are there rules to poetry?

[umbral portal]

I know there are rules bc I learned techniques in school, but then free verse is a thing, which seems to have no certain structure? Is poetry a kind of thing where you have to learn the rules so that you can break them?

[gaunt mist]

Depends… a lot of people will tell you it’s all in the emotion and disregard technique, but it doesn’t hurt to introduce sensory imagery and rhythm into your poems, just don’t write riddles and write feelings.

[quiet tapir]

Think of it like this.

There are types of poetry / ways of sorting poetry- sonnets, rhymes, grooks, iambic pentameter, etc etc etc.

When you use a label it should be an appropriate one based on how your work would be described by others.

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Beyond describing and presenting works, poetry is just a medium, so all the guidelines/rules depend on what you are trying to do with it. If you want good feedback, have a clear of idea what you're hoping to accomplish with a piece- but don't discard a piece people like just because it didn't do what you meant for it to do.

[steel dagger]

It depends on the type of Poetry you are going for for example for stuff like classical or haikus that are rules to that but if you're doing something like freeform that doesn't have any rules

[tiny lark]

Probably

[desert kite]

Depends on whether you wanna be the one who abide the rules or one who abides the emotions, like let's take my poems as an example. They have no planned out structure or word scheming whatsoever, i just write what comes to me and feel the right thing to write. I tried many times to learn poetry, all of them were failures until I discovered that those rules and regulations and fancy stuff doesn't actually belong to me or my poems, i realised that my poems are nothing but my emotions and agony getting expressed, i don't need no rule to tell me whether it's a poem or not. And i know that you are struggling with those "rules" but trust me, leave them aside and write what your heart says is right. It'll make a big difference

[waxen flint]

My rules for poetry:

1. Don't write hateful poems.
2. Don't take the fish out of the water. This way, it never realizes it's there. It just swims. Hold on to your inspiration like an empty box that is doing all it can to stay empty. Remember that there's nothing inside but the whole world.
3. Don't use language or be used by language. Just be the language and see that the language is you.
4. Breaking the rules all the time makes the rules mean less. Following the rules all the time makes the rules mean less. (Rules means a lot more than meter or rhyme scheme.)
5. When in doubt, read more.

But anyway, yes, learning the rules so that you can break them effectively is a great method to take up. It's not the only method, however!

[mighty ginkgo]

i think the most basic of rules are just that poetry requires line breaks and usually stanzas ? i agree w the other people that there are categories of poetry that have rules. (sonnets, haikus, iambic pentameter, etc)

i disagree with some of the people above that rules are nonsense or unnecessary or like idk beneathe us or anything lol (im exagerating ofcc). prose rules for example have elevated my technique a lot! my writing is a lot smoother and more complex now because of it, and in turn reads and is received a lot better-- not to mention its much more rewarding to write content w technique that i've grown proud of due to these rules

for prose rules, i tend to stick to assuming that the rule will fit into my writing, and then if it happens to not fit then i discard it. its silly to think i must always be the exception to rules that professors and poets and writers teach and share for the sole purpose of helping young writers elevate their craft! i suggest not being too quick to discard rules; sometimes they are really helpful! :))

edit: I think it's also important not to get hung up on the word "rule." I think we are a bit conditioned to frown upon "rules" regarding creativity, so maybe it's better to view it as suggestions or guidelines or something like that!

[fluid hedge]

I once read a quote that said: prose is the best words in the right order, poetry is the best words in the best order. I’ve always figured that poetry isn’t defined by much, other than its conveying your meaning in a different way than that of prose. Usually poems are characterized by their poetic language or strict bluntness — but I feel that a poem becomes a poem once it stops reading as prose

[devout bridge]

if you're writing for yourself... there's no rules
if you're writing to convey a message, basic poetry is enough but there's probably a million other very similar poems to what you're planning
if you want to entertain, inspire, shock and awe
then yes there are very strict guidelines, and rules

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/understanding-iambic-meter

[fluid hedge]

I’ve changed my mind: poetry is the art of breaking lines. I saw a different quote saying how poetry is the friction between the sentence and the line; meaning that a sentence contains a meaning, but once broken across two lines, it gains two new meanings within the original meaning. Poetry is poetry because it is the manipulation of language to say as much as you can. Prose poetry is prose poetry because it uses sentence structures, and it is still poetry since it doesn’t need those line breaks. There aren’t rules. Chuck something at the page, make it mean something, call it pretty. That is the art of living and the art of language, meshed into a web.

[covert drum]

I say the rules depend on what you want to write. There are some types of poems that you might want strict rules, there are types of poems where you might want to follow some general guidelines, and sometimes all you need to do is write what "feels" right. And for poetry in general, there aren't really any strict rules, but there might be guidelines that are better to follow. Ignoring any "rules" like "probably should contain words (optional)" or anything like that.

[fluid hedge]

@slim oriole here 😍

[slim oriole]

omg this is so helpful thank you so much

this is like exactly what I was looking for

[fluid hedge]

Yeah you’ll see some very different definitions, which lends to what foar was saying

[wet hull]

The thing about poetry’s “rules” is that everyone has their own set depending on how exactly they define both poetry and it’s subjective quality. Write whatever appeals to you and read what you find meaning in; consider any attempt made to Gatekeep just sheer pretentiousness. Everyone has a favorite poem and irks that ruin otherwise phenomenal works for them— from household names to the grade schooler writing his first stanzas.

Just do you, that’s the beauty of poetry and the purpose I think many infer from it. If it sounds good to you and those you like care for it in return, who’s to tell you you’re breaking the rules?