A Guide To Writing Passionate Poetry

By Linda Ruiz


Poems are a very personal genre. However even if you are only writing for yourself it helps to have a structure to making the writing process more satisfying. With a few simple tips you can learn how to write passionate poetry regardless of whether you are writing for yourself, a writing class or for someone special to you.

The first thing to consider is what passion means. A lot of people associate the word with love. However it can equally mean lust or it can mean your personal passion, something that you personally love that does not necessarily have to apply to a person. This can then make it easier when you start to write.

Of course in order to know how to write something passionately you need to know the definition of the word passion. It may not necessarily refer to love or sex. Equally it can refer to something you love in the sense of something that strongly inspires you such as a love of nature.

Passion is different from love. You can love something but not necessarily be passionate about it. In this sense it often means people abandoning society or some form of restriction. In this instance the images may invoke colours like deep dark red or animals like wild horses as this indicates the lack of control and the power that these emotions evoke.

There are various examples of poetry genres. One example is the acrostic poem. This is where you write a poem where the first letter of each line eventually spells a word. A good example of this is a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. As well as creating a piece expressing his love for his Elizabeth the lines all eventually spelled her name, highlighting his dedication to her.

Once you have got the images down it then becomes easier to put them into a structure. The important thing to remember is that a structure does not necessarily mean that your poem needs to rhyme. What it does mean is restricting the length of the poem and the amount of syllables on each line. This may sound restrictive but as a lot of creative writing tutors will tell you structures can often ironically make it easier for writers to creatively express themselves.

As a broad guide your poem should be between 20 to 30 lines. Each line should have a maximum of around 10 words. How you stress each syllable will affect the rhythm of what you write. The best way to gauge this is to read it aloud as this will allow you to decide what words best fit your writing structure. There is no right or wrong necessarily but some words will fit more than others. It is a balance between getting the right imagery and the words to fit that imagery.

As with anything it takes time and practise to develop your poetry. There are various ways to develop. You can attend writing classes or get private tuition. You can also post work online and get feedback from forums. On a simpler level reading more poetry allows you to develop rhythm. In short with the right approach you can find the passion in your poetry!




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