Billy Collins on How to Write Poetry

If you aren't a poet but want to get started, how would you do that?

[jeremiahunderwood]

It warmed my heart when he said, if you really wanna be a poet, you've got to read the classics.

[muthiahuda]

I don't get why some people are such a butthurt in the comment section. He's right. The advice to start poetry is reading. Trust me, I was that one person who didn't care about reading poetry from decades ago, who just wrote what I want, who just read the most hyped up poetry books nowadays. I was wrong. I started to read poetry from decades ago. Walt Whitman, William Shakespeare, etc. I started reading more of their works. It's true. By reading more, you expand your 'intuition' in writing. You familiarize yourself with the real beauty of poetry. That's how you get better with writing. If you only write, and not read much, then you're going to be that arrogant bad writer who only thinks of her own style of writing.

[ryandugger]

best advice for any kind of writing...READ.

[retrovelcro]

i think the "jackasses" he's referring to are the instapoets

[cheliae]

I loved his line of 'There's alot of staring involved' - absolutely HILARIOUS!!!!

[trooper]

Rupi Kaur's sewage is going to give this man a heart attack

[dragonwhisperer]

I think reading is part of it. Another part of it is trying. You must write knowing that you will fail, that you will create a bad poem, because the path to good poetry is bad poetry.

Secondly, if you’re writing poetry just for fun, and you don’t care how good it is, don’t let others opinions of it bother you either. I believe that everyone needs a creative outlet, but not everyone needs to be an artist. If you want to be an artist, then you must put in the work.

Additionally, you can still express yourself through poetry, and write good verse. You aren’t going to write bad things just because you haven’t spent hours writing or reading. You are going to have good lines and bad lines, good verses and bad verses, good poems and bad poems. The trick is identifying each line for what it is. Identify the bad lines as bad, so that you know what they look like and you can avoid them. Reading does this inadvertently because it feeds you constant good lines - or at least good enough for someone somewhere to want to publish them.

[ozairyahya]

To be honest, writing poetry really and truly can begin for you at any age depending on what's happening in your own life. Writing poetry is really all about your life in words. Describing a certain scenario that you went thru or seeing something that maybe had a huge effect on you psychologically. Most of the proficient poets are those that have an exquisite background and went thru a lot in their past so they end up putting those feelings into words and create a rhyme from it. What is said by a certain person is how that specific individual lived his or her life. Some poets, as a result, get highly recognised by a large audience as others may be able to relate to their emotions and thus it gets interpreted in many different ways which can create some change in our lives. Poetry is about writing everything down about the things you see around you and how you feel about yourself which can encourage us to reflect on change. The more you write poetry the better you get. And listening to music can also help with writing and creating good poetry

Ps, reading isn't fully the answer, knowing is.. You can know something these days just by hearing a person talk or looking at peoples body language

[valala]

I think a lot of people here seem to misunderstand what he means with this. Of course you need to read poetry to be able to write good poetry. If you wanted to learn how to play rock guitar but you never listened to rock except for a couple different songs, your view on what rock music can be would be really narrow. Basically you use poetry as a sort of teacher. This doesn't mean that you have to write like Wordsworth and it also doesn't mean that you have to limit yourself to the poets which are a part of the literary canon (a concept which is problematic in it's own right) Theses big classic poets I think are just a good starting point for beginners. At the beginning you know nothing about what poetry really can be. By reading them and also reading about them you gain a much deeper insight into poetry and its history, you gain various tools you would've never even thought of on your own and most importantly you learn to gain an eye for good poetry. This I think is really helpful when you want to read not so well known poets which is an obvious thing to do if you want to gain and even broader knowledge about poetry.
All in all while the advice is good I think it's a bit too simplistic, which is kind of expected of 2 minute video. Just reading without thinking will not get you far. You can try to play a few notes on the cello for 10000 hours but that doesn t mean you will become a proficient musician. I think it's important to also understand what you are reading. Read about poetry itself, about the history and the contexts and about the authors. Additionally, I think it should be said that you obviously need to write poetry. You aren't a poet if you don't write poetry. The reading you do will help you gain the tools you need to become better at expressing yourself.

[Brad-csjy]

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I’m not a poet
And now you know it

[NaomiHills]

Due to illness, I couldn't read prolifically like yourself, (or however amount of words should read first), but at age 19 I "got into it". I was an avid reader as a younger person, and this helped I think. The styles of various serious authors all have their own expressive ways of literature development, for example, influences, resources can be made available, shared in a group, library, or even in a different culture - in another country - but your advice could be a prelude to a higher level to professional writing.. It's the ability to produce regular, paid income, to live by our own stuff, for others. Do the reading, and then do some really good writing. It's great advice. Thanks. I enjoyed watching this, and see what the "successful" poet does.

[filmanalysis]

I mean reading probably helps but the beauty of poetry for me is it’s free form and ability to break rules

[KingThallion]

"If you don't know all your predecessors you suck".... not snobby at all

[PaulanCollins]

Poetry 💟 comes from a place of creative its. Not easy: The Dept of reading or writing you must appreciate it, frist 💕😻 the author is not saying whatever; He or she are expressing their deeps expression' And if you can't authers message ' while they made it clear then its on to the next chapter period. With a joyful 💜❤️ ' Moving on!

[geezerpoet]

People listened to poetry out loud before there was reading. You can kick poetry around all you want, say you can do it with not knowledge or self-training. You're doing out of a burning need to express yourself, and perhaps out of a desire to call yourself an artist to feel you are important. Go post on All Poetry.

[thetruthis]

I took offence

There are some of us 'jackasses' out here,
Who believe they were given this skill.
Who can write words without even trying,
And sometimes can rhyme them at will.

It comes to us almost without effort,
The syllables are real easy to flow.
And some of us will write with emotion,
While some. Just to put on a show.

You are obviously a master at poetry,
You tell your words through the eyes of a pro.
My words are much more simplistic,
But are told from the depths of my soul.

Your words, are meant to reach thousands.
My words, may be meant to reach one.
Although I have never studied the rules of poetry,
-The poet in me ... say's there's none.

So "Congratulations" on all your successes,
And for this video, and what it has taught.
I was trying to find out, what to do with this gift,
And I promptly found the answer I sought.

-The poet in me

[tamtam]

I agree with reading classics, but ain't no way I'm reading the entire Prelude 💀
Plus poetry that is deemed as quality isn't necessarily based on how well structured it is, for example, but rather the emotions you get from it. Anyone can write a sonnet because it's based on rules, but not anyone can make that sonnet truly powerful emotionally. I think the true essense of poetry is based on that ability to make people feel- not really to tick as many boxes as you can to define quality - that would be quantity.

[surjamitbhattacharjee]

First start with a style then create your own style

[kiki-f]

So far, out of all the poets works Ive read, I only really liked Poe, TS Eliot, and Billy Collins ❤ I think its the Imagism that I like and rhyme. I don't like poems that are like diaries.

[MalaCrim]

You don't need 10, 000 hours unless you plan on being a full time poet earning a living doing it. And we know how many of those exist.