Key Tips for Critiquing Your Own Poetry Writing

Key tips for critiquing your own poetry writing

As with all genres of writing; editing and critiquing your own work, or getting an expert to complete a critique for you, is a crucial element of poetry writing.

Why you might ask. Well because without this second look at your work; either undertaken by you or by someone else, silly errors can be missed and the general flow and overall technique of the poem can be compromised.

Poetry is made up of a number of different literary elements that aren’t always included in prose. And so, before a critique can be conducted accurately, you need to ensure that you understand each of these poetical elements:

Alliteration: Two or more words which have the same initial sound. Assonance: A partial rhyme which has the same internal vowel sounds amongst different words. Metaphor: A comparison which does not use the words like or as. Onomatopoeia: Words that sound like their meaning. For example, buzz, moo, pow. Repetitions: The repetition of the same word throughout the poem to emphasize significance. Rhyme: The repetition of sounds within different words; either end sound, middle or beginning. Rhythm: The flow of words within each meter and stanza. Simile: A comparison using the words like or as. Style: The way the poem is written. Free-style, ballad, haiku, etc. Style includes length of meters, number of stanzas along with rhyme techniques and rhythm. Symbol: Something that represents something else through association, resemblance or convention. Theme: The message, point of view and idea of the poem.

Now that you have got to grips with the elements of poetry, the next thing to understand is how to re-read the poem that you have written in a way that will help you improve it.

There are lots of handy tips to help you with this:

- Read the poem aloud three times. This repetition found in reading the poem several times will help you hear things that you would not normally grasp through simply reading a poem, and it can also help you capture the rhythm of the poem - Think about what the purpose of the poem is. Is this clear to the reader? Is the language you have used and the symbols etc contained within the poem all supporting the clarity of this purpose? - Start by assessing the poem as a whole. What works? What doesn’t? Overall are you happy with the piece? - Next break the poem out into chunks. Either focus on 2 or 3 lines at a time or focus on a stanza at a time. Evaluate each of these chunks, thinking about grammar, syntax, words used, language style and the organisation of the stanza or line set. Check that metaphor or simile makes sense! - Keep asking yourself, ‘how could this be improve?’ If it couldn’t…move on to the next section of the poem. - All critiques should include consideration of the following: o The inclusion of clichés o Over the top repetition o Rhetorical questions to the reader o Dull and unvaried use of syllables and meters o Poor language use o Emotional output for the reader