Editors hate rhyming poetry. Or do they? Rhyme has become something of a sore subject in the world of contemporary poetry, but to many poetry editors, there’s good reason for the shift. A number of writers who work in rhyme have yet to distinguish between the nursery rhymes of childhood and more adult types of verse. Recollections of the fun, frilly words that cheered and delighted us as children may be the reason editors tend to avoid rhyming poems.

If we are to write rhyming poetry that transcends childhood nursery rhymes, we must understand the importance of alliteration, assonance, and consonance and what they can bring to our work. These elements of rhyme become useful tools when used effectively.

Rhyme does not have to be an ABAB rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming words in a poem. A typical rhyme scheme may look like this:

I went to the store
To buy some milk
But I found something more
A scarf of silk.

In the example above, store/more and milk/silk are examples of perfect rhyme (when the words sound the same because of the last syllable). Many poets find it difficult to handle perfect rhyme, since they run the risk of writing poems that sound forced or even clichéd. Mastering the different types of rhyme beyond ABAB improves poetry techniques and also creates a more sophisticated style of poem.

Understanding how to use rhyme effectively may give you the confidence you need to submit your rhyming poems to poetry editors (who may just be waiting for someone like you to get “rhyme” right). But in order to do that, you’ll need to see how good rhyming verse offers much more than words that merely “sound the same.”

While perfect rhyme is often found at the end of a line, there are a number of ways good rhyming poetry makes use of other kinds of rhyme. Internal rhyme (or middle rhyme) is rhyme that occurs in a single line of verse. Internal rhyme is a more subtle way of creating rhyming poetry. Edgar Allan Poe provided an excellent example of internal rhyme in “The Raven.” Take a look:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“'Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door —
     Only this, and nothing more.”

Here are a few types of rhyme that go beyond that singsong meter of childhood nursery rhymes.

Alliteration is when the same initial consonant sound repeats in close succession. You can see an example in the Poe verse above: “While I nodded, nearly napping…” Alliteration brings a more subtle form of music to an otherwise flat line.

Assonance is when the vowels in a given line rhyme. For example, “weak and weary” offers both alliteration and assonance.

Consonance is when one or two consonants in the words of a given phrase repeat in close succession, although the words themselves may not technically rhyme in the traditional “hat, sat, cat” sense. The rhyme is created within the internal structure of the words, based on the consonants. Examples: clip, clop.

Half rhyme is when the final consonants repeat: bowl, trawl.

Pararhyme can have much in common with the forms above. Pararhyme is when the consonants match, but the vowels are different. The consonance examples are also pararhyme (drip, drop). Sometimes, pararhyme may be called partial rhyme or imperfect rhyme.

Reverse rhyme is the opposite of what we think of as typical rhyme. Instead of the like sounds coming at the end of the words (fighter, lighter), the like sounds arrive at the beginning (gorge, gourd).

At Writer’s Relief we have worked with poets who specialize in rhyme, but the poetry must be exceptional. Learn how you can submit your poems for publication through Writer’s Relief.

Because poetry tends to be an especially musical form of writing, there are a number of words that poets use to talk about their particular techniques. Here is some vocabulary to help you discuss the music of your poetry. Enjoy!

Alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words.
 
Anapest
Two unaccented syllables followed by an accented one, as in un-der-STAND.

Assonance
Repetition of similar vowel sounds.
 
Caesura
A pause within a line.

Dactyl
A stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones, as in SHUD-der-ing.

Diction
The selection of words in a literary work—for example, if a narrator says blood-red, that selection has different connotations than rose-red, even though the colors may be similar. 
 
Elision
The omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable—such as o’er for over.

Falling meter
Meters that move (or fall) from stressed syllables to unstressed syllables.

Foot
A unit of measure in a metrical line; syllables included in a kind of musical bar or measure.

Iamb (as in Iambic)
An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, as in at-TEMPT.

Meter
The pattern of accents in poems.

Onomatopoeia
Words that imitate the sounds they describe.

Pyrrhic
A metrical foot composed of two unstressed syllables (as in for the).

Rhyme
Matching sounds in two or more words.
 
Rhythm
The repetition of accents or stresses.

Rising meter
Poetic meters that move (or ascend) from unstressed to stressed.

Spondee
A metrical foot represented by two stressed syllables.
 
Style
The way an author selects and arranges words, and develops ideas using literary techniques.

