Great Online Poetry Exercises

Are you a poet? Do you love poetry and would like to learn how to write poetry? Well here are some great websites for you that feature poetry exercises!

Many people enjoy writing poetry. Some people really have a knack for it, but often those who have a knack for it also write poetry frequently. Writing and re-writing your poetry improves your poems. The more you write, the better your poems will become.

These websites have quite a few poetry exercises, some have just half a dozen exercises and others have more than fifty exercises. But if you even try just a few of the poetry exercises that appeal to you, and do that exercise several times over the course of a few days, you will see that your poems start to adapt to that exercise. It is very interesting to do a poetry exercise several times to see just how your poetry will respond to it. Try a poetry exercise and write half a dozen poems from one exercise, and how interesting it will be to see what the sixth poem will look like in comparison to the first poem. Which one will you like better? The first one? One of the poems you wrote in the middle? The last poem you wrote? For everyone there is a different answer, there is no single perfect answer. But the exercises are wonderful and interesting.

Everyone reacts differently to poetry exercises. Some exercises may call to you more than others. I have used some poetry exercises for years. Others I haven't used at all. But you may be different - you may just love every exercise you try. But you will only know if you try. So start writing! Happy poem-ing!

Kalliope Poetics

This website is an online poetry workshop. There are lots of poetry exercises. You start with some rhyming exercises and there are exercises for image, metaphor and rhythm. Different poetry forms are explained - including pantoum, tanka, haiku, lune, cinquains and welsh verse. There is also an online group you can join to share your poems and give and receive critiques.

Virtual Poetry Workshop

This website is an online workshop led by poet Hoa Nguyen of Austin, Texas. There are seventy-one exercises in all. The workshop is intended for students, but it is clear in trying the exercises that anyone interested in learning more about poetry would benefit from trying these lessons.

Virtual Writer

This website offers poetry exercises that anyone who loves poetry would enjoy doing. This is from A Longford Literary Project.