Just as painters need to know their materials, to understand the importance of brushstrokes, the power and symbolism of objects and color in their compositions, so also do poets need to be aware of what tools they have at their disposal to empower their work, serve their vision, form poems in such a way as to make his/her voice unique, creating a personal style. He/she may accomplish this by eschewing adverbs, reducing adjectives, constructing with nouns and more descriptive verb choices. Techniques such as alliteration (repetitions of sounds) or onomatopoeia (a word that imitates the sound it represents) give texture and musicality to the poem.
The poet may go even further and declare a personal manifesto that takes into account just what he/she wants to achieve through that poetry taking into account particular methodology as well as personal philosophy. Some poets today merge their work into other art forms; for example, shaping them as concrete poems or writing them as lyrics for music they also create.
TIGERGROVE 