Fountain of Knowledge

One of the things I found most useful when I was first starting to dabble in poetry was the poetry newsletter onsite. Topics vary week to week, but many of them are great: unique new forms, various stylistic devices, advice on rhythm and rhyming, etc. I'd subscribe to that newsletter if you want some interesting information.

A former editor of the poetry newsletter maintains this item: "Poetry Forms"  [13+]. It has all you'll ever want to know about form poetry, including samples and explanations of even the most unusual forms. (I can't say I've heard of even a quarter of them!) An item with more technical information, rather than simply outlines, is "Invalid Item"  . Its author is to my knowledge still an editor of the poetry newsletter, in addition to being a prolific poet.

These are good references, but to be honest, what helped me the most was a poetry contest held a few years ago by Jaren is Avarielle called RAW Poetry Challenge. (The item no longer exists, unfortunately.) This was a multiround poetry contest, and each round contestants received a different prompt, style, form, etc. Getting that hands-on experience and being able to view others' take on various types of poetry was really what helped me understand poetry from the inside out.

Lorien