How to write powerfully and with style: tips for aspiring poets

What do you mean "strong" and "stylish"

Strongly - this is so that later these lines spun in the reader's head. So that poems are memorized and saved by them. So that each poem for the reader is a micro-illumination, a clue on the way to something high.

I will win you back from all lands, from all heavens, Because the forest is my cradle, and the grave is the forest.

Marina Tsvetaeva

Stylish is just like with clothes. Such a poem suits the temperament and life experience of the author, the described image is holistic, nothing gets out of it. It is a pleasure to read to others, and others want to write it the same way. Stylish poems correspond to the times, but will remain relevant in the "next season". In general, you are either in leopard leggings, or in a solid coat.

The text of the registrar in the registry office about "ships of love" and "two fragile vessels" is not stylish. Poems from postcards for the anniversary - in most cases, too.

Because such lines should be universal, addressed simultaneously to the entire population of the Russian Federation. A stylish text can only be composed for a narrower audience. (By the way, if the words are both stylish and "for everyone" - this is already ingenious, a classic.)

And I also like the phrase that is found in social networks: “There is only one criterion: there is goosebumps - no goosebumps. Everything. And so in everything."

What is needed to create good poetry

Like any professional, a poet needs to own "materiel". What can you do to prevent your poems from scrolling through the feed?

1. Use rich rhyme

Not verbal, not morphemic.

“I went to the ringleader” - not very good.

"I walked - a censer" - good.
"Murlycha - whine" - not very good.

"Murlycha is the prey" (like Marina Tsvetaeva's) is good.

Ideally, rhyming words should be different parts of speech. If they are nouns, then they must be in different cases.

Let's take two blocks of rhyming words: "Simple - empty - idle" and "Simple - from Rostov - Leo Tolstoy." In both cases, the rhymes are accurate (the sounds coincide not only from the percussion, but also to it). But the second example is more interesting due to the fact that different parts of speech or different cases are used.

2. Always count syllables

Yes, there are many examples of the successful use of free size. But only experienced poets can afford it.

he is in boots, she is on tiptoe, barefoot

she has a sandal in her hand with a broken heel

he laughs so hard that he almost chokes on his Adam's apple

Vera Polozkova

It is usually immediately clear who is using the free poetic meter consciously, and who is out of inexperience. Abstract artists owned an academic school. If you still want to write conceptual poems, you first need to master the classic techniques.

3. Come up with honest metaphors

When a person tells you about their day, it's immediately clear whether they are drawing or speaking sincerely. Behaves too pretentious or friendly with you. This is also noticeable in poetry. The metaphor should be "taken out" from the inside, not taken from the outside. It must be unique, not boring. Should give a pleasant coolness or warm hope.

“And wax dripped from the night light onto the dress with tears” (Boris Pasternak).
“The autumn of life, like the autumn of the year, must be gratefully received” (Eldar Ryazanov).

In both cases, the metaphor is easily "breathed in", and also conveys the atmosphere of what is happening: from lighting and air temperature to the deep feelings of the characters.

4. Make friends with language and design

There is such an exercise for graphic designers (design is my main occupation): for example, type the words "happy anniversary" and "terminator" in curly curls.

It is clear for which word the typeface is suitable, and for which it is worth changing it. It's the same with meaning and form.

The ability to intuitively pass words through oneself will help to make language and thought friends. It is necessary to visualize the music that remains in the ears while reading the poem aloud, and compare it with the meaning.

The size also matters (philosophical dactyl, leaving an aftertaste, or a confident bright trochee), and phonetics, and even the places where you can take a breath while reading. And here it is worth checking if there are any ridiculous, out-of-the-box words in the poem.

How to develop artistic taste

As it usually happens in life, the above rules are ambiguous, they have limits of application and many exceptions, and you just won't be able to memorize them. To apply the laws of poetry in practice, you must have an artistic taste. How to develop it?

1. Don't neglect education

This is the easiest way. Good universities usually pump the brain so that even a person far from creativity can easily distinguish real art from kitsch.

2. Read good books

Feel the philosophy of Russian and foreign classics. Absorb the language. Think about how deep you will have to dive.

3. Watch and listen

Knowledge of painting and music is equally important. If you are inspired and subsequently write poetry based on your impressions of a painting or symphony, this will not be plagiarism. And if you focus on famous poets, the reader will easily notice this.

4. Chat with interesting people

Charismatic and strong people help their social circle develop. This also applies to artistic taste.

6 more tips from personal experience

1. Learn musical literacy

Learn to feel different poetic meters, live pauses, conduct your own lines. Then you will have the right to say that your poems have a melody.

2. Learn foreign languages

You need to know the meanings of the main borrowed roots in order not to get into a mess. Beginning poets, foaming at the mouth, tell how bad it is to rhyme "boots" and "low shoes", and immediately rhyme "voyage" and "bag".

3. Do not write as they have already written before you

Do not make the discovery of America from what every adequate person already feels. Think twice when, after pouring yourself some cocoa and wrapping yourself in a blanket, you sit down to write about autumn. Think uniquely like no one else in the world. Neither Pushkin, nor Tsvetaeva, nor Polozkov.

4. Promote sincerely and unobtrusively

Do not publish in paid collective collections: no one reads them, except for the published poets. Do not participate in dubious apartment buildings, where there are more participants than spectators. Do not boast of membership in literary unions: all the same, everyone is now taken there. Do not write deliberately laudatory reviews of other poets in the hope that they will praise you in return.

A couple of your best poems on your personal page are enough to get started. If the lines are successful, there will certainly be people who will say: "Yes, this is brilliant, I will tell everyone about you." Keep your blog clean and respectful.

5. Live in harmony with the world

It happens that the poet's taste is good, and he counted the syllables, but the reader does not have the notorious goosebumps. I believe that every poem is written to some extent by higher powers, the cosmos. And the author needs to establish a connection with this very space. Unfortunately, there are no universal recipes here. From experience - you need to live in harmony with yourself and the world around you, be receptive and attentive.

6. Check if the thought you have expressed is valuable

Will it be as important in prose as in poetry? If you remove the form, will the content remain?

The tips turned out to be cautionary. In fact, if both the mind and the heart are working in full force, then everything will work out.

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