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How should people learn to write poetry?
52 votes
Start with free-form, and stick to it.
Start with fixed-form, and stick to it.
Start with fixed-form until they're comfortable, then move on to free-form.
Start with free-form until they're comfortable, then move on the fixed-form.
Experiment with both until they find what they like best.
Deviation Actions
I'm thinking of going through my most recent poetry and...
| 33 votes
- DO IT DO IT DO IT
- I'd listen to a few.
- I don't care enough for you to go through that much work. save it
we should collaborate
| 18 votes
- I'll send you a note!
- no
Latin plurals?
| 40 votes
- formulae, memoranda, etc. keep it true to the source language!
- formulas, memorandas, etc. stop being so pedantic.
- I really don't care.
Comments16
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Robert Frost famously said that writing free verse was akin to playing tennis with the net down.
While I'm not quite as hardline as he was, I have to agree with *williamfdevault's contention: until you've internalized the rules, you won't grok how to break them in any meaningful way. The result is often pretty to look at, but without deeper meaning: the literary equivalent of flower arrangement.
(This applies to prose as well. For all that I'm willing to bend the rules in my own work, I'm a fascist when it comes to unintentional errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar.)
While I'm not quite as hardline as he was, I have to agree with *williamfdevault's contention: until you've internalized the rules, you won't grok how to break them in any meaningful way. The result is often pretty to look at, but without deeper meaning: the literary equivalent of flower arrangement.
(This applies to prose as well. For all that I'm willing to bend the rules in my own work, I'm a fascist when it comes to unintentional errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar.)