Writing With Technology

Revision and Editing of Poetry

By Vickey Meyer

*use more sensory images.  Make me see, hear, touch, taste, and smell what is happening.

*use vivid interesting action words.  Instead of run, use gallop, sprint, speed.

*make sure to carefully consider where you are going to break your lines.  Your reader will automatically pause on the last word of the line, so you want to make sure it is an interesting word.

*use punctuation.  It will help guide your reader where to pause and start when reading the poem.

*when you can, eliminate unnecessary words such as a, an, the, and.

*instead of saying “music of the night,” say “night’s music” and eliminate the “of the” from your line

*use past or present tense of verbs when possible—instead of galloping, say gallop or galloped—eliminating the ing syllable will tighten up your rhythm.