Syntax
The order of words.
 
Tone
The writer’s attitude implicitly conveyed through diction, syntax, etc.
 
Trochee
Accented syllable followed by an unaccented one, as in MAY-be.

Want to write better poems? Why not try a different technique to become a better poet?:

Stop trying to write better poems.

Because most good poetry comes from a place deep in the subconscious, judging your poems as you’re writing them can be problematic. If you’re worried that your poetry isn’t strong, that your metaphors are wobbly, that no one will be interested in your subject matter, then you’re clipping your poem’s wings at the same time that you’re asking it to take flight.

Here is one way of writing that works for some poets. Feel free to expand and alter this as you please to suit your own writing needs!

1. To write better poems, turn off the part of your brain that is conscious of what other readers might think of your poetry. Let your subconscious do the writing. Don’t go chasing after the words you want to write; instead, follow the words as they come from within you. Don’t censor, second-guess, or hesitate. Just open your mind so that it can make connections that you might not consciously see.

One way of “turning off your inner critic” is to set an intention before you sit down to write. Take a few deep breaths and gently tell yourself that you’re open to whatever it is that your mind is about to do. Consciously allow your subconscious to take over. Intend to follow where the muse leads—even if what you end up with is messy, garbled, clumsy, and unfocused. Embrace that lack of control as part of the process.

2. After you’ve done the brainstorming portion of your poem-writing, put it all down for a while. Don’t rush yourself into creating a masterpiece. Like good food, good writing takes time. When your poem sits quietly for a while, the various flavors of it will mingle and recombine in new ways. You open your poem up to new levels when you leave it alone for a while.

(However, if you’re worried that you’ll lose the “fire” behind your poem, start the revisions right away. You can always put down the revised poem for a while and come back to it later on.)

3. Finally, after you’ve taken the time you need to get a little perspective on your own writing, go back to your poem with your “editing hat” on. Because the creative act is generative and the act of editing is critical, it can help to break those two processes apart and tackle them one at a time. Edit carefully and without judging your own creativity. When critiquing your own writing, always strive to be the generous and sensitive editor that you would be for someone else.

Sometimes writing better poems isn’t a matter of learning more technique or doing more thinking. It’s a matter of NOT thinking. Dig deep to let your subconscious do some writing, and your poetry will grow.

Writer’s Relief helps poets place their poems in literary magazines and journals. For more information on how Writer’s Relief can help you, visit www.WritersRelief.com.

Do you remember the poetry you wrote as a teenager? Many poets would rather eat paint chips than share their teen-angst poetry with the world. Teenage poetry is often raw, drippy, sloppy, histrionic, self-centered, and overdone. But there are valuable lessons to be learned in remembering the way we used to write before we ever dreamed of getting a poem published.

The type of poetry most often associated with a poet’s personal emotional journey is confessional poetry. This style is a particular favorite among editors of literary journals and magazines, because it demonstrates intimacy and reflection.

Writing confessional poetry is important to a poet’s personal journey toward self-improvement. Before you cared about poetic technique, you probably just cared about the act of writing. Writing a poem when you’re feeling a strong emotion is often a great way to make sense of your feelings. Poetry can be therapeutic and cathartic, allowing writers to discover their true feelings in a safe space.

When you’re feeling troubled, grab a pen. Writing heals. When you write, you make time for yourself—and that’s important. Confessional poetry can get you through the biggest hurdles in your life, and you should not be afraid of plunging into intimate, meaningful confession.

BUT before you go pulling your old, high school confessional poems out of the attic so you can get them published—or before you start thinking that every confessional poem you write is genius—think again. They are important to the writer but can come off as self-indulgent to the reader. To be published, they need to demonstrate that the writer is self-aware and has great insight and technique.

Apart from being overly emotional, the other problem with confessional poems is that they run the risk of being unruly. Although poetic verse can be free form, it must always be carefully wrought. Poems that spill on to the page and are done in a single draft are poems that you as a writer may want to consider putting away for a while. Better to judge your poems once you’re a bit distant from them—so you can see them for what they really are.

At Writer’s Relief we believe in the power of the pen. But be sure to learn the difference between when a poem is necessary emotional spewing and when it is true, carefully crafted art.

Writer’s Relief would be pleased to help you submit your poems for publication. We can target your poems to the editors of literary magazines and journals who will be most likely to appreciate your writing. Learn more about our services at www.WritersRelief.com.

