Voice

CRAFT TERM

Nov 7

Voice is the sense of a unique presence on the page — an unmistakable something that becomes the mark of a writer, a way of saying things that is the writer’s own.

via The Poet’s Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux

Example

A great example of voice is Dr. Seuss. If the poem is simple using AABB or ABAB rhyming with few words per line, and has a whimsical sense that is geared toward children, even if it’s not written by Dr. Seuss, one will associate Dr. Seuss with it.

I do not like them
in a house.
I do not like them
with a mouse.
I do not like them
here or there.
I do not like them
anywhere.
I do not like green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

Prompt

Take a famous poem (such as Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” or Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”) and rewrite it to reflect your unique voice.

Resource written by:

Featured

Anne Marie Wells

is an award-winning, Queer poet, playwright, memoirist and storyteller navigating the world with a chronic illness. She is a faculty member of the Community Literature Initiative through the Sims Library of Poetry. She was the 2020 recipient of the Milestone Award presented by Wyoming Writers Inc., and the Rising Star Award presented by the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce. She was the 2021 recipient of the Peter K. Hixson Memorial Award in poetry and was nominated as a Wyoming Woman of Influence in the arts category for her work in amplifying the voices of the LGBTQ and disabled communities in Wyoming through her writing.

Find her at annemariewellswriter.com | 📚 Read More by Anne Marie