Form and structure: using poems to teach the writing of lyrical poetry

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss how I have used the poems of well-known writers to help students develop their own poems – not to mimic the other poem, but to work from their true response to the feelings or form that excites them. I show how this kind of creative building has been used in isiXhosa poetry, and how in my own writing I have built on the forms of some Spanish-language poets.

Keywords: Teaching creative writing, poetic form, creative practice