Poetry has been around for centuries and continues its growth as new poets create works of art through beautiful language. Poetry comes from the heart and truly relates to how one feels about a particular subject. Poetry does not have to be about one specific topic; people write poems of encouragement and inspiration, they can be about love, heartbreak, nature, God and many more things. Much poetry about God describes his majesty, kindness, and unfailing ability to love and forgive his children. Poetry written about love and heartbreak describes the beauty and joys of failing in love and the sorrow and pain resorting from the loss of a loved one through death or a breakup. The beautiful thing about poetry is that everyone relates top each piece in their own way, “to each their own interpretation.”
There is not one specific way to write a poem, poems have a variety of layouts and rules. Some of the most common ways to write poetry are in the following forms: sonnet, haiku, and free verse. A sonnet is a poem consisting of fourteen lines; it follows a set rhyme pattern and has a logical structure. Most sonnets are written about love and use lots of vivid imagery; Shakespeare was famous for this use of poetry. Haikus originated from Japan and must always talk about some aspect of nature. This type of poetry is very structured, it does not have to rhyme but must consists of three lines where the first and last have five syllables and the middle line has seven. Free Verse poetry is very popular with modern day poets because it does not have any set structure, you are free to write about any topic and in whatever form you wish.
Some of the world’s most famous poets are William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. William Shakespeare is known for his dramatic plays of love and tragedy and his romantic poetry. Some of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets are “Shall I Compare Thee to A Summer’s Day,” “Let Me Not to The Marriage of True Minds,” and “When in Disgrace with Fortune.” If you are looking for free verse poetry read some of Walt Whitman’s works, he wrote about feelings from the inner self and the energy that is felt throughout nature. A few of Whitman’s famous poems are “O Captain! My Captain!,” “As I Ponder’d in Silence,” and “To You,” many of his most popular poems can be found in the “Leaves of Grass” collection. When reading Emily Dickinson’s poetry you find most of it relates to death and immortality, but among her writings you will also find some poems of encouragement and inspiration. If you are looking to be inspired read Dickinson’s famous poems “Chartless” and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.”