# **How to write a poem**

As in prose, there are rules governing the design of poetry. Poems have a basic format that must be adhered to during their creation. Whether you plan to submit a manuscript to a publisher or include a few lines of poetry in an essay, there are specific ways to format a poem for those occasions.

**Part One: Basic Structure and Format**

Check out the type of poem. You will have a little more freedom if you are writing a white poem or [do my essay](https://essaywritery.com/do-my-essay), but if you are trying to write a specific type of poem, you need to check the specific format requirements of the type of interest before considering anything else.

A haiku should be three lines long. The first line has five sounds, the second has seven, and the third has five. Often, these "sounds" are seen as the syllables of our language.

Limerick has five lines. The first, second and fifth rhyme with each other and have eight or nine syllables. The third and fourth lines rhyme with each other and have five or six syllables.

The sonnet has 14 lines and is usually written in iambic pentameter. Shakespeare's sonnets follow the ABAB/CDCD/EFEF/GG rhythmic pattern. Petrarch's sonnets follow the ABBA/ABBA/CDE/CDE rhythmic pattern.

Create strings based on speech patterns and appearance. The length of each line and how the lines are broken will affect the reader's experience, so you need to format the lines in a way that makes sense.

Readers tend to pause briefly at the end of each line, whether there are punctuation marks or not. As such, it makes sense to end a line with a period in which a pause would be natural or could be used to emphasize an important point.

Words placed at the end of a line tend to be more significant than those in the middle.

Short lines feel more jagged and fast-paced, so they can speed up the reader. Long lines are more prose-like and can slow the reader down.

Look at how the lines look on paper. Poems with light content should have a light appearance and you can refer to [essay writers for hire](https://essaywritery.com/), with short lines and plenty of white space. Deep, meaningful poems can look more compact.

Experiment with punctuation. Even though readers make a natural pause at the end of a line, a punctuation mark at the end of that line will encourage a long pause delay.

On the other hand, when there are no punctuation marks at the end of a line, the pause is kept to a minimum, and may even be skipped.

Ending a line in the middle of a sentence can highlight an idea or create tension.

Group the lines into logical stanzas. Stanzas are to poetry what paragraphs are to prose. Lines are grouped into separate stanzas to maintain order and flow.

Stanzas are usually used to organize ideas, so one stanza is likely to have a different tone or slightly different emphasis than the stanzas before and after it.

Rewrite the poem as needed to improve the overall form. You will probably not find the best combination of rhythm, line and general order in your first draft, so you may need to rewrite your poem several times to improve its format.

As a general rule, it may be easier to write your ideas instinctively and naturally the first time around.

Reread your poem aloud and make any necessary changes as you write them down on paper. Pay attention to the look and sound.

**Part Two: Manuscript Format**

Use standard margins and fonts. Use 2.5 cm margin and font size 11 or 12.

The left, right and bottom margin should be 2.5 cm. The top margin can also be 2.5 cm) but you can also make it smaller, for example 1.25 cm, if the poem looks better that way.

Please include your name and contact information at the top. In the top right corner of the page, enter your full name, followed by your full postal address, phone, email, and website (if you have one).

Each piece of information should be on a separate line.

Specify this information in single spacing, right-aligned.

This format is standard, but it is also acceptable to write this information in the upper left corner of the page, especially if it makes the overall structure of the poem cleaner. Include the same information and keep the text single spaced but left justified.

Specify the number of lines. On the line immediately after the contact information, enter the number of lines.

This is required only if your contact information is in the top right corner.

If your contact information is in the top left corner, place the number of lines in the top right corner on the same line as the name.

When specifying the number of lines, write "xx lines." For example:

14 lines

32 lines

5 lines

Write the title centered in capital letters. Indent down 5-6 lines, then enter the title of your poem in capital letters.

The title is usually written in the center of the page. If your contact information aligns to the right side of the page, you can also align the title if you wish.

The title must be followed by one blank line.

Align the stanzas to the left. Align each stanza on the left side of the page. The text should be jagged along the right edge, not justified.

Each stanza is separated by a single space.

The space between two stanzas follows at two intervals. In other words, each stanza must be separated from the previous and the next by one blank line.

Include basic information about any additional page. If your poem continues on a second page, you will need to place a title at the top of that page.

The title should include the last name, the title of the poem, and the current page number.

The surname should be indicated in the upper left corner, the title in the center, and the page number in the upper right corner. All three parts must be on the same line.

This header format should be used on every page after the first, whether it be page two, three, eleven, and so on.

**Part Three: Formatting Quotes**

Provide a quote. Introduce a quote and include its text in quotation marks within the rest of the sentence.

Do not make dry quotes. This applies to text blocks that are nothing more than quotes without your own introductory or closing leading words. Such a reference to a poem does not provide sufficient conditions for a quotation.

Enclose three or fewer lines in quotation marks. When you quote only one, two, or three lines from a poem, include the quotation in the body in consultation with a [business essay writer](https://essaywritery.com/business-essay-writing-service), of the text by placing it in quotation marks.

Use the backslash character (/) to indicate a line break. Place a space before and after each character.

Example: The poet praises his subject's knowledge and beauty, stating: "Your mind is as graceful as your features / Far finer than all my praises" (lines 5-6).

Quote four or more lines shifted to the left. When you quote four or more lines, place the quote on a separate line after your introductory word.

Use a left offset of ten full indents from the left edge. Each line of your quote must begin with this indent.

Do not use quotes or forward slashes.

Example: Shakespeare opens "Sonnet 82" with the words of his friend about his muse:

You are not engaged to my muse.

And often your court is lenient,

When you poets of our days

Eloquently dedicate work. (lines 1-4)

Quote the line number. For each poetic quotation in the text, you must indicate the lines or line numbers that fall on your quotation in the poem.

When enclosing three or fewer lines in quotation marks, place the line numbers in parentheses after the closing quotation marks. At the same time, the quotation must go to the point.

When quoting four or more lines, indent from the main text, indicate the line number after the final point of the quotation.

Write "line", "lines", or "st" before the first quotation of this poem to clarify that you are referring to lines, not pages. But for each additional citation, you only need to provide a number.

Example: Shakespeare opens "Sonnet 82" with the words of his friend about his muse:

You are not engaged to my muse.

And often your court is lenient,

When you poets of our days

Eloquently dedicate work. (lines 1-4)

He continues later, praising the beauty and intellect of his muse, stating: “Your mind is as graceful as your features, / Much finer than all my praises” (5-6).

Useful Information:

[Essay tips: How can I increase the word count](https://expressafrica.et/read-blog/17769)

[Preparing to write an essay](https://www.kniterate.com/community/users/laurenchan/)

[https://inversionistas.hites.com/web/laurenchan/home?p_p_id=33&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-2&p_p_col_count=1](https://inversionistas.hites.com/web/laurenchan/home?p_p_id=33&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-2&p_p_col_count=1)

[About the narrative text and time](https://www.snapigram.com/read-blog/30858)

[How do you avoid generalizations in an essay?](https://gitlab.com/chanlau/how-do-you-avoid-generalizations-in-an-essay/-/issues/1)