How to Be a Poet

 Not everyone is a born poet like Shakespeare or Byron or Shelley or Keats or even Bob Dylan or Grandmaster Flash, that’s for sure. You can’t just sit under a tree one lazy afternoon with your pen in hand, a notebook in the other, and produce a Shakespearean couplet before nighttime. (Believe me, I tried.) How does one become a poet? Let’s see if these pointers can help.

Read, read, read. The best way to initially engage poetry is to read good pieces of poetry. Get one of those poetry anthologies and just read to good pieces of literature. Pay attention to form, diction, tone, and imagery.

Write, write, write. Then try your hand out in actually writing them. You might be tempted to just go about it like many contemporary poets do with their postmodern styles. But engaging the discipline of writing poetry across forms will help you out with the basics.

Be inspired. A poem is the work of an artist so find your inspiration. The best poems are those of depression, happiness, anger, and of love. Find your passion and learn to express it verbally, in the most beautiful way you can.

Choose your style. Are you a fan of rhymes, or is free verse more like your style? Once you’ve chosen your style, you can look up poems which adhere to your preferred style. Analyze these poems and try to figure out what makes them great poems.

Read your poems aloud to your family and friends. Some beginner poets have an issue with having their poems read by others. But what are you afraid of? The feedback of your audience will tell you which part of your poem needs improvement. Reading your poems aloud will also give you an aural sense of what you just wrote. Is your poem pleasing to your ears?

Read Rainier Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. This book will give you insights on your struggles as an aspiring poet. See what Rilke thinks about your dream to write.