Over the past couple of months, I have been studying poetry as part of my university course. Now I would be the first to admit that I’m not that good at writing poetry. My poems range in quality from horrendous to merely terrible. However, I do enjoyed reading and analysing poems. Their imagery, creative metaphors, and often elegant language have a strange appeal. And while I have been studying the mystical world of the poem, I have learnt something interesting. Writing poems teaches you not only how to write poetry, but also how to write better prose as well. To prove it, I’ve made a list of three things that poetry can teach you about writing in general.

To Write Briefly: Some poems, like the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, go on and on for pages true. But the majority of poems are short. Some, like The Red Wheelbarrow, are no more than twelve words long. Some are even shorter than that. However, despite their lack of length, most poems either tell a compelling story, or contain a deep thought captured inside a tiny space. Writing poetry teaches you to convey your message in a small amount of words, yet without compromising any of its meaningfulness.

To Describe Well: Poems are filled with beautiful images, imaginative metaphors, and creative descriptions that colour the world in a totally new way. It’s this creative way of looking at and describing the world that makes each poem unique and enthralling to read. Writing poems forces you to think outside the box and be creative in the way you describe things so as to avoid boring clichés while portraying a thought or idea in a new light. So poetry teaches you how to describe things in a vivid, unique way.

To Hear the Musicality of Words: Some poems seem to sing off the page. Every word works with the others for a harmonious sound and a poem that flows effortlessly. The best poems manage this in the simplest way without resorting to ‘purple prose’. Composing poems gives you a great sense of the musicality of words as you are forced to think carefully about each word you use and how it affects the overall work. In poems especially, the right combination of words really makes a piece sparkle. Writing poems helps develop your ear for the right combination of words to make your writing really stand out.

So there you have it, three reasons why writing poems is good for you. Do you write poems? If you’ve ever written poetry, what do you think you’ve learnt from the experience? Do you agree with any of my points?