Tips for writing poetry

Writing poems is like painting a picture, but instead of paint, you use words.

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Poetry is great fun to write. You get to play with words...here are some tips to make it easy

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• Find rhymes: icky, sticky ... fur, purrrrr

• Use alliteration: Pete the pongy pug

• Create unusual metaphors: the kids were frogs on the trampoline

• Or similes: she was as tiny as a baby flea

• Use onomatopoeia (much easier to use than to spell!): ZOOM! SPLISH! 

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Make your poems in to shapes. 

Long and thin, short and fat, the shape of a diamond or a banana!

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Check the rhythm of your poem.

Clap your hands to the beat as you read it out loud. If it goes wonky, then add or take out words to make the rhythm work... make each line have the same number of syllables if you want a poem with an even rhythm.

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BUT... not all poems have to have a consistent rhythm, or rhyme, or any of the above. Unless you are writing a Haiku poem, or a Limerick, which have set syllables and rhythms, your poem can be free form and whatever you want YOUR poem to be!

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Watch Jo's videos for some extra tips on writing great poems.

 

Experiment with words, and have FUN!