Creativity Under Constraint: An Example For Poets

“Think outside the box” is a phrase you often hear, when it comes to generating new ideas, which is the basis of the creative process. If you can link two things together, in truly new ways, then you have created something new, which is the goal of creativity, at least if you think about producing creative products, which are the results of creative work.

In order to think outside the box, you probably need to have been inside that same box at some point. If not, you are not really aware of “the box”, are you?

The “box”, for poetry, includes awareness of various forms (sonnets, free verse, quatrains, etc.). It includes specific knowledge of how these forms work. It includes the works of lots of other poets. When you think about poetry, you may have certain images spring to mind. Two roads, through woods, or a red wheelbarrow, for example.

The more poetry you have read, the better chance you can create a poem. The “box” is where poetry is created.

Let’s define poem simply as this:

a collection of striking images, which makes a strong impact on the mind of the readers.

This is not a perfect or technical definition, but it will do.

The creative art is making something new, with all materials available to you.