For more articles about poetry, read:

Seven Techniques You Must Know To Make Editors Notice Your Poetry

How To Get Your Poetry Published

Spotlight on Poetry

Free Verse: The Hidden Rules Of Free Verse Poetry

The Seduction of Poetry Contest Scams

If you want to get editors at literary magazines or publishing houses to notice and publish your poetry, there are a few key things you can do to increase your odds of having a poem accepted. At Writer’s Relief we’ve been working with poets since 1994—helping writers submit their work to literary agents, magazines, and journals—and we’ve picked up on some pretty significant trends. Our clients get published by the hundreds (thousands, if you want to get technical). Here are some of the things they do (and don’t do) to ensure their poetry has a competitive edge. 

Skip the rhyme. Rhyming poetry is difficult to place. In fact, it’s so difficult to publish rhyming poetry that we won’t work with poets who primarily focus on rhyme. If you want to rhyme, feel free. There are plenty of outlets online and even a few print journals that adore rhyme. Just be aware that at most magazines, it’s a dead end. Rhyming poetry done well is beautiful. Done poorly? Ugh.

Keep it short. Poems that are one page long tend to be more readily accepted than any other length poem. Also, watch your margins. A poem that is too many characters wide may not fit on the narrow pages of literary magazines. Tight poems are more easily publishable and more readily accepted.

Submit three to five poems per submission. Submitting more than five poems makes you look demanding and overeager. Submitting fewer than three poems implies that you don’t have a significant body of work. Also, don’t submit more than ten pages MAX (5-8 pages is best).

Avoid clichés. Money, love, and death are said to be the big three topics for writers. But be sure that you’re approaching them in a truly new way. (Tip: The only way you can be sure your writing is not cliché is by reading poetry. Lots of poetry. If you love poetry, read and support the magazines that keep poetry alive.)

Steer clear of one-word titles, unless your one-word title is truly an amazing and unique word. Titles like “Death” or “Friendship” tend to be more often overlooked by editors. Consider the wording of your title just as important as the rest of your poem.

Use eye-catching titles. After one-word titles, lackluster titles also tend to go unnoticed (as do lackluster poems). Pep up your poetry titles to get better results.

Develop a strong bio. At some point, everyone has absolutely no writing credentials. But the fact remains that the stronger your bio is, the more likely you’ll be well-received. For some tips on how to build up your bio, read these articles: Building Publication Credits and No Publishing Credits? Get Publishing Credentials: How To Build Up Your Writing Bio Super Fast.

As always, be sure that when you submit, you’ve researched the proper markets, prepared stellar cover letters, and followed all appropriate guidelines. If you’d like help submitting your poetry for publication, check us out. Our clients regularly publish poetry in hundreds of print journals.  Click here to learn more about how we can help you! We remove the pressures and frustrations of the submission process in order to improve your acceptance rate and give you more time to write. There’s something for every budget at Writer’s Relief.

Guest writer Ruth Gilbo writes in Tennessee and is the administrator of Poets Contest Corner (http://poetscontestcorner.blogspot.com), a weblog dedicated to the encouragement of poets and their craft.

Free verse is not poetry without form or rules. It is not written as an essay and then broken into lines. The final form is not what makes it a poem; it is the simultaneous collaboration of vocabulary, punctuation, and line break. Proper use of the tools of poetry helps to mold a piece to its final state. Simply brainstorming, then adding line breaks does not constitute a poem.

Free verse is a challenging form that utilizes the natural cadences of common speech to create rhythm in lieu of the strict usage of meter found in classic forms. Free verse is the breaking of some old rules and the utilization of new tools, not the elimination of any and all rules.

Free verse often uses the natural cadence of speech to determine the length of each line in order to bring each new thought to its natural end or pause. The tools used to do this are the line stop (established by punctuation) or enjambment (inserting a strategic line break). Enjambment must have purpose and is not to be arbitrarily employed. It should be used to pull the reader through a short line to the next, where the thought can end on a weighty word capable of making the reader pause to absorb what has just been said. Or it will cause the line to end on an article (so on the following line be sure to use a word with some weight that is capable of carrying the reader through to the natural stop). When used skillfully, enjambment will not only carry the reader’s attention through the poem, but will create tension in the piece that complements the connotations, imagery, or metaphors intended by the author.

