The Three Elements of Poetry: how to write better poetry

Intro skip: 0:29 YOINK!

A continuation of the series 'how to write better poetry.' In this video we look at the three core elements of poetry: sound, meaning and structure. The focus is on writing better poetry, but these three elements can also help you figure out how to analyse poetry for class assignments.

Not all poems have to rely on these elements, and some types of poems introduce new elements as well. These are just the basics to get us started. Future videos will focus on other topics not mentioned here.

[chrysalis]

I thought of him last night
Underneath the starlight
The moon lit up the darkness and whispered of distance
The wind heard my heart and the silence was a song
I wondered for a time,
as i stood alone

[roshmillares]

I hope someday I could be trained to improve my writing more. I'm 19 and I wish to become a known poet someday.
....
Drove together under the amber skies
Rode forever in the heavy anchor of ceaseless cries
Two gray Octobers passed, I'm still sobbing
In the lonely room where you've left your underbone king

My mind still recalls, a lucid image of unrivaled agony
I was just seventeen since every autumn
became a great misery
Woke up at five, Kuya tellin' me that you're gone
Wishing I was still asleep at that cruel dawn

I ran downstairs, then I spotted
Their cheeks are wet, their eyes are puffy and red
Screaming and begging them to tell me "it's just a dream"
as I fell to the ground and threw everything I held

Unfortunate fate,
You never witnessed me graduate
Heaven took you so early
before I could let you meet Valentino Rossi

Decades of seasons will still feel like yesterday
A great father like you has a special place in my heart to stay
The world might had only given you 46 years to exist
But your unconditional love and care will be eternally missed

(it's a poem that I've wrote as a tribute to my dad who passed away 2yrs ago)

[brilliantwriter]

I needed this, I'm creative I just need structure

[rex]

Wow. I am trying to write poetry and this is SO GOOD. though he [probably] won’t see this

[leahgodson]

• Sound - alliteration, consonance, assonance, rhyme, onomatopoeia
• Meaning - denotation, connotation, imagery, irony, ambiguity
• Structure - stanzas, line length, enjambment, rhythm/meter, typography

Great lesson; thank you.

[geoffreytester]

A quote from the book thief “if your eyes could talk what would they say”

Don’t write what thing is but what it represents to you

I was always inspired more by the metaphysical style of writing as it’s adds grace intelligence and is very thought provoking.

It opens limitless ideas as anything can be a metaphor for something else.

Also has different meaning to each person making it more relatable to there own life’s with out making it a pity party

That’s not to say that standard literal worded songs (or in this context poems ) don’t have there place depending on how there written.

The flaw is there very limiting.

Also I have heard songs that actually rhyme very little.

The soul destroying thing as a lyricist is that people focus more on the melody but couldn’t careless about the words

[tinkernel]

a good poet follow their hearts not the rules..
in order to have a good poem, break the rules in poetry..

[sushreenandini]

Writing it as on 24 JAN 24'
Im a 15 y/o 9th grader and i started Writing poems few months back and this is the first poem that I've written in the form of sonnet:)
I was looking at the ceiling
Pondering if i was healing

Many storms came out of the blue
And i was left having no clue

Life is like hills and valleys for sure
Its never going to smooth and pure

In the road of life, much bends are there
But we must mend our garden with love, sympathy and care

In the tapestry of life
There's a lot ups and downs
But we should always have a smile on face just like a clown

In the tapestry of life, there's much to endure
There's alot ups and downs but
It will take sometime to cure

[meenakarmeesh]

a true poet realizes that it is not about length of the poem it is figuring out, what is truly necessary to keep, and discard without weakening the pleasure and meaning depth. I am recluse possibly savant poet, as I been told. I grasped every lesson without trouble. I received a stipend at just 25, as a featured poet. In my private coaching my students learn the basic rules for poetry and beginning, without that what you are saying they can not grasp. there is a golden rule for dorm in poetry, there's a golden rule for subject selection....etc.

