well hello there fellow poets literati
and Illuminati I know you're watching
[Music]
in this episode we're going to be
talking about five uncommon poetry
writing tips to help you instantly write
better poetry but before we get into the
tips I just want to say hey I'm Nikita
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lots of fun and learn things alright
let's get to the tips alright tip number
one focus on one central image or
emotion this is something I see tripping
up a lot of new remotes you get tons of
ideas and start writing things down for
your poem and that's good unless you
never rein in your writing afterwards
well you might end up with is poems that
are scattered or seem to be about
nothing in particular now you've
probably seen this issue either in your
own poetry or and the stuff people are
posting online it's really quite common
you'll see a poem that's going from
talking about the sky to a girl to death
and their swords there too and roads and
you're bringing up memories and on and
on but what's what's the poem really
about there's nothing wrong with having
all those ideas and even writing them
down in a first draft but you'll want to
scale that back as you edit especially
if you're just starting out poetry is
all about concentrated effects and
emotion so spreading yourself thin like
that is actually pretty dangerous now
you might be thinking but Nikita there's
lots of poems that have multiple images
and emotions and yeah you're right
but I'd also point out that most of
those poems are longer often much much
longer sure you've got homes like The
Waste Land Leaves of Grass Paradise Lost
you can definitely cover a wide array of
images and emotions in a poem but that
will require advanced skills and many
many pages there you go that's kind of
like a bonus tip number one point five
keep your writing short think about it
this way if you were painting you
wouldn't start off by tackling a huge
canvas you'd maybe do some sketches or
work on a smaller canvas and develop
your skills and confidence a huge canvas
means every flaw will be more visible
and what's worse you'll take longer to
finish it so it'll take longer to learn
from the mistakes that you've made or
even worse you'll never
and it's the same with music you
wouldn't start off by composing a
symphony so right five qualities shorter
poems that are hyper focused and make
one image or emotion truly shine but how
do you do that well there's two solid
ways to approach this number one start
from an emotion and see what images
stand out to you so if you want to write
about fear let's say see what images
stick out to you and evoke that emotion
ghost spiders the neighbor's dog water
whatever a long line of Starbucks the
image itself isn't even necessarily as
important as the things you do with it
and then there's way number two start
from an image and see what emotions you
could evoke and explore with that image
if you want to let's say write a poem
about a mint plant for example
you could start with that or a scene in
which you have the mint plant see what
that makes you feel or what might be an
interesting feeling to associate with it
maybe it's freshness and optimism maybe
it's a cool apathetic distance any image
can work with any poem pretty much if
the other elements are working so don't
be afraid to play around with things the
haiku is agreed form to study to improve
your ability to focus on just one image
or emotion since it's so short and
restrictive I could almost always
feature one dominant emotion and often
only one image which makes sense because
you're not going to be able to develop
much more than that in just a few
syllables Matsu by shows haiku the old
pond is a great example let's take a
look at a translation of it by a Robert
Haas the old pond of frog jumps in sound
of water here you get the one image of a
scene by the pond
with this frog jumping in the emotions
here are subjective obviously but I'd
say tranquillity is dominant another
great example of focus not only one
image is the red wheelbarrow by William
Carlos Williams so much depends upon a
red wheelbarrow glazed with rain water
beside the white chickens here you only
get the one image as well the red
wheelbarrow beside the white chickens
and yet it still has power because of
the tense line breaks and the opening
lines so much depends upon which give a
weight to what follows
but notice how vivid and powerful basic
images can become weather
isolated in this way all right moving
right along to tip number two develop
tension but what is tension well it's
essentially the emotional pull between
two things so the same way that you
would get tension when you pull a rope
tight from both ends you get tension in
your writing when two elements are
pulling away from each other or are in
opposition tension is another thing that
poets that are starting out often don't
really know about or pay much attention
to and it's really hurting their right
attention is what gives poetry its
energy without tension you'll almost
certainly have a lifeless poem on your
hands the worst thing is that since
tension is something that works below
the surface even readers that aren't
familiar with the concept of tension
