Question for Poets: Who or what inspired the muse in you to take up poetry?

Question

Well I've always like poetry, nursery rhymes etc from a young age but for awhile in my tween years I got bored of it until oneday at 16 I was inspired again by the poem written by Patti Smith on the back of her Horses album and I've been writing now and then ever since but only when I don't have a major poet's block.

Thanks all for your comments and stories, I've enjoyed reading them.

♥

Answer 1

I think the romantic/dramatic flow of poems, and the way words and rhythm mesh into something lovely first really got me into poetry. Now it is a way to relieve my feelings, and use what talent I may have. All sorts of things inspire, but usually it is a feeling of hurt that I want to let out on paper and be able to look at, or something that I want to tell the whole world of. My muse is yearning for a chance to touch someone.

To show what I was talking about at first, here's a great example--my favorite poem:

Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Answer 2

Poetry does not come terribly naturally to me and though I can go on a great length with my own poetry, it probably isn't "poetic" enough for most. Nevertheless, I do write it anyway and it's a wonderfull complement to the longer-length stuff I usually do.

I am inspired, most of the time, by a burning desire to express myself and the characters I've come up with. Sometimes events will inspire, but the vast majority of the time the ideas are self-generated, generally fantastic in nature, and quite often featuring dragons.

Answer 3

I have always loved different music, and I always listened for the story, after high school I started traveling doing construction work, after a while, I had a lot of here today, gone tomorrow relationships........sooo, for something to do while working, driving long trips, or just to vent, I started writing out a lot of things. I was an avid reader growing up, the only book of poetry I went out and purchased; Louis La'Mour's Smoke From This Altar..........I also read a book on writing by Stephen King, which was interesting

Answer 4

I first was interested in poetry because of the way that it affected me. Poetry was a moment distilled into its essence; stripped of everything except emotion and impression. I enjoyed that, and the creativity it allowed me. I started writing poetry when I was about 12. But what really got me started were two things: I discovered Pablo Neruda, and I fell in love for the first time (as cliche as it sounds).

Pablo showed me that, beyond mere emotion, poetry can extend your emotions to the furthest reaches; how your words, experiences, emotions can be found and felt in the world around you. His poetry reverberated with me on a very deep personal level.

And, falling in love, gave me a first object to truly write about. I had written poetry before, about other topics, but finding this woman brought forth these feelings, fleeting but wonderful, that I could only capture in the lines of a poem. And it just spiralled from there.

Answer 5

l started out on song lyrics but most of the stuff l write does not go well in with music. l was inspired by Morrissey in his early years as lead singer for The Smiths. l was invited to an open poetry reading about 5 years ago and got very much interested in what many people had to say in their poems, poetry is a great way for us to express ourselves. and l love to speak out my oppinion poerty is the only way l can get people to listen.

Answer 6

Bob Dylan inspired me.

I got so locked in to trying to figure out some of his songs, which took a lot of poetry analysis skills, not that I knew it at the time. A lot of my old poems sound like really bad verses from a song Dylan wouldn't have recorded in the first place. It was a start. :)

Answer 7

Well, I've written poetry (Not that it was always /good/ poetry) since I was 7, so I'm not exactly sure what got me inspired to begin with, it being 10 years later and all.

Answer 8

I had multiple roommates (a crank addict bouncer, his heroin addict girlfriend, a dominatrix who wanted to kill us, a player living in our garage, a nice person who unfortunately tattooed what she thought was a dragon on her face--it looked like a chicken, and a playwright who was dabbling with poetry, oh yes and me the "poor guy" with the bills in his name). This was an absolute nightmare. The playwright showed me his poetry and introduced me to the poets he was reading in a class. I got hooked on it, and realized I could write. I never thought I could before. I read tons of poetry, and began writing hundreds of poems. I have been writing ever since. So, I guess my muse was a never again experience with six other people.

Answer 9

I was inspired by Emily Dickinson--her life and her poetry. I studied her poetry in school. We had to analyze some of her poems. I was in awe at the meaning and depth of her poetry. The way she wrote about God and the after-life was interesting. I was forever changed.

Answer 10

I was introduced to poetry in the 4th grade. I still remember that poem. I just was in awe. As long as I can remember, from that point forward I wanted to write. I thought there must be something special about someone who could produce something so beautiful. I desired to write, but did not think I could be that special. But one day, my desire overwhelmed me & I picked up my pen & I began to write. I have found that poetry has a life of it's own, something that comes thru you but not from you.