Sharing about the last poem from Estelle

by Estelle Jiang

I am a novice at English poetry writing; hence, I cannot teach you the best ways to write a poem in English. However, I’d like to share with you how I wrote my little poem, “The Scent of the Summer Rain.”

To be honest, I first composed this poem in Chinese last summer. I translated it into English when I was asked to offer some tips for this NCCU English Creative Writing Contest. Below is what I experienced when I wrote this poem.

1. Inspiration, emotion, and experience
I walked around the hills in NCCU every morning during my medical treatment last summer. Although it was hot, I was always soothed while hiking in the hills. One rainy morning, I particularly felt I could sense the quintessence of summer intuitively through some of my sensory systems. This became the birth of the preliminary idea of my little poem.

2. Drafting
I began putting down what I felt about the fresh green grass, what I smelled from the depth of the trees, what I heard from the road side of the hills, and what I saw in the distant Chinese-painting-like sky. I tried to capture the tranquil, light, happy, solitary embrace of the summer rain.

3. Revising
But these feelings and senses were not very concrete or precise; consequently, I revised the diction and syntax of the poem repeatedly. To make my poem appealing and fun, I also paid attention to the choice of words, the dividing of each line and stanza, the inversion of the sentence order, the usage of images and symbols, etc.

With my assistant Colleen’s help, I found a website which teaches how to write poetry. I believe you would learn a lot more by clicking on www.poetrymagic.co.uk. This website also includes a list of textbooks. By all means, visit similar websites to gain more.

I only want to add the last tips—walk around NCCU or revisit your memories about your life at NCCU, and put your feelings down in English. Enjoy the joy and pain of writing poems in English!

欣賞過Estelle老師的作品後，
歡迎同學們開始發表自已的創作，踴躍投稿，參與Nccu & Me 第一屆全校英文創作比賽，詳見比賽辦法。