will feel intuitively that something is
missing they might say that a poem is
boring flat or too simple but often
that'll mean that it's lacking in
tension so how do you go about
developing attention in your poetry well
there's three kinds of tension and I'll
be releasing more in-depth videos on
each one of them in the future so make
sure to subscribe if you'd like to see
them but for now let's just take a look
at a quick summary of each kind the
first kind is conflict or narrative
tension probably the most famous kind in
fact I wouldn't be surprised if you knew
it already narrative tension puts a
character in opposition to something
whether that be another character their
environment themselves and so on and
that attempts to resolve that opposition
through the plot maybe there's a killer
on the loose maybe a character's lover
is unfaithful maybe there's a gun in a
room that the character has just
discovered that's narrative tension then
there's the second kind of tension which
I want to focus on most of all and
that's the mattock or subtextual tension
thematic tension works on the level of
ideas feelings and images which is why
it works below the text sub textual you
filming some concepts and images are
naturally in opposition to each other
and evoking or implying these
opposition's is a great way to subtly
add energy and life to your poetry
some examples include life and death
love and hatred happiness and sadness
sunshine and rain hot and cold childhood
and adulthood cats and dogs Mac and PC
war and peace and so on we already
briefly looked at Basho's
the old pond which uses thematic tension
between the old pond and the energetic
frog you get the word old which
naturally implies its opposite youth you
also get the initial stillness of the
pond which is contrasted by the movement
of the frog jumping and the implied
movement of the sound of water once you
start looking for thematic tension and
things it's kind of like a virus you'll
start seeing that everything you enjoy
uses tension and you can't escape it to
give you another example in TS Eliot's
the love song of j alfred Prufrock even
this simple couplet in the room the
women come and go talking of
Michelangelo uses the tension between
coming and going to make the scene much
more energetic and to add depth to
what's going on imagine how much weaker
the couplet would have been if that
tension was gone in the room the woman
come to and fro talking of Michelangelo
or for example in the room the women
feast on escargot talking of
Michelangelo the newer versions feel
somehow aimless somehow dull don't they
that's why you want to be harnessing the
power of tension in your own poetry once
you've applied tip number one and have
an image or emotion in mind for your
poem try evoking or implying something
that's in opposition to it so if your
poem is about loneliness and aliens for
example a line about companionship will
add a powerful dynamic if your poem is
about sadness throwing in a touch of
happiness somewhere will help you add
depth to the poem and finally there's
the third kind of tension tension in a
form otherwise known as formal tension
that's probably the hardest to master
and the most complicated to explain
essentially it deals with the technical
choices of poets making such as line
breaks punctuation and so on we've
already seen a couple examples of formal
tension earlier in this video first in
the old pond with the use of a hyphen in
the first line to cut the poem into two
pieces quite sharply the - here makes
the reader pause for a moment as if to
reflect and then again in the red
wheelbarrow with the use of line breaks
that cut words like wheelbarrow and rain
water apart to give the poem extra
momentum and energy that's all the time
we have to talk about formal
right now but stay tuned for a more
in-depth video talking about what it is
on how to use that okay moving on to tip
number three leave some room for the
reader if there is any way to summarize
these tips into a kind of mentality to
approach it writing with I'd say it's
less is more now though you might be
tempted to try to say everything that's
on your mind or to explain the
intricacies of your chosen subject in
your poem
you need to realize that you'll never be
able to say everything part of the
problem and magic of language is that it
inherently only points in the direction
of the things that refers to you'll
never capture the thing as it is in your
writing as a result poetry is as much
about what's not said as it is about
what is said much of the beauty of
poetry comes from the way the words open
up to each readers personal experience
and interpretation over time you'll find
your preferred balance between how much
you want to say and how much you want to
exclude but when you're starting out
it's much more harmful to try to say too
much rather than saying too little so I
would suggest cutting a lot out at first
you'll be surprised how much stronger
some poems will become when you reduce
the amount of words by half and allow
the ones that remain to truly open up
and breathe if we invert this tip and
attempt to expand the old pond you
should be able to pretty quickly see how
even a few extra words here and there
