EVERYTHING You Need To Write Prize-Winning Poetry
From prompts to structure to metaphor to punching your reader right in the feels
Hey, Workshoppers,
We know sometimes you’re hungry for learnin’ but can’t decide exactly what you want to snack on. So we’ve put together an easy-to-scroll listicle to help you find something useful to browse, no matter what you’re in the mood for writing.
So where are all our poets at?
We’ve got some beautiful words for you…
A Poetry Toolkit
Alrighty, let’s start off gently with some inspiration, idea generation, and introductory exercises that’ll remind you why you bought all those fancy notebooks:
Poetic Prompts to Lure Out Your Muse…
Let the soft animal of your body take a quiet moment to touch grass, observe, and find poetry in the quietest moments…
With writing exercises on your daily routine, sensory memories, and all those seemingly innocuous moments in between, this lesson from Andrea A. Firth’s Quiet Writing Workshop is pure restorative joy.
Not sure what kind of poem to write today? Let’s go structure speed dating! Experiment with a bunch of different poetic forms and styles using Karan Kapoor’s whistlestop tour of prompts:
(FYI there are actually no less than seventeen prompts in Karan’s Prose Poetry Workshop — enough to see out the rest of the year with.)
BONUS:
And if you really can’t bear the sight of the blank page, then simply start by borrowing a chunk of text from somewhere else — a newspaper, a magazine, the chapbook of your arch enemy, or even Shakespeare — and try a little Erasure Poetry…
Next, how about a deep dive into syntax, language, and all the wonderful ways we can manipulate words and develop our poetry:
Linguistic Skills to Elevate Every Line
Whether you wanna be a fingersnap-worthy slam poet or just want your verses to roll of the tongue, you need to know how to craft a damn good sentence — and Nina Schuyler has everything you need in her masterful Sentence Workshop:
We get it, poets: things are like other things. But nailing a great poetic comparison is a real skill — which is why we all need this linguistic lesson on analogies, similes and metaphor from Kelly Grace Thomas’ Figurative Language workshop:
Or steal a little of Shakespeare’s signature style and learn how to harness the power of rhetoric, rhythm and repetition to create emphasis, antithesis and meaning in your poetry (from my very own literary love letter, the Shakespeare Workshop):
And let’s not forget that the deepest poetry starts from somewhere personal — so use these techniques to take all your feels and smear them all over the page:
Getting to the Guts of Your Poetry
First up, every poem needs some kind of perspective or POV (or focalisation, as Shannan Mann explains in her glorious workshop on writing poems about Love & Sex):
And when you start to get personal, those pesky feelings start creeping out. So use more Shakespearean tips and tricks to harness emotion impact through the images you paint with your poetry:
Sometimes the stuff we really need to write about is the most difficult — even though we know it could turn out to be the best thing we’ve ever written. So here’s Andrea again, on how to handle sensitive subjects and find your way of telling them:
Now you’re down the poetry rabbit hole, you’re gonna want some God-tier techniques to really dig into who you are as a poet and make sure you’re putting out the very best work of your life, right? No biggie — here are some tips:
Finding Your Final Poetic Form
Ever wondered how certain authors and artists manage to cultivate such a distinctive ‘voice’? Our pal Erin has a step-by-step guide right here (from her amazing, resource-filled Creative Process Workshop):
And an important question from Shannan that will keep you up until 2AM writing poems about the moon, your inner child, and the one that got away:
Kind of a bonus one here — not a lesson, but an invitation to find a Feedback Friend to swap your work with — because the very best way to develop your writing is to share it and learn how to give and receive critique. So dive in and find a buddy:
Aaaaaand finally, what do you do with all those poems piling up around you? Last week we did a whole rundown on literary submissions but here are some poetry-specific guidelines to help you send your work out there:
Redraft, Edit, Submit, Repeat!
If you struggle with redrafting your poems, Shannan is here to steer you through the process — from the honeymoon stage to finding the objectivity you need to make changes:
Next, here’s Karan on some common pitfalls to avoid while writing prose poetry, along with some final editing tips to hone, polish, and laser-focus your words:
And one more for luck from the Love & Sex Poetry Workshop — in case you have SO many drafts that the only logical next step is to put together a whole-ass collection:
Wow. We have a lot of poetry knowledge here at The Forever Workshop, huh?
And now so do you :)
So go forth and wrestle some words into shape…
What About YOUR Writing Highlights?
While we’re doing this whole end-of-year retrospective, we also want to hear about your best bits. So tell us:
So many resources! I'm saving this for later
This is amazing! Thank you!