[gumbochamp]

All of this really needs visual and read examples. As a beginner it’s too abstract

[JHong]

You know what is the meaning of the words printed on your shirt?”Sudah makan” stands for “eaten” in Malay language...haha, btw a great explaination on how to write a poem.I write in mandarin

[sarwechdahri]

This is my first writing. plz give some suggestion in order to improve....

Hey Chocolaty Chashmish

The way you read, I only see
The way you walk, I only see
The way you stare, my heart races
The way you blush, I have a crush.


Hey Chocolaty Chashmish

Your presence in CL, makes me pleasent
Your entry in huts, alas! makes me hush
Your glasses, oh my goodness makes me fly
Your wrist with bracelet while holding a book, Ah! makes me complete.

But!

Ohh Chocoloty Chashmish

You are princess of Punjab, I am the slave of Sindh
You are topper of IR, I am hectered by History
You analyze present, while I imagine past
You are post modernest, I am still stuck with Marxism
You read critique of George Orwell,
I still love Stalin
You are breeze of spring where cold wind breathes out its chill,
I am shattered soul of autumn where leaves are falling all around.

Thats why,

Ohh Chocoloty Chashmish

I Get away, I let away

All my feelings
All my love
All my wishes
All my desires

and

I take away, I make away

All the pain
All the sorrow
All the grief
All the regrets

Though

My heart aches
My blood boils
My soul suffers
My body burns

But ohh Chocoloty Chashmish

I bear when you are near my Raqib.

[xamo]

Weeks come by fast but end slow
Am i truly who I am, the person everybody knows
When i see her my mind stops
I cant think but when she leaves she makes my body wanna drop

Another disappointment of me and for my homies
Will i ever get the courage or will I end up lonely
I don't know how to fix a problem i aint facin face to face
If i don't make my move somebodies gonna take my place

Ain't nothin stoppin me, just my cowardness
I don't feel like a man i feel powerless
Excuses made, games played in my mind
Im my worst enemy i'm running out of time

When i eyes saw her my body Froze
Overthinking my words trying to unload
My spoken words
I don't know what scares me or why I stop
Another missed chance makes me wanna plop

So many opportunities when will I change
I dont know why I couldt even say her name
I know I got what it takes, Thats why it bothers me
Was it the absence years of my male figure my father see

I wonder when I walk by
Can she see in my eyes
The strong hesitation
Am i faking my daringness or my determination

My homies try to help me but am i hopeless?
Nobody laugh at my words I’ve spoken
Frozen, Disappointed, and Lost

[JoshuaW]

That pen touching my skin would drive me nuts.

[hippolyte]

I've been searching this for way too long. Searching writing fundamentals or what's a poetry. And this guy dud it. Thanks. A. Lot.

[John-iybf]

Thanks for posting this video. I've been writing for years with no instruction outside of high school, which was many years ago. I did go through college, but never pursued writing. Maybe I should have. Thanks again.
John

[doublemcoop]

The life that I live is already wroten, liven in hell is it already chosen
As time will tell my life been spoken, as misery draws I feel its potent
Cant stop this feeling from feeling broken, but moving on is what I chosen

Im sorry mom what I say is deep, You gave me life I know not cheap
My soul is old its rotten now, may go back home into the ground
The Frankenstein I feel thats right the Duke is out hope I fight.

[joeroganconnoisseur]

I found this useful, a base for building strong core of poetry.

[rievans]

Sound, meaning, and structure. That pretty much sums it up.

[seeDiersoilcrossrowds]

A metaphorical comparison of an artist and a poet.( Unnamed & not complete)
*
*


The letters in your words are like the poet's palette of colors.
Your mind is a bank that holds the work which is your treasure.


Use personality that you own to construct such beauty built in.
Your vocabulary becomes your tools and supplies.



Technique only guesses how the imagination expresses.
Talent is really a reflection of ones own experience.
Will and motivation balances detail and depth.


More emotion create a far greater skill.



With just your eyes, the crowd hushes.
Mental hands are your brushes.
To recite brings so much of a thrill.



For I'm sure you know,
nothing more you need for your show
but a mind that's a picture of health.

Except the whole of your life in itself.