Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Poetry Library Southbank Centre - The Poetry Library housing the Arts Council Collection at Southbank Centre

« Previous item
Contents of this issue
Next item »

Martin Underwood

print this page

Useful check list

  • Try reading your poem out loud. Listen to the sounds the words and rhythm are making.
  • Find something you are truly interested in – if it doesn’t grab your imagination , it won’t grab your readers’.
  • Don’t think you’ve got to deal with big issues – connect with your own ‘lived experience’. Start small and immediate and call up all your senses and experiences.
  • Read poems by classic poets such as John Clare and Ted Hughes for inspiration. Find a model you like and then shape the poem around it – but imitate, don’t copy!
  • Look for fresh images, rather than fancy words, to describe your chosen subjects.
  • Be specific to detail and avoid generalisation.
  • Sharpen your re-drafting skills and get rid of lines that weaken your poem. Do the words describe what you want them to? You don’t have to include everything for it to work.
  • Trust the sound of your own voice, including the way you would talk to friends of your own age. Don’t think that you have to change your style of thinking to sound more poetic, more mature or more intellectual. Just find the best way to say it yourself.
  • Endings often disappoint. You don’t have to make a profound point at the end of a poem to finish it off.
  • After you feel you’ve finished, put the poem away and re-read it later.


 

Adapted from advice from the judges in the BBC Wildlife magazine, [who did not make any awards in the 15-17 category this year].

Page(s) 20

Back to top