Writing Poetry and Writing About Poetry
Thoughts on Poetry When considering which to do first, I would definitely choose to write about poetry before endeavoring to write a poem myself. Dissecting a text comes second nature at this point (some may say I could do it in my sleep) so I will happily tear apart a poem and write about what it conveys before I choose to take those musings and write my own poem. I suppose one would need to know how to do one to fully understand the other. If I can dissect a poem, then perhaps I can turn around and write one using that newfound knowledge. If I can write a poem, then I can explicate it till I’m blue in the face to explain my choices. A positive to writing about poetry before writing poetry is that I can try to emulate what others have done before me in my poetry. If that slant rhyme worked for them, then surely it will work for me. Then, if the slant rhyme worked in my poetry, I can explain why it was so effective. It’s all very circular in nature. Poetry in the Cla...
