Ways to describe physicial pain in poetry?

Question

Any ideas on effective images or metaphors that help others understand physical pain? Not in a sadistic way, more about explaining physicial pain from illness.

Lol, describing the pain is the problem. For me it's nerve pains or hypoglycemia or the feelings you have right before you are about to die.

Answer 1

sure...present pain as a calloused hand that grips your heart and snaps a half-hitch in your spine....or rats gnawing knots in your belly, or having lightning in your veins that flashes deep into your fluttering heart...or claws that etch pure pain and play your ribs like xylaphones.

Just some ideas...hope you find some degree of inspiration in them.

Answer 2

Describe what you see when you watch someone in pain.

Some people flow with their pain and do not fight it and others fight it all the way which usually increases the intensity. they will grimace and groan, wince and weep, or hold their breath while waiting for an attack to pass.
Some people become pale and wan, others get very red in the face . Facial colour depends on the illness and the intensity of the attacks.

You may see them gurning and grinding their teeth. The really hard ones to watch are the people who try to laugh it off. Hands clench and necks strain with the effort. The tearing up of eyes always give them away. They do not want the attention, Too much fussing can make them feel worse.

Voices often become halting and moans are more audible as the pain increase.Many people become still and quiet and others work through it trying to ignore the pain.

When giving birth many women are taught to breath through their pain so a period a of panting and a period of grunting is normal. just record what you see and hear and what you remember and what you imagine.

Emotional and mental pain is real pain and can be as excruciating as physical pain and often it is hard to tell the difference unless you are the one in pain. There is nothing imaginary about the pain of a broken heart.

Pain , severe pain is exhausting and this is why pain control is important in major illness and recovery. Tired people do not heal as quickly as rested ones.

There are those who are so tired and in so much emotional pain that they become depressed. Often these people beg their loved ones or caregivers for relief.

( sorry spell check has crapped out, hope my answer is alright, not too painful)

Answer 3

Well, if you are looking for examples of how other writers do it, you could run a search through poets.org

I might also suggest some of the poets who have suffered with a long-term illness like Flloyd Skloot. For emotional pain, there's Louise Gluck or the old mainstay Sylvia Plath.

Answer 4

I would use metaphors and similes to describe anything in poetry. "Like" is a good word to use.

also you should include a lot of imagery. describe something so that the audience can imagine/see the pain or whatever.

good luck.

Answer 5

Its kind of hard to do this without you advising us on what the source of the pain is. Pain feels many different ways depending on what is causing it.

Answer 6

Sorry I don't have any ideas, but why don't you also use onomatpoeia as well as metaphors to help what you are expressing to relate to your pain better?

Answer 7

i dont get it