Does anyone else like to write form poetry? I like following the forms of poetry like sonnets and sestinas and so on. They can be quite a challenge, but at the same time produce some great results and take ideas to new places I wouldn't have gotten to on my own. It does take time and practice to work with these forms. But I also find it more fulfilling and I think I write better poetry because of it. My next move is to attempt a villanelle. Wish me luck. The interesting thing about writing poetry to form is that you've got to get it just right. It has to be correct rather than just good. And then it has to be good. It's always a multi-step project for me. What are the forms you've tried? Do you enjoy writing and trying the different poetic forms? What's the hardest form you've tried to write and did you succeed?
I'm just an occasional poet, but I do like writing formal poetry as well as free verse; it feels like they each scratch the creative itch in a different part of my brain. You're definitely right that using forms can lead you to unexpected new ideas. Sometimes searching for a perfect rhyme (or slant rhyme) or massaging a phrase to fit the meter you're writing in causes a wonderfully unexpected burst of inspiration. Those moments are incredibly rewarding. Of course, there are also the frustrating moments when I realize that the word I'm trying to rhyme just plain doesn't have many good rhymes and I'm going to have to kill that darling to make the poem work. You win some, you lose some, I guess. I'd say that, as a developing poet, one thing I like about forms is that they make it easier for me to tell whether the poem is well-structured. Structuring free verse is HARD; I struggle with lineation and tend to agonize over it for so long that I get disgusted and need to step away from the poem. Using an established form lets me focus on the poem's flesh rather than its bones; I'm still working on my ability to judge the quality of free verse—what distinguishes a beautiful, living jellyfish from a limp, boneless lump. I haven't experimented with many forms. My only published poems are a limerick and a sonnet, and I've dabbled in haiku and rubaiyat. It's not strictly a form, but I'm fond of parody and the "after" poem, written in response to someone else's work. There the challenge is to mimic the original's style and structure (which could be free or formal) while still expressing what you want to say. I've written poems after masterpieces from writers like Shakespeare and Walt Whitman, and it's incredibly satisfying to engage in a poetic dialogue that spans hundreds of years with some of the greatest to ever do it. Good luck with the villanelle! I've only tried that form once myself, and I never even got close to finishing. Maybe I'll revisit that poem in the coming year...
I prefer forms over free verse and have done and had published a few different forms. To be honest my personal favourite is blank verse. I don't have a huge interest in rhyming heroics or something. I have tried and find that loads of strong rhymes sounds really grating and archaic. Weak rhymes are what I like. Seamus Heaney's first collection has a lot of the type I mean. I tend to find free verse is good for reflecting something fractured and chaotic. Other than blank verse I like unrhyming stanzas of roughly heptasyllables. To me that is a nice medium between a few things but still wide enough to let you be nicely descriptive.
I write both, but I think my formal poetry is better than my free verse, for the reasons @AntPoems states. I'm thinking of making a compilation of my stuff and slamming it up on Amazon. I'll have to curate it properly and think of a title first. It's so easy for poetry collections to end up with titles that are either affected, out-dated, or twee. Or all of them together.
I saw that. I also saw they want you to submit your work under your legal name. That might be a deal-breaker for me, since, when I publish my own collection, it'll be under my pen name. Last thing I need is anyone saying I've plagiarized from myself.
I do a lot of form poetry, but it is also nonmetred as a result of me being dysphonentic. (I literally cannot sound out words and break them into syllables. I learned how to read and write solely through sight reading.) Tercet form patterns like villanelle, treza rima, and rubaiyat.
I do both. My stuff mainly is nonce poetry though. Meaning I create my own form for the particular poem I'm working on. That being said, I appreciate traditional form immensely.
I really enjoy the creative challenge of working within the constraints of poetic forms like sonnets, villanelles, and sestinas. The structure pushes me to be more imaginative in order to express my ideas while adhering to the rules of the form. Some of my best poems have come from this process. The hardest form I've attempted is the pantoum which involves repeating lines in a specific order. It took many drafts before I was satisfied I had achieved the right lyrical flow while covering my theme. The most fulfilling form for me has been the villanelle with its repetition and rhyme scheme. I haven't always succeeded on the first try with these forms, but refining a poem to perfectly meet the requirements is immensely satisfying. Form poetry requires patience and an appreciation for the craft, but the effort can produce beautiful results. I'd encourage any poet to dip their toe into writing formal poetry, even just to better understand the technical excellence it requires.
Can you process and or quote with the intent to adhere to the process of a fu*king line break? Does it entice readers to be met with a wall of f*cking text?
Agreed! It took almost two years of writing before I could finally write one! But when I finally wrote “Last Visit to the Beach,” my readers loved it.
I've only recently been trying formal poetry. As I do so I recall reading somewhere (no idea of author) something along the lines of, "When a man begins counting syllables, he's either mastered life or given up trying." Not sure which side I fall on, but it does seem to fit.