really begin to add up and get in the
way so we start off with the original
the old pond a frog jumps in sound of
water and then we expanded the old pond
is still that a frog jumps and swiftly
and I hear the sound of water the old
pond is still and tranquil a frog is
revealed in the grass and it jumps in
and I hear the sound of it splashing
upon the surface naturally this isn't
the best example but I hope even here
you're beginning to see how you might be
able to reduce and condense parts of
your writing to really allow it to open
up another good way to leave the poem
open for your reader is to resist the
temptation to give your poem one clear
message or meaning and some will
disagree with me on this point and if
you do that's fine but I'm of the belief
that you're better off focusing on
developing images emotions
themes in your poetry I can speak to
readers on their own rather than
hammering your own interpretation into
the phone even famously didactic writers
what's adaptiq essentially writers that
specifically have a moral or a message
in mind
so even didactic writers like Tolstoy
profited from leaving their work
sufficiently open-ended and since poetry
is even shorter and more condensed than
prose the only way to really pack a
punch in so few words is to leave the
right things out all right tip number
four take a risk at this point you
should have some simple yet powerful
writing under your belt you're writing
focused energetic and evocative poetry
now you're ready to add even more depth
to your writing with a little bit of
risk-taking when you're starting out you
should try to keep risk-taking under
control again there's a balance that's
unique to you that you must find some
people may be perfectly content writing
in existing forms like sonnets where
exploring popular subjects and there's
nothing wrong with that others may want
to completely reinvent poetry as we know
it most beginner poets find themselves
too far to one side or the other either
they're taking no risks or they're
taking too many too fast taking no risks
will hold you back without a doubt but
taking too many risks will probably open
you up to mistakes that you'll be too
inexperienced to catch however as you
find your Center don't be afraid to try
something new and daring and see where
that leads you experiment with
techniques and poetic forms push
boundaries and play around with each new
piece for example try messing around
with punctuation put one of your words
in all caps do something completely
unrelated to the poem and see what
dynamic that creates basically do
something your reader won't expect in
fact do something crazy that even you
don't expect the worst case scenario is
it won't work and you'll just have to
adjust it but the experience of play and
experimentation will help you grow and
learn way more quickly and for the last
tip tip number 5 steal more some poets
are hesitant to copy other poets and
artists and I can understand why there's
something special about originality and
nobody wants to be just an imitation
unfortunately though popular that way of
thinking also prevents many newer poets
from learning as quickly and as effect
Dibley as they could be when you're
starting out you should copy it you
should steal take your favorite poem and
write it out yourself line by line
replace words in it expand and shorten
it write your own version about a carrot
find out what makes it tick and why
obviously I don't mean publish those
studies no one needs to see them except
you but they're extremely valuable as
learning tools so get into the habit of
stealing TS Eliot and one of his essays
said one of the surest tests of the
superiority or inferiority of a poet is
the way in which a poet borrows immature
poets imitate mature poets steal bad
poets to face what they take and good
poets make it into something better or
at least something different the good
poet welds his theft into a hole of
feeling which is unique utterly
different than that from which it is
torn the bad poet throws it into
something which has no cohesion a good
poet will usually borrow from authors
remote in time or alien and language or
a diverse and interest there are two key
points to draw from what he says one
immature poets imitate that's the
natural way to learn and it's better to
imitate and learn than to lose yourself
try to reinvent the wheel all great
artists imitated the Masters before them
and to mature poets take ideas emotions
and techniques from other contacts and
transform them into poetry that is
powerful and innovative so as you
develop your skills what was once an
imitation will turn into adaptation and
eventually transformation before you
know it you'll be writing evocative
poems based on obscure 19th century
German poets you loved and transforming
famous paintings it's a genius word
collages or maybe not but you'll be
doing your own awesome thing either way
all right hope you enjoyed those tips
and found valuable if you did please hit
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to come if you have questions or
suggestions for future topics you'd like
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comments below thanks for watching and
I'll catch you next time