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How to Organize Your Poems into Collected Works

Poetry has the power to say a lot in few words, leaving endless possibilities for personal style and ideas. Organizing your poetry allows you to see a wide range of your work. A collection of your work reflects a story, theme, or just random creativity. Whether you have 10 or 100 poems to put into a collection, organizing your work allows you to add or remove prospective poems and raises your confidence when you're ready to submit your work to be published.

Things You'll Need

  • Poems
  • Writing utensil
  • Paper
  • Word processor program
  • Printer
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Instructions

  1. Instructions

    • 1

      Gather all your poems you wish to compile for the collection. Organize any poems you've dated, starting with oldest. Carefully read through those poems and note your favorites. Set aside your favorites and your least favorites in separate groups.

    • 2

      Write the titles of the favorites down in one column and the least favorites in another column. Organize the titles of your favorites in order of presentation within the collection. Read through the titles of your least favorites and add any others you choose. Store any poems you don't use for future revisions.

    • 3

      Open the word processor on your computer. Microsoft Word or Works Processor will suffice. Begin typing each poem you have chosen as one of your favorites. Keep it to one poem per page. Type out each poem's title so you can easily refer to it.

    • 4

      Print out your collection. Read one poem at a time and make any revisions necessary. After you're comfortable with your revisions, reprint your revised collection and read your work again leisurely.

Poetry

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