Overcoming Writer’s Block in Poetry

Sometimes writing poetry can seem daunting. Perhaps someone needs to write a poem as an assignment, but they don’t know where to start. Then they realize that there are so many types of structural poems out there, such as clerihews and nonets, that can act as a stepping stone to writing beautiful poetry. Perhaps one of these fun structural poems below will make poetry seem less intimidating and more fun. Hopefully by discovering all the interesting and fairly easy poem types, someone will become inspired to pick up a pen and write a poem.

(1)  Than-Bauk

Than-Bauks are a simple Burmese poetic form of writing. Often clever and witty, this poem does not require much writing to complete as it consists of only three lines. To write this poem, one must remember three rules: the poem must consist of only three lines; each line must have four syllables; and lastly, the most complicated rule, the last syllable of the first line must rhyme with the third syllable of the second line, as well as the second syllable of the third line. When writing this poem, focus more on one-syllable words because of the interesting rhyme scheme. An example has been provided below. (The syllables which must rhyme in the example are highlighted in bold.)

Snow

Softly and slow,

Falling so low,

First snow is seen.

(2)  Cinquain (pronounced sin-cane)

This poem has many variations, such as the standard, the American, and the reverse, as well as several more. However, the didactic cinquain, which was developed by Adelaide Crapsey is the poem described below. Considered the easiest and most fun, the didactic cinquain is a common choice for beginner poets. The criteria for this poem is that it consists of five lines, each line has a specific number of words, and each line has a very specific word structure. 

Line 1- The subject of the poem (one word)

Line 2- Two adjectives that describe the subject (two words)

Line 3- Action words that describe the subject and usually end in -ing (three words)

Line 4- Words that describe the subject. These words usually set the mood and stir up emotion (four words)

Line 5- A synonym to the subject (one word)

A Cinquain

Messenger

Winged, ethereal

Glowing, praising, delivering

Bringing news from God

Angel

(3)  Nonet

With this poem, rhyme, theme, and meter don’t matter; however, line and syllable count do. It can cover any topic and have any rhyme scheme, and it challenges writers’ creativity while at the same time keeping a strict structure. The nonet consists of nine lines, and the first line has nine syllables. Then the syllable count decreases by one with each line. Therefore, the first line has nine syllables, the second line has eight, the third line has seven, and this continues all the way down to the last line, which has one syllable. 

Jesus’ Mother

Mary, a young, lovely, virgin girl

Quietly, unsuspectingly

Was chosen to bear God’s son

Jesus, the Messiah

Born to save people

From their mistakes.

Cries as she

Kisses

Him

(4)  Clerihew

A clerihew was first written in the 1890s by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. Clerihews are usually humorous and often don’t have rhythm or clear historical accuracy, which makes them all the more amusing. A traditional clerihew follows an AABB rhyme scheme, has four lines, and is usually about a person—who should be named in the first line. However, take care when writing these poems that you don’t offend whomever you’re writing about. 

Joseph’s Confusion

Joseph, a young man

Did not understand

Why he was chosen

To be the Father of God’s son.

(5)  Tanka

A tanka is a very old form of Japanese poetry that has 31 syllables in total. Traditionally, the syllables would be written all in one line; however, today’s English tankas usually split the syllables up into five lines. The first line will have five syllables, the next will have seven, then five, then the last two will have seven again. Tankas don’t usually rhyme or have a specific meter, but there are some loose guidelines which don’t have to be followed. For example, in some tankas the first two lines talk about something concrete and then in the third line switch to talking about something metaphorical. 

Christmas

Presents, cookies, kin

Help to celebrate this day

But let’s not forget

Baby Jesus being born

To save us from all our sins

(6)  Monostitch

However, if even all of these poems seem too hard, then one can try out the monostitch. The monostitch can refer to a line of poetry from a longer poem or just a written line of poetry. Throw rhythm and meter to the wind and just write “This is a poem,” and then one has completed the task of writing a poem.

Poetry Credit: All poem examples were written by the author and Hannah Hoskins

Picture Credit: Unsplash

Works cited:

Glatch, Sean. “Cinquain Poetry: How to Write a Cinquain Poem”. Writers.Com, December 11, 2023. https://writers.com/cinquain-poetry

Gutoskey, Ellen. “11 Fun Types of Poems You’ve Probably Never Heard Of”. Mental Floss, April 11, 2022, https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/unusual-types-poems

Lahsaiezadeh, Kayti. “10 Essential Types of Poetry”. BookBub, November 15, 2023, https://www.bookbub.com/blog/types-of-poetry-forms

“Than-Bauk Poetry Form: Have a Dose of Giggles”. Word Wool, December 20, 2023, https://wordwool.com/than-bauk-poem-type/

“What Is a Nonet Poem? How to Write a Nonet”. Master Class, November 17, 2021, https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-a-nonet