Why we should be reading poetry? How does it affect our writing as a writer? What are some of the great poets?
There are a number of questions. I want to talk about poetry in this post.
Poetry
Poetry transcends the moments of life into ideas for a generation. It bridges the gap between emotions and reality. It awakens the senses.
As a writer, the following are the 5 ways reading poetry can help you improve your writing.
- Read poetry
- Use poetry to improve vocabulary
- Understand themes
- Transform clichés
- Zoom into the new world
Reading poetry to improve writing
To improve your writing, one skill you must master is to read a lot of poetry.
If you ask me which poets to read, then I can tell you a lot.
Mary Oliver is the one poet who I admired the most. I have read her poetry and it mesmerizes me every time I read.
A poet paints a picture with words, but most importantly in a few words. But the real job of a poet is to invoke the senses, stir the emotions with the words.
Something screamed
from the fringes of the swamp
It was Banyan
the old merchant
– Mary Oliver.
After reading poetry, a writer can practice writing poetry. Imagining scenes and using few words to create a picture is a harder task, but it also helps to improve writing.
Vocabulary
Poetry teaches us to use concrete words. It helps to improve vocabulary. As a writer, words are your friends, but not-so-regular words are your close friends. They will create a picture in your reader’s mind.
This makes reading poetry even more important.
Using concrete words instead of abstract words in your writing will elevate your writing to another level.
Themes
Poetry is about themes. Poets love writing poetry about different types of themes. Similar writers also love themes. Other than my current novel The Songs of Farewell, my first two books were based on the theme of nostalgia.
Poet uses a theme to provide a unique opinion about a topic. This is also similar to what we call “having your voice.” The general rule is that as a writer, you won’t write anything without a theme.
Clichés
To transform your writing into readable, avoid clichés. That’s the hardest part. But reading poetry can help you learn new phrases and words. This in turn will help you to avoid clichés in your writing.
Change the scenery
When a poet sees regular things, she transforms them into poetry. Reading poetry will help you understand what the poet intends to say when she changes the regular scene into something poetic. Poet has an eye that sees beyond normal things. For a writer, developing such an eye is equally important.
Read Mary Oliver, Robert Frost, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou, T.S. Eliot.