Five Poetry Editing Pointers from AuthorHouse

Some people say “editing detracts from poetry." You could be right, if the editor is poor. A skilled literary craftsman, however, can make seamless reading of a poem regardless of the number of revisions it has received.

Here are five areas where AuthorHouse believes you should concentrate to polish your poetry.

1.Padding
Effective poets can communicate volumes by using just a few words. Here’s how they do it:

•By Eliminating Words of Temporality: while, meanwhile, as, during, and, etc.
•By Eliminating Words of Causality: because, thus, causing, therefore, etc.
•By Eliminating Words of Opposition: yet, but, etc.
•By Eliminating Adjectives (and adverbs): Cold as ice. A double violation - a cliché and uses three words to tell us something we already know – ice is cold.
•By Eliminating Conversational Grammar: Dialect and grammar can add authenticity to a poem that contains conversation. Try and avoid this for poems void of conversation, however.

2.Rhyme
Familiarize yourself with the various different types of rhyme and the ways in which poets use and locate their rhymes within their poetry.

Locating Rhyme

•End-Rhymes: Rhyming words found at the ends of lines are the most obvious. This makes them the trickiest to use. Never sacrifice grammar to create a rhyme.
•Internal Rhymes: At least one of the rhyming words is found in the middle of the line.
•Contemporary Free-Verse: Rhymes can be found anywhere.

Rhyme Schemes

•Full Rhymes: Occur when the accented vowel sound and what follows it are the same. For example, “zooming” creates a full rhyme with “booming” as the accented vowel sound ( -oom), is the same and so is what follows it ( -ing). The initial letters, z and b, are the only difference.
•Slant Rhymes: (also referred to as Off Rhymes) use similar sounding words. Here are a few examples, home and come, root and foot, close and lose, moon and bone, vein and men.
•Sight Rhymes: The rhyme is in the appearance of the words. This often creates a slant rhyme due to the use of the same letter combinations – ‘oo’ or 'ough.'
•Mosaic Rhymes: Two or more words create a multiple rhyme. This can be done by either rhyming two or more words (go for / no more) or a number of words with a single longer word (cop a plea / monopoly).

There are more rhyme schemes that you may want to familiarize yourself with as well.

3.Finding that Perfect Word
Make find that perfect word simpler by increasing your vocabulary. Here are some contrivances to watch out for in your poetry:

•Using Obscure, Clever-Sounding Words Straight Out of the Dictionary: Reading a poem that makes you reach for your dictionary after every line is extremely frustrating.
•Using Archaic Language: It may sound poetic, but it is better to bring yourself up to date.
•Vacuous Verbs: Even active verbs can fail to be descriptive enough. Try selecting verbs that don’t require an adjective to clarify the scene or emotion.
•Abstract or General Nouns: Replace them with specific nouns. Channel emotional words through the physical imagery of our five senses, Sight, Sound, Smell, Taste, and Touch.

4.Clichés
If your poetry is unoriginal there seems very little point in writing it in the first place. Here are some of poetry’s most common clichés.

•The Cliché Phrase: Heart to heart, night and day, worth fighting for, dreams come true, matter of fact, etc.
•The Cliché Image: Tears, blood, stars, eyes, roses, etc.
•The Cliché Rhyme: Eyes/sighs, ache/break, cry/die, heart/apart, burn/yearn
•Cliché Metaphors: Fire as a metaphor for passion or love; Cold as a metaphor for emotional indifference or emotional distance; Darkness / Light as a metaphor for sadness or loneliness / happiness or knowledge.

5.Ambiguity
AuthorHouse suggests you try to experience your own poetry with a sense of detachment when you read it through. Pretend it was written by one of your fellow AuthorHouse authors. Are the meanings and emotions you are trying to convey easily understandable? Don’t worry if there are multiple interpretations, however, as your readers will enjoy the opportunity of interpreting your poetry in their own, unique ways.

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