire or get bored, so break out of the short lines for your poems and write longer lines with more phrases in a line. For example, the same poem.
My heart aches, and I feel it will break.
Where will I turn? My life is over.
Or as a monostich poem (a one-line poem):
My heart aches, and I feel it will break. Where will I turn? My life is over.
A beginning poet is often too wordy and goes on and on. Say what you came to say and be done with it, and don't waste the readers' time saying nothing. However, some constraints call for repetition, but it is meaningful to remove parenthetical phrases. If you forget to say something, don't qualify it, rewrite it, and remember that a poem, even a simple haiku, tells a story and is a complete thought. The haiku is a great constraint to start out with because it has to contain 17 syllables. Practice the haiku, and you can tackle any constraint in the future, which will improve your free verse poetry.
An English-style haiku is a mimic of a Japanese form of poetry, and the English version of it is 3 lines of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 nature. A traditional English haiku is a complete story in 17 syllables (17 syllables is not a strict rule, but is expected to most of the syllable counters out there), with a turn or twist (cutting word), and the use of enjambment, such as
YOU ARE READING
HOW TO WRITE POETRY, BY OLAN L. SMITH
Non-FictionThe following articles are essays on how to write poetry, by Olan L. Smith, aka Cotton Jones. I was asked to write these article for Wattpad's Poets Pub's Handbook for Poets, 2017. I am collecting them here for my site so they may be easy to find. L...
