Download Station #1

Station #1
Clichés
Eliminate clichés, which are the vermin of imaginative writing. Initially fresh images, clichés have been taken over
and made mundane by too frequent usage. They have lost their original authority, power, and beauty.
Station #2
Abstract Nouns
Identify all abstract or general nouns and replace them with concrete or specific ones. Words like "love,"
"freedom," "pain," "sadness," "anger," and other emotions and ideas need to be channeled through the physical
imagery of the five senses: Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, Taste.
Station #3
Develop images with detail
Does my poem include everything I want to say about this topic?
Create vivid pictures with specific and precise language:
o
o
Is that flower a tulip, a sun-flower, or a rose?
Add detail: Is it a yellow rose bursting with petals or a cream-white rosebud with blushing pink tips?
Let your nouns and verbs carry the power - avoid strings of adjectives and adverbs when a noun or verb
can do the job (sit weakly vs. wither; new rose vs. rosebud)
Other poetic devices:
o What about personification? Pick an inanimate object. How would the poem change if you gave it human
qualities?
o Symbolism—Remember that a symbol is something tangible or visual that represents a universal idea that
is intangible. Could a symbol be woven into this poem somehow? Often I try to incorporate symbolism into
my titles. What is something tangible or visual that doesn’t appear in your poem but represents its theme?
Rhyme:
Don’t rhyme at the expense of substance. Use figurative language to extend metaphor, description, detail
Station #4
Verbs
Fortify the physical character of the poem by using strong action verbs instead of linking verbs (Am, Is, Are, Were,
Be, Being, Been, Has, Have, Had, Should, Could, Would).
Because active verbs are more visceral, dynamic, and persuasive, they reduce the need for modifiers. Avoid
overusing the "-ing" form of verbs because it dilutes and reduces their strength.
Example: Does that rose wilt, wither, bounce, stretch, linger?
Trees are tied with
strings and signs that
tell us these
trees will be cut down.
Station #5
Syntax
Trees are tangled
with strings with signs
that say
we will
cut these trees
down.
o
How can you use different sentence structures to support your theme? Remember: short sentences are
often emphatic, passionate, and flippant, whereas longer sentences suggest the writer’s thoughtful
response.
o
Could you incorporate syntactic structures to signal shifts in your poem?
o
o
Break lines to emphasize breaths, pauses, or silences. Break nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
When you revise, insert // between words to create a new line break,
and ========== between lines to indicate a new stanza break. Experiment with the size, shape,
and length of lines and stanzas. In general, punctuate and capitalize poems as if they’re prose, but
don’t be afraid to experiment with/without caps and punctuation, either.
Beware of ineffective repetition: a word repeated in too-close proximity to no purpose or effect and that
sounds awkward. Use effective repetition to stress an important word, phrase, idea, or theme; to move a
poem; to build a poem’s momentum; to create cadence. When you revise, read your poem with your ears
and listen for its rhythms.
Station #6
Cut, compress, and condense! Imagine that you must pay your reader a dollar a word to read your poetry.
Naturally, you will want to use few words to say as much as possible.
Look at the following BEFORE AND AFTER example.
The trees have strings
tied around them and
there are signs that
tell us that these
trees will be cut down
next week.
Trees are tied with
strings and signs that
tell us these
trees will be cut down.
I think about these trees
and all the birds
that will lose
their homes.
I think about the tree
and how much it will hurt.
I think about these trees
all the birds
will loose
their homes.
I think about the tree –
how much it will hurt.
Hint: Are you using too many complete sentences in your poem? Do you need to?
I think about these trees
all the birds
will loose
their homes.
I think about the tree –
how much it will hurt.
I imagine:
a
big, strong
tree
home to an owl
a woodpecker, a squirrel
screaming,
hurt
asking for help.
Tip: If you are incorporating dialogue into your poem, delete any “he said, she said-s”