Listen to your poem

While many people today have been exposed to poetry only in written form, poetry was predominantly an aural art for thousands of years, and the sound of a poem is still important. As you write and edit your poem, read it aloud and listen to how it sounds.

• A poem's internal structure commonly focuses on rhythm, rhyme , or both. Consider classic styles like sonnets and Greek epics  for inspiration.
• The bulk of English texts seems to be two-syllable words with the first syllable stressed. You can more easily fit rhythmic patterns with second syllables stressed, like iambic pentameter with a one-syllable less-important word such as an article or preposition at the beginning of a line to offset a string of two-syllable words.
• This is where poems can become songs. It is easier to find a tune for regular meter, so maybe you want to cut words out or put some in to get the same number of syllables in each line. Memorize it. If you believe it, then maybe someone else will learn it and love it before it is a song.