By Temwa Mzota, Updated: September 2020
You like the idea of expressing your deepest feelings through poetry but are not sure how to make it happen? Here is the plan I follow, it is a method that has made it possible for me to write over a hundred poems. It might just work for you too.
Hatching the idea
Let's start at the very beginning. You have got to start with some idea around which to hang the poem. A central idea, a foundation around which to build your poem. Like all foundations, it has to be powerful. A powerful enough idea that has a special effect in you. It has an impact on you, it has the power to evoke strong emotions in you. Because poetry is about expressing your impressions in a powerful way, a powerful starting point is always the best.
Think of things that inspire you, people, opinions, experiences, possessions, nature, and so on. This should help you to form a theme and then the idea around which to concentrate your thoughts. How do those issues affect you? What is your impression of them? Look at both merits and demerits? What contradictions do you see in them? List down all the possible ideas. Write statements that describe your ideas.
Having come up with ideas of interest, think about the relevance to the target audience. Think about why you are writing the poem and what message do you want it to carry. You look at the relevance. Again, write statements that describes the idea and what impact you want it to have on the reader. Write statements that clearly say what message you want to send to the audience.
For example, I usually write on the theme of success. Right now the idea I am interested in is: Success does not come easily, it starts in small ways and takes time.
Now what is the relevance? And what do I want my readers to get from it? I know that one of the reasons people don’t reach their dreams is because they give up. One of the reasons they give up is because the things they need to do to be successful do not bring them immediate success. It takes long, it takes some failures, and it takes repeated effort that may seem meaningless at the beginning. So my message to them is:
“not to give up even though the road appears too long and efforts appear meaningless in the short term”.
Creating a story linked to the idea
Having laid the foundation, it is now time to start building the rest of your dream house. The next step is to come up with a story that would best convey the idea, the story with the strongest impact.
Symbolism comes in at this point. I think of the idea of interest then I think of some action or things that best portray that idea, such things exemplify or unmask the idea. As the reader walks through the symbolic entity he/she absorbs the meaning you are trying to communicate in the clearest and strongest way possible. These symbolic things become building blocks of the story that delivers the message.
For example, the journey of success can be symbolized by the path taken by a plant from a seed to a fruit. So to send my message of encouragement to my audience to not give up, I tell them the story of a seed, it is so small in your hands, you have to bring your hands closer to the eyes to see it, it is almost insignificant, but you know that planting it and caring for the plant will bring you lovely fruits.
Having figured out the story to carry the message, you continue figuring out the form that gives the story the best impact. You think about approach/angle/aspect of the theme that needs emphasis most.
In my example I might concentrate of showing my audience how small the seed is to show them that the failures and obstacles need not discourage them. Or I might focus on showing them the glorious fruits that come out of the seed to open there eyes to what they will miss out if they give up.
At this point you also think of whether your story creates the best impact if delivered in first person, second person or third person.
Personification gives the story life and emotions. You give your characters human qualities. Give it life, fire power, deep meaning, make it touching and gripping. So the narrator in your poem, the things he/she is grappling with whether abstract or physical, whether living or inanimate, this things have feelings, they feel happy or hurt or angry, and they talk.
Looking at our example of seed and fruit, we can say that the humble seed is largely ignored while the proud fruit, who gallivants around in all his glory, is revered like a king by most of the world. Though, the wise understand the immeasurable potential of the seed and so hold the seed in great esteem, in return, the appeased seed rewards the wise with more fruits.
By now your story has taken shape. Divide it into stanzas that each concentrate on a different aspect of the idea. You now have a draft that will need to be adjusted until it reaches a level that you consider perfect. Attempt multiple versions until the poems best presents the idea.
Polishing
Once the poem has been written to clearly present the idea in the best possible way, it is time to refine it further. You are now concerned with making it sound and look beautiful. You check and refine the rhythm of the lines. You want your stanzas and lines to look uniform. You add similes and rhymes. You keep improving the poem.
The whole process can take one to two weeks or more.
And when all is satisfactory you are ready to share your poem with your audience.
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