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Learn how to get your ideas from your head and into your poem.

Anyone can write poetry. You can write poetry about whatever you feel like, in whatever way you want, for whatever reason you choose.

In this article you will find out:

• How to write a poem
• How to use similes, metaphors and personification
• Different styles of poetry, like haikus and free verse

This resource is suitable for creative writing for P2, P3, P4, P5, P6 and P7 (First and Second Level Curriculum for Excellence).

Watch this video to help you with writing poetry.

Poetry is a form of writing designed to make you feel different emotions, as you read it out loud or to yourself. Where do you start?

Choose a subject

• Start with the subject. All poems need to be about something.
• You can write poetry about anything you like. For example, you could write a poem about your friends, your favourite food or an animal.
• The famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns wrote about a mouse, a daisy and a haggis.
• The important thing in poetry is the language you use to describe your subject.

Imagery is descriptive language that helps the reader paint a picture in their mind.

Similes

To create vivid descriptions about what you’re writing about use similes - comparing things using “like” and “as”.

Jackie Kay uses similes in her poem “Bush Fire”

That fire, they said, was red as red
As red as a fox, your lips, a cherry;

William Wordsworth also used similes skilfully, to create imagery in the head of the reader.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills…

Metaphors

William Wordsworth also used metaphors comparing two things which aren’t alike but have something in common.

When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;

Personification

Wordsworth also used personification, which is describing an object as if it were alive.

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Once you have a subject and some great images, you need to fit them into your poem. There are lots of different structures to use with their own rhyme, rhythm, shape and length.

Haiku

If you would like to write a short poem, you could try a Japanese haiku. Haikus are made up of three lines and each line has a specific number of syllables. The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables and then the last line has five syllables.

An old silent pond,
A frog jumps into the pond,
Splash! Silence again.

Free verse

Free verse is poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular rhythm.

Bacon sizzling on Sunday mornings
Hot buttered toast
Crunch, crunch, crunch

Free verse lets you do anything you want with the words, the length, the structure, and even the punctuation.

Limerick

Limericks follow a pattern. In a limerick the first, second and fifth lines have the same rhythm and rhyme. The third and fourth lines rhyme with each other too.

There was a young boy from Peru
With something important to do
So he found a quiet space
To get some headspace
And wrote poetry while on the loo

Remember

• The important thing to remember is that anyone can write a poem.
• You can write poetry about whatever you feel like, in whatever way you want, for whatever reason you choose.

• vivid – Something that creates strong feelings or a clear image in your mind. For example: 'The dream was so vivid, I thought I was enjoying an ice cream in the sunshine.'
• imagery – Descriptive language like similes and metaphors. Sentences with imagery help the reader paint a picture in their mind.
• skilfully – Having a lot of skill in an area. For example: 'Skilfully, the boy headed the ball from the side line into the goal.'
• rhythm – A regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound. For example: 'The rhythm of his heartbeat was slow and steady, like the ticking of a clock.'
• syllable – A syllable is part of a word that usually contains a single vowel sound. For example, the word 'dog' has 1 syllable and the word 'elephant' has 3 syllables.

Write a free verse poem

Similes and metaphors paint word pictures that make stories and poems more vivid with colourful descriptions.

Complete the sentences below to create your own free verse poem:

The mist lay over the ground like …
My hands and feet were as cold as …
Dark trees grew out of the mist like …
My heart was beating as fast as …
Not a sound could be heard in the silence.

After you have written your poem, you can…

• draw a picture to illustrate your poem
• continue the poem starting with the word 'Suddenly'