5 Easy Poems For Beginners
You don’t make a poem with ideas but with words. - Stephane Mallarme
Writing poetry is an art. It is an outcome of experiences and imagination poured into words. You express emotions and feelings to tell a story that many may not understand. But some will. Writing a poem is like writing a letter without an address. The receiver may never read it, but it carries your message to people who handle your letter.
Here, I have five easy poems for you to try. These are easy for beginners to start writing and exploring the world of poetry. These poems will make you understand the rhyming scheme, syllable count, and the importance of choosing the right words that make an impact.
Haiku
The first poem is the Haiku. Haiku is a traditional Japanese three-line poem. The poem is unrhymed. It has a total of seventeen syllables. The three lines follow the 5/7/5 syllable count. The first line must have 5 syllables. The second line must have 7 syllables. The third line must have 5 syllables. A Haiku expresses a mood, thought, or feeling. The theme of a Haiku poem is usually nature.
Format of Haiku poem
Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables
Example of Haiku: The Old Pond
An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pond —
Splash! Silence again.
- By Matsuo Bashō
Follow these steps to write a simple and beautiful Haiku.
- Decide on a theme for your poem.
- Pay attention to the little things around you.
- Use short phrases that evoke strong images of nature.
- Your poem need not rhyme.
- Be aware of the syllable count.
Tanka
The second poem in this list is the Tanka. The Tanka is a classical Japanese poem. The word “Tanka” means a “short poem” or “short song”. The poem doesn’t have to rhyme, but the syllabic rules are strict. A Tanka poem has 31 syllables split over five lines.
Format of Tanka
Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables
Line 4: 7 syllables
Line 5: 7 syllables
Example of Tanka: Butterfly
Pretty butterflies
sitting on flower petals
gathering nectar
delicious and sweet the taste
enjoying the summer day
-By Heather Burns
Follow these steps to write a Tanka.
- Choose what you want to write about.
- Select a theme or subject on nature, love, weather, or anything that inspires you.
- Pay attention to the syllable count.
- Your poem need not rhyme.
- Jot down the poem as it comes and then arrange it to follow the scheme and syllable count.
- Read your Tanka out loud and see that it has a pleasing flow.
Clerihew Poetry
The third type of poetry on our list is Clerihew Poetry. The clerihew is an English poetic form invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. It is a whimsical, skewed quatrain poem — two rhyming couplets of unequal length about a person’s biography. Clerihews are short and easy to write. They can be about any person or character. They can be about people you know, about animals, cartoon characters, or anyone else you can think of. When writing a clerihew, your goal should be to make your audience smile. The jokes should be light-hearted and sweet. Your words should not make people feel that you are laughing at them.
Format of Clerihew
Quatrain (or four-line) poem.
Rhyme scheme: aabb
The first line is a person’s full name.
The final three lines sum up the person named in the first line (usually humorous).
Each of the rhyming lines is of different lengths.
Example of Clerihew: Sir Humphrey Davy
Sir Humphrey Davy
Abominated gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.
-By Edmund Clerihew Bentley
Follow these steps to write a simple Clerihew Poetry
- Choose a person or a character as your theme.
- Think of something unique about the person.
- Put the person’s name in the first line.
- Follow the rhyme scheme aabb.
- Keep in mind that clerihews are only four lines.
- Always keep the feelings of others in mind, and do not write anything that would hurt someone’s feelings.
Triolet
Triolet is a short poem of eight lines. It is an old French form. The Triolet is short and witty. It has 8 lines in the rhyming scheme abaaabab. The first two lines (ab) and the last two lines (ab) are the same. Also, the first, fourth, and seventh lines are the same. You write only five original lines, repeating the lines wherever needed. The rhyming scheme is ABaAabAB, where capital letters indicate repeated lines.
Format of a Triolet
The first line (A)
The second line (B)
The third line rhymes with the first (a)
Repeat the first line (A)
The fifth line rhymes with the first (a)
The sixth line rhymes with the second line (b)
Repeat the first line (A)
Repeat the second line (B)
Example of Triolet Poetry: We Poets
We poets are so very strange!
We write and write and lose our minds!
Emotions flow in quite a range;
We poets are so very strange!
We’re happy. Then, we quickly change;
To make a world it takes all kinds.
We poets are so very strange!
We write and write and lose our minds!
-By LuAnn Kennedy
Follow these steps to write a simple Triolet poetry
- Choose a theme to write on.
- Choose the end words that have lots of rhyming possibilities.
- Keep the rhyming scheme in mind when writing.
- Pay attention to the repetition of lines.
Acrostic Poetry
In an Acrostic poem, certain letters of each line combine to spell out a word, name, or phrase when read vertically. The first letter of each line spells out the word. Acrostic Poems are fun to write, and you can use any word you wish to describe. There is no syllable count or rhyme to follow, but remember that the word you use should be the theme of your poem.
Format of Acrostic Poetry
Spell out the letters of the alphabet in order.
Start with a capital letter.
Each line can be of different length.
Use poetic devices like alliteration and similes.
Example of Acrostic Poetry: Elizabeth
Elizabeth it is in vain you say
“Love not” — thou sayest it in so sweet a way:
In vain those words from thee or L. E. L.
Zantippe’s talents had enforced so well:
Ah! if that language from thy heart arise,
Breathe it less gently forth — and veil thine eyes.
Endymion, recollect when Luna tried
To cure his love — was cured of all beside —
His folly — pride — and passion — for he died.
-By Edgar Allen Poe
Follow these steps to write Acrostic Poetry
- Decide what you want to write about.
- Once you’ve chosen a word to use, vertically write it down.
- Write words or adjectives to describe the topic.
- Find words that start with each letter of your chosen word.
To conclude, now that you have these 5 simple yet beautiful poems to try, why wait? Get your pens and diaries. Start your journey as a poet. Remember, you write poetry for yourself.
