I've been working on some poems for quite some time, but I just can't seem to get them to the point where I feel they're ready to submit to journals and magazines. Every time I think I've got it, a day or two later I don't feel like I've got it so much. I tighten and smooth. I rephrase and expand. I cut and curve. Form of free of it doesn't seem to make a difference when it comes to editing and revising. I am finding to truly polish and prepare my poetry takes far longer than it did to write it in the first place. Does anyone have any tips when it comes to poetry revision? I humbly would like to take my poetry to the next level. It's just not an easy path to get to. And I have found it can easily take six weeks to write 14 lines of poetry just like some famous poet once said. Does anyone know who that poet was? I might have it a little wrong, but it was something like that and it sure is how I feel. This is really hard.
I know this thread is quite old, but I think I may be able to help you with this task that you are having trouble with. I think the greatest place to start with any work, but most especially poetry, is to ask yourself why the poem should exist. What prompted you to take on whatever subject or object, maybe even specific theme (which is what I do)? What message do you want that poem to tell, which a most useful question when going about a point indirectly, as poems often do. Once you have a core goal of the poem, then you can move forward on execution. The first part of execution I like to have established is what the tone will be. If it's a character speaking or thinking, what is their mood? If it's authorial voice on a subject or object, firmly design in what light you see that item. Let's take a random object, let's say a shovel, just for example. Do you see that shovel for its flaws by noting its age, sunbleach, rust, and chips? Or do you see it by association, perhaps by the pleasant labor of gardening or the frenzied horror of digging a grave? Is it new and shiny like a fresh car you're ready to test out, or sprinkled with dust as a new tool you were too tired to ever pick up working with? Establish in what light and direction you want the tones of your poem to go. This will determine most of the types of diction that you will likely employ. And ask yourself, does that tone match with the purpose of the poem? If your word choice is conflicting, your poem will feel off-key. The actually writing of the poem in its inception as taken with a number of tricks. I tend to enjoy using long lines first as a sort of prose, then break them down and work on natural pacing breaks, then play with the words already there. Once you have the point of the entire poem or just the stanza, so it is accomplishing its goal, you can edit it later to flow more poetically. Getting caught up on flow and diction to start tends to derail the poem and lead it different directions, especially when you keep rearranging as you're writing. As for editing, the best item is the read the poem out loud. Every stick point and stutter that you have reverberates at twenty times the volume in the reader, since they don't first-hand know how you intend the poem to be read. Reading also shows you where missed opportunities of assonance, dissonance, and alliteration are, which can be used sparingly but effectively if in critical locations. Poetic devices tend to speed the poem up, so it's best to only implement them in spots you can hear lagging when read. The goal of the poem and the ability of said poem to be completed by the reader are best met here where you can hear your poem. As hard as it is to do, you should also strive to end and start as many lines as possible on interesting words. Leave all the articles and excess language out, even if the sentences are technically broken. A poem doesn't need to follow the rigid sentence structure. I often leave out punctuation for this reason as well. Honestly, it gets a lot more complicated too, but I guess this is just somewhere to start. I think establishing the base idea and tone of the poem though are critical for simplicity in editing. If your tree is cracked at the base, how can you expect it to hold up with ornamentation applied?
