what makes a good poem?

[Seraphy]

I think theme is the first important thing, and then the image you try to make is also key to a good poem.

[Wulaishiwo2]

Generate from your heart, it means it come from your true feeling and experience, people can watch one and one story from every words

[Exaltseo]

i have written lots of poem.....i think good lyrics does matter in good poem

[Whitemore55]

All type of poem is good. but a good subject is always keep you in front. It is always notice that the language will simple. Then it will be count a good poem.

[Wordlover]

Something fresh that evokes emotion and opens a person's mind up to a fresh idea or outlook on whatever your topic is. Originality.

[Aileenhu]

One that I may be lost in the portrayed emotion/feeling.

[Artdude]

What makes a good poem? Authenticity. If a poem is authentic, and genuine, then your off to the best start, and then people's decisions are based on truth, not contrived nonsense.

Ignore anybody who tells you to "take an evening class," or attend any kind of writing class. You are already equipped with the the tools - language. You have language, and you use it in the way you know best, and enjoy most. Am I not right?

Therefore, reading up on basic structures and looking at examples is as far as you need to go. You have no need to pay money for it. Language is free of charge, and so is the right to use it. But, in the same way as you write music, you need a basic understanding of accepted traditions and conventions. After that - it's your own, and you can fall back on your knowledge. You need a framework, but past that, any kind of outside influence from another human being is detracting from your originiality, and authenticity. This comes back to the beginning.

Ignore people who say you need to be trained. Stick two fingers up at them. That's what Shakespeare, Byron, and many others did.

[Coopr016]

If I was to define a "good" poem, there's nothing to say that you wouldn't disagree with every criterion in my list. I agree that so much depends on individual taste!
In my opinion a "good" poem will communicate whatever it sets out to communicate in a creative and original way, using words which sound right together. In fact, I love it when poets have really considered the poem's rhythm and phonology. If it rhymes, I'd suggest that the couplets should be inventive and unpredictable.
I definately don't believe that there's anything wrong with being dark and depressing - these sorts of poems can be the most interesting - but I completely agree that poetry should be sincere and that no line should be halfhearted!
These are just my thoughts.
Maybe you could post some of your poetry?

[whybark]

Style

[morganinga]

what makes a poem great is its ability to connect with the audience, no matter who that may be. a poem can have many different emotions, but capturing the reader and drawing them in efficiently; that is what makes a good poem

-- 07 Nov 2013, 01:26 --

What makes a good poem? Authenticity. If a poem is authentic, and genuine, then your off to the best start, and then people's decisions are based on truth, not contrived nonsense.

Ignore anybody who tells you to "take an evening class," or attend any kind of writing class. You are already equipped with the the tools - language. You have language, and you use it in the way you know best, and enjoy most. Am I not right?

Therefore, reading up on basic structures and looking at examples is as far as you need to go. You have no need to pay money for it. Language is free of charge, and so is the right to use it. But, in the same way as you write music, you need a basic understanding of accepted traditions and conventions. After that - it's your own, and you can fall back on your knowledge. You need a framework, but past that, any kind of outside influence from another human being is detracting from your originiality, and authenticity. This comes back to the beginning.

Ignore people who say you need to be trained. Stick two fingers up at them. That's what Shakespeare, Byron, and many others did.

Yeah ^^ TOTALLY agree. I have taken many writing classes, though, and that did allow me to open up my mind. But really all it taught me in the end is that I already had this ability inside. If a poem is authentic, that is what makes it a really good poem. Simple as that.

[victoriawinters]

I write a lot of poems, well not lately, but I have more than 100, some of them in English, others in different languages. What I can say about writing and what makes a good poem is that everyone's got their own style of writing. Don't get discouraged if someone doesn't like your poems, or they get depressed when reading them. For me poetry is something that comes from the heart, it's a way of expressing yourself. It doesn't matter what people think. Most of them can't even put one sentence together.

[Nathrad Sheare]

The music... That's what makes a good poem, the quality of its music. Well, that's just an opinion, of course...

[Madcap Syzygii]

I love rhyming poetry, but it doesn't have to for it to be a "good poem." I enjoy poems that tell stories, whether they be sad or happy. Shakespeare writes my favorite love sonnets and Poe writes dark and sad poems that tug at our hearts. So, I say write whatever comes, it doesn't have to be acceptable to someone else for it to be exquisite artistry.