The authors of 20th-century free verse supervened the use of end-of-line rhyming schemes, but employed the internally natural rhyming methods of repetitive sound, such as alliteration, assonance, consonance, and internal rhyme. If used skillfully, these tools not only give the reader the sense of the poem's music, but they have a practical purpose as well. To slow the reader down, try using S-L combinations: Sally slipped through flattened sheets. To make the writer pause and digest, try hard consonant sounds: He became Canadian bound.

One more note: Articles and conjunctions, like it and and, should always be used in proportion to their use in common speech. When read aloud a poem with too many ands sounds like a 1970s Valley Girl spewing “like” as she talks. It’s not natural; it takes away from the meat of the poem; it sounds like a “filler” for use in maintaining cadence; it feels forced; and, well, it’s just plain annoying.

Read more about poetry:

Poetics: Free vs. Formal Verse

How To Publish A Poetry Book, Chapbook, Or Collection Of Poems

Jokes About Poetry

How To Get Your Poetry Published

Spotlight on Poetry

The Seduction of Poetry Contest Scams

Fostering Originality In Poetry

Poetry: Finding Your Inspiration

REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT OUR LIST OF WRITING CONTESTS and ANTHOLOGIES! You won’t find a better list anywhere (AND IT’S FREE!) of upcoming anthologies, special-themed journals, and contests. Find it by visiting:
http://www.writersreliefblog.com/post/Anthologies-Contests.aspx 

What’s the difference between poetry and prose?

First and most obviously, poetry and prose often—though not always—look different on the printed page. A paragraph from a novel is usually distinguishable from a poem made up of couplets or individual, independent lines. Poetry is written or spoken according to a specific pattern (usually a rhythm or meter) and is often embellished with rhyme or other poetic techniques such as alliteration. Prose is written language that does not follow a formal pattern of verse. The line rules in a poem; the sentence rules in prose.

What makes poetry so powerful?

Poetry is like music—it entrances us and makes us sway to its rhythm. Sometimes literally.

Poetry is complex. A good poem can’t be summed up too easily. There are layers of meaning to be discovered and perhaps interpreted differently by different people.

It’s evocative. Poets ache to elicit a response from their readers—they want you to sit up and take notice; to cry; to laugh; to feel disgust or joy. They want you to feel. Oftentimes poems are the product of venting, whether it’s love, grief, or anger. The poet wants to translate these emotions across the page to the reader, if only for a brief moment.

Poetry is freedom. Go ahead and write a carefully metered, rhyming sonnet with the first letter of each line capitalized. Or go free-form and use complicated rhyme schemes and meters. Whatever gets the point across. Punctuation rules fly out the window, and the poet is free to create.

Poetry celebrates our culture and it can be persuasive or educational. It challenges us to think about our world in a new way. Poets can transform a mundane happening into something that makes us say, “I know just what you mean!” or “I never saw it that way before.”

Why is poetry such an attractive form?

Each word of a poem counts. Its placement on the page counts. The interaction of the words and the sounds are purposeful and important. There should be a message, a point, a kernel of truth to be uncovered, prized out like a nut from its shell.

Sometimes an emotion or a message needs to come out, but a short story isn’t the right vehicle. A two-line poem may sum it up perfectly and allow the writer to move on.

Poets also benefit from a huge array of styles, techniques, and forms to work with. There’s a great deal of room for creativity and experimentation involved in poetry, which makes it fun to write and complicated to analyze sometimes.

How do I publish my poetry?

An upcoming issue of our Writers' Newsflash will feature an article on getting your poetry out there to share with others. We’ll cover publishing individual poems, chapbooks, and full-length collections, as well as other publishing issues specific to poetry. A poem may start out as personal and private, but it needs an audience to find its true purpose of expression.

As writers, we’ve all been there. Having writer’s block is the most frustrating and uncomfortable feeling—sitting and waiting for hours on end until our words flow smoothly again. Sometimes it takes a few hours for us to reenter our world of creativity, but other times it can take a few days, weeks, or even months. It can be tempting to give up completely.

Writer’s block is a personal reminder telling us our “tank” is low on creativity. It’s just like a car; when the tank is full, you have a smooth ride. However, you’ll have to pull over eventually and fuel up. Creativity is the same way.

Even though we can’t magically just fill up our creativity from a gas pump, there are avenues we can take to replete our mental resources (and it’s a lot cheaper than buying gas too!).

