After completing one of my most challenging Literature courses Shakespeare Survey, I became interested in registering for the Writing Poetry course. Why? Because I wanted to challenge myself even further. During my Shakespeare Survey experience, I discovered a real passion for poetry and excellent learning techniques. All of which I utilized throughout both courses. In the Fall of 2021, I sat under my Professor's instruction and wrote poetry for that entire semester. Two of the most rewarding projects created from the course are the Anthology and my first Chapbook, Just Me. I had previously written poetry but was not as involved as we were taught.
As MasterClass expounds upon How to Write Poetry: 11 Rules for Poetry Writing Beginners, Tip 1 is one of the first steps the class learns: Read much poetry. If you want to write poetry, start by reading poetry. Let the words of your favorite poems wash over you without digging for deeper meaning. Or you can delve into the analysis. Dissect an allegory in a Robert Frost verse. Ponder the underlying purpose of an Edward Hirsch poem. You are retrieving the symbolism in Emily Dickinson’s work. Do a line-by-line analysis of a William Shakespeare sonnet. Let the individual words of a Walt Whitman elegy flow with emotion.
Tip 3 Start small is a step we indeed put into play. A short poem like a haiku or a simple rhyming poem might be more attainable than diving into a narrative epic. A simple rhyming poem can be a non-intimidating entryway to poetry writing. Don’t mistake quantity for quality; a new seven-line free verse poem is more impressive than a sloppy, rambling epic of blank verse iambic pentameter, even though it probably took far less time to compose. (MasterClass, 2022).
I engaged and enjoyed learning various tips and tools MasterClass also promotes to educate yourself on writing poetry. For example, my Professor taught us many of the rules applied in the classroom, and I developed the Sonnet below, one I was honored to present at my first Open Poetry Mic hosted on the Kean campus.
The devil is chasing me
By Valerie Allen
Once when I was a young girl, salvation sought not, a place of safety
or so it would seem, with churches standing side by side, reluctantly
I followed grandma to the Black Baptist church with, toting small bible
women wearing fancy clothes and hats every season of first Sundays
was the showpiece of it all, and the loud music and dancing looked like
horsing galloping in the snow, and I would think what’s the noise all about,
girls, boys, women, men, running up and down the pews and around the church
too and the pastor screaming, yelling, passing the gold and red collection plate,
is God really on the scene? Does He hear my sinner’s plea between them
and thou, waiting to feel the power of the Holy Ghost and drop to floor,
and now I caught up too, oh no, here, we go, the feeling is taking over,
I don’t have control, come, Lord Jesus, save me from sin and despair,
but wait, what is that other spirit attempting to snatch me out of God’s
big steady hand, it’s the devil, the devil is chasing me, run I must.
The sonnet [14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme originating in Italy and brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, earl of Surrey in the 16th century] is inspired by Since age three, I went looking (p. 21) by Diane Seuss of frank: sonnets that got me thinking about a time around twelve years old or less when I did not know much about God, church, and religion. Other than my father’s mother indulging once in a while. And my mom filled the house with gospel tunes only on Sundays. Nonetheless, there was a strange encounter during my young adult life when I assumed the devil was chasing me. And I ran fast, screaming as I ran out of the house and down the road to our local family business where my mom was employed.
Find these Masterclass tips and more on the site and ready yourself to enhance your poetry knowledge and skills utilized in the Kean University School of English Studies Program.
In case you’re wondering, I passed Shakespeare Survey and Writing Poetry with an A.
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