How to Write Remembrance Poems that Evoke Memories Through the Senses

Remembrance poems are a genre of poetry that can be challenging to write, but using your senses as inspiration will aid you in an immersive writing approach. The point of remembrance poems is to help one remember, and what better way is there to recall the past than to link our words to memory through our senses? By remembering what something looks like, feels like, sounds like, or even how it smells and tastes, we unlock several doors into the past and are free to explore these corridors of yesterday through poetry. If you want to learn to write better poetry, the below tips may be of help to you.

Remembrance Poems as Grounding Techniques

Grounding techniques have long been hailed as a mental health practice that allows us to be present, de-stress, and shift our focus away from anxious thinking. These techniques rely on breathing exercises and focusing on what our five primary senses perceive around us. An example would be looking around and naming five items you can see, four things you can touch, three objects you can hear, and so on. This same approach can be used for remembrance poems by thinking about your topic and then recalling sensory information about it, such as how someone looks or how their voice sounds. Not only is this approach a great way to recall forgotten memories again, but it can also be cathartic if you’re dealing with loss and grief.

Poetry Written Through Your Eyes

Our eyes capture the world around us in vivid, intricate detail – so much so that we can recall what people, places, and objects look like from memory alone. These visuals can be woven into remembrance poems through descriptive language, which allows the reader to see something through your eyes. In this way, you can share your perspective on the past and invite others to connect with this view.

Sounds and Retrospections

Have you ever heard a song you felt was a blast from the past? Or maybe you can remember laughter around a campfire or nursery rhymes you sang as a child. Our auditory sense is tied to memories that echo throughout the ages, and we can represent this in poetry through the use of onomatopoeia, metaphors, and evocative language.

Scents That Linger Within the Mind

We understand from neuroscience that memory and our olfactory system (sense of smell) are linked because of the brain’s structure. Certain scents can instantly transport us back to childhood or pleasant and unpleasant moments. The language of scent is also powerful. Describing the fragrance of rain on the pavement or freshly cut grass, for example, evokes different emotions in people. One can use such descriptions within remembrance poems to foster nostalgia and a connection to the past.

Flavours that Can’t Be Forgotten

Like scents, taste can bring up different feelings too. Certain flavours will seem forever etched in our minds, whether you were describing your mother’s home cooking when you were young or the best birthday cake you ever had. In Toi Derricotte’s “My dad & sardines”, the speaker describes finding an old tin of sardines in a cupboard, recalling a memory of her father. Derricotte goes on to write:

“i cranked it open & remembered that
my dad loved
sardines—right before bed—with
onions & mustard.”

She then continues the memory, describing the meal, how her father ate it, and what he would say. In this way, a simple tin of sardines was enough to take her back to a time long gone.

Feeling Your Way Through the Past

There are some physical sensations we never forget. If asked, you could probably summon a description of the texture of your pet’s fur or how it feels to hold your favourite person’s hand. When writing remembrance poems, you can engage this same sense of touch and employ adjectives that give your readers a tactile sense of your experience.

Synthesising Your Senses into One Piece

A multi-sensory poem engages all the senses, blending sights, sounds, and other sensations. Such verses are like time machines and also get readers to reminisce on their own past. This kind of poem takes one on a journey down memory lane and transcends words to captivate us completely.

Are you looking for writing prompts or inspiration