One way to boost your creativity is to get away from your writing for a while and look to real life for inspiration. If you’ve been sitting in the same chair for the past nine hours, leave your work area. Just leave. Go anywhere; take a walk outside (weather permitting!), make a phone call, turn on the television, or listen to the radio. When your body and mind are stuck in one place for far too long, you run out of steam. Instead of paying attention to what’s in front of you (a computer screen), go outside and pay attention to what’s AROUND you.

You can find great inspiration just by being around others. For example, in coffeehouses people talk about anything and everything. Sit down next to a group of people just close enough to hear what they’re talking about but far enough away not to be creepy. You can pick up the most random one-liners from strangers’ conversations. When a Writer’s Relief staff member was getting coffee a few days ago, he heard a woman talking on a cell phone say, “…they’re making him pay for what he did.”

Making him pay? Pay what? To whom? And why? What happened? Those eight little words would make a great first line—and it’s inspiration that comes from real life.

Click here for a related writing prompt: http://WritersReliefBlog.com/post/Writing-Prompte28094Real-life-Inspiration.aspx. 

We challenge you, even if you're not a poet, to write a poem about whatever you want, in whatever form you want, even if you're not a poet. Write about how you're feeling right now—what makes you feel sexy, what makes you angry, what motivates you, what makes you cry. Don't be afraid to confront these feelings. Some of the best poetry comes from this buried intensity.

A good poet is able to find the natural rhythms of everyday life and express them eloquently in words. But where do the ideas come from? There are thousands of poems out there about tired subjects like love and war; as a poet, your job is to find either a new and original take on these overused subjects or bring an original idea to life. Sometimes, however, the poetry muse takes a hike...and doesn’t return.

Here are just a few of the many ways to either discover or reclaim your wayward muse:

Look around you. Anything, anything at all can be the subject of a poem if dealt with in an original and creative matter.

Keep a notebook with you at all times and keep an eye on the people and places around you. The grocery store, the park, the bus—all can inspire new and creative ideas for poems. You might not necessarily write about what you see, but ideas may come to you in different settings.

Keep a notebook beside the bed for ideas that stem from dreams. Or write a poem about a dream you wish you’d had.

Keep a file of ideas—clippings, sketches, quotes—anything that may inspire a poem later on.

Writing prompts can often generate original thought. Try a "what if" scenario: What if children ruled the world? What if you woke up three feet taller?

Write about something "ugly" and make it beautiful through imagery.

Write a poem that consists solely of dialogue. Or create a poem from a list (i.e. the ten best pieces of advice I ever received).

Write a poem about someone from a distant place and time as if you were that person.

Write about an inanimate object—or from the object’s point of view. "Ode to a Paperclip" may not get you published, but it may spark creativity and original ideas.

Write from someone else’s point of view. Instead of yet another poem about Christmas, try writing about Christmas from the point of view of the homeless woman on the corner. Avoid using the word "Christmas" and rely on imagery instead.

Write about something you did NOT experience but wish you had (i.e. Woodstock) or an era in which you’d like to have lived.

Try writing passionately about something you passionately do NOT believe in—and make it convincing. Write about the joy of being a skinflint or how lovely it is to kill baby seals. Try this with or without the use of irony.

Go back to your childhood and write an apology in the form of a poem. Write a poem to someone you wish you had known or confront someone who did you wrong.

Scan newspaper or magazine headlines—write a poem about the woman who gave birth to six alien babies or the man who built a shrine to cockroaches. Take risks and experiment with the bizarre.

Take your personal demons and put them down on paper. If the subject is painful yet rings true, it will strike a chord with your readers. Don’t be afraid to tackle uncomfortable subjects.

Take on the cliches directly: try writing a good love poem without once using the word "love." Take it a step further and eliminate the words "joy," "desire," and "heart."

Read contemporary poets’ work. Read all you can. Identify what makes a poem call to you and analyze what makes you dislike other poems. Gain inspiration from others’ work.

Remember: all subject matter is worthy. A good poet need not have traveled the world or lived a life of tragedy. Look in your own metaphorical backyard for material.

Above all, keep writing, keep submitting, and write some more. The poems that result may not be worthy, but keep it up. It’s better to write a bad poem than to not write one at all. Eventually, even when your muse has flown the coop, the right poem will emerge.