This news article has been written for Project Educate, a gallery-wide campaign to help deviants understand their galleries better. This week the Literature Gallery is in focus and the Gallery Directors have decided to write informative articles about the different kinds of writing you can submit to deviantART and where to post them.

What is poetry?

Defining poetry is close to impossible. In the history of literature, numerous critics, philosophers and poets have offered their versions of what poetry is. Truth is, we've been writing poetry for centuries; it has evolved through many movements; mainfestoes have been written; forms go in and out of fashion, and finally, we have so many different kinds of poetry that no one definition can take care of all these different styles.

(Did I say fashion? Yes, poetry can be trendy too. Today you'll find that spoken word/performance poetry is very popular among writers. On deviantART, visual poetry is the rage.)

Here are some ways in which we can understand and identify poetry:

Reading: It's simple: read a lot of poetry. Read poetry from different eras, in different styles and forms, and in translation. Most importantly, read contemporary poetry. Contrary to what some think ("If I read other people's poetry, I will start copying them"), reading helps us identify what works in poetry and what doesn't. It also makes active the creative part of our minds and we begin to learn unconsciously. Soon, you won't need someone telling what poetry is and isn't; you'll just know.

Knowing the elements/devices of poetry: No single poem makes use of all these devices, but most poems will use at least some of these: metre, rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, consonance, line breaks/enjambment, repetition, imagery, figures of speech (metaphor, simile, personification, etc), and many more. These shouldn't worry you, if you're new to poetry. You can always read up (for a list of resources, try here. Metre, rhyme, rhythm, alliterature, assonance and consonance help enhance the sound of a poem. Line breaks (also known as "enjambment") are used for sound enhancement (especially in the case of rhyming poetry), to mark major pauses in a poem, and also for meaning. Imagery and figures of speech enrich the meaning of the poem by showing/describing/evoking our senses.In short:
Poetry must sound good.
Poetry often makes use of complex and aesthetic ways of writing about a particular subject.

Knowing what poetry is not: Poetry is not prose with line breaks. This means that you cannot simply take a sentence, break into different lines, and call that poetry.

Let's look at few more misconceptions about poetry:
Poetry has to rhyme. This is untrue, but if you like rhyming poetry, you should go write ahead.
Anyone can rhyme. Rhyming dictionaries make it seem as though all you need is pairs of words that rhyme and you're set. Again, untrue. Rhyming poetry makes use of metre to achieve those rhythmic patterns we so love in famous rhyming poems. It is worth investing some time into learning how to use metre and scan poetry before you start rhyming.
Poetry comes from the heart/soul/the depths of my being. Poetry comes from various human experiences and it does not only have to be about emotions. Poetry can be funny, satiric, philosophical, erotic, serious, and hundreds of other things.
Poetry is a collection of cliches. On the contrary, poetry is about finding new and innovative ways of expressing our experience of the world. Phrases like "my heart is bleeding", "the roses are wilting" and "my soul is broken into a million little pieces" have been heard thousands of times before. They're not interesting anymore and are likely to bore your reader. Experiment!

How to categorise your poetry on deviantART

This can get complicated if you're unsure of dA's system. You can begin by reading this: FAQ #286: How do I submit Literature?

Additional pointers:

After choosing your categories on the Submit page, click on "Gallery Info". This will provide information about the categories you have chosen and you can then confirm if you've picked the right ones for your writing. This is extremely important: if you put your work in the wrong place, browsing becomes difficult for everyone else, and then the Gallery Directors have to work even harder at cleaning up the gallery. Remember also that if you put your sonnet in the right place, those who want to read sonnets are likely to find it, and that means a better audience for you!
If the "Gallery Info" is not clear enough, you can try researching whatever is confusing you on the internet or in a library.
You can also contact a literature GD (^GeneratingHype, ^StJoan or me, ^lovetodeviate) if you are confused.

Now I'll go over each step.

Step 1: Literature > Poetry

This is simple enough.

Step 2: Poetry > Children's/ Erotic/ Experimental/ Family Life/ General Poetry/ Horror & Macabre / Human Nature / Humor / Narrative / Nature / Philosophical/ Romantic / Satire /Sociopolitical /Spiritual / Transgressive / Urban / Visual Poetry

In this step, you need to pick the major theme or style of your poetry. The best way to do this is to think about what subjects you are exploring in the poem. Is it about love or politics? Are you writing for a particular audience (for example, children)? Are you being funny or dark? Are you discussing the afterlife? Ask yourself these kinds of questions and you'll know what to do.

Children's, Family Life, Horror & Macabre, Humor, Narrative, Nature, Philosophical, Satire, Sociopolitical and Urban are not that troublesome.

When submitting to the Erotica gallery, please make sure the deviation complies with dA standards. FAQ #251: Why was my erotic literature removed?

Experimental is further divided into Cyber Poetry, Surrealism, Typographical and Other. Experimental poetry is poetry that tries new techniques of expressing ideas. Cyber poetry is one example; here, words and computer codes are used in order to express concepts. Surrealistic poetry came out of a cultural movement in early 20th century; it seeks to express the irrational and unconscious through absurd imagery and unexpected juxtapositions. In Typographical poetry, words are arranged (often using indents, other spacing formats, and ungrammatical punctuation) so that they are visually pleasing, and also to produce new meanings. Typographical poetry includes Concrete/Shape poetry. If your Experimental poetry does not fit Cyber Poetry, Surrealism or Typography, only then must you use Other.

Romantic should not be confused with Erotic. The Romantic category has the following sub-categories: Cheap or Tawdry, Married, Mature, Other and Teen or Young.

"Transgressive isn't about gore, sex, and drugs for the sake of being about gore, sex, and drugs, but uses these things to push people outside of their comfort zone and build characters that lurk within each of us. Transgressive gives voice to the part of our being that doesn't feel at home in our society and builds dynamic characters who seek to find an inner peace and come to terms with the world around them. The focus in transgressive is the character." (This blurb about transgressive literature was written by ^StJoan.)

General Poetry is the last category you should choose. You should place your poem here only if you are convinced that your poem does not fit any of the other categories.

Visual Poetry is "poetry matched with a visual image, but this can't be any image or a simple back drop. True visual poetry requires a marriage of typographical and graphic design, as well as a piece of literature that is codependent on its image. In true visual poetry, neither the image nor the poem should be able to stand alone without losing a quality that defines the piece. Simple backdrops with poetry written on them do not belong in this category. But there is a place for these pieces, you may submit them to Literature prints under Contest & Projects --> Events --> Projects & Clubs --> Literature as Prints. This cat is ONLY for regular poetry accompanied by a plain or nonessential backdrop and must have the print enabled. True Visual Poetry can have prints enabled without being under literature prints." (This blurb about visual poetry was written by ^StJoan.)

Visual Poetry: Backwards by =MSJames

Step 3: Children's/Erotic/etc > Ballad/ Fixed/ Haiku & Eastern/ Limerick/ Open/ Sestina/ Song/ Sonnet/ Spoken Word/ Villanelle

In this step, you need to pick what form your poem has been written in.

Open poetry includes both free and blank verse. This means that it does not follow formal metrical or rhyme schemes. It also does not have a definite structure. Blank verse does not rhyme, but it makes use of iambic pentametre. Fixed poetry, on the other hand, makes use of a definite structure, usually involving a metrical scheme and/or the use of rhyme.

Open (Free Verse): Marioka Creek by ~paradoxicalshaman
Fixed: Silvered Strokes, Golden Field by `SparrowSong

Ballad, Limerick, Sestina, Sonnet and Villanelle are traditional forms of poetry. Although there are variations in their structures, they usually follow a pretty standard pattern. For more information you can click on the linked words; they will take you to an article on the form. You can also use the "Gallery Info" option while submitting your deviation.

Ballad: Bones by *ormsqueak
Limerick: fishing fisher's fissure by ~intthis
Sestina: The One Where The Cake Ignites by *jack-cade
Sonnet: Held by ~surrfant
Villanelle: From far away by *venturus

Haiku & Eastern includes haiku, senryu, tanka and other Japanese forms of poetry, and also other kinds poetry coming from the East, such as the ghazal and the rubaiyat. On deviantART, haiku and other Japanese forms are most popular. A haiku is written in a 5-7-5 syllabic pattern in the original Japanese. In English, however, this rule is not necessary. It is upto the poet whether or not s/he wants to use the pattern. Either way, a haiku must focus on a single image in nature. For more information, try :devwudang-mountaing:.

Haiku: Boing by =Bogbrush

Song is for song lyrics, which means that it should be written for music.

This leaves us with Spoken Word (also known as Performance Poetry). This is a hybrid of poetry and music, drama, storytelling or standup comedy. (Definition by Patience Agbabi) It is accessible in language and closer to actual speech. It is often written in the first or second person, that is, written as if speaking to an audience. In fact, it usually is performed to a rhythmic beat before an audience.

Song: Watch the Fire Burn by ~Lithium--x
Spoken Word: the punch up by ~moejo

Well, that wraps things up.

I hope you found this helpful. As always, if you need more information about literature categories, or if you would like to volunteer information about them, you can contact, ^GeneratingHype, ^StJoan or me, ^lovetodeviate.



Links to previous Project Educate Literature articles

Poetry, Prose: Who Knows?
Truth & Lies: Nonfiction Prose
Who needs reality? We have fiction!

Three more articles will be posted in this week. Keep a lookout for them. Meanwhile, happy writing.