Using Poetry Techniques to Improve Your Writing

In this class, we will not get bogged down with the form and jargon of poetry. Instead, we will focus on how the practice of writing can help us grow. No matter what genre you prefer to write in, practicing the skills and techniques used in writing poetry will improve your writing. The techniques used in poetry forces us to think differently and to say more with less. It calls on us to do more than paint a picture for the reader. It wants the reader to be a part of the painting, to feel the painting as the artist does. Even if we are writing in free verse, poetry makes us pay attention to the sound and rhythm of the words we are putting on the page turning our words into music for the reader’s ear. So let’s discuss the techniques poets use and see how liberating it can be for your own writing. You will leave this class with an understanding of how to practice poetry techniques and how to listen to your writing. The goal is to help you grow as a writer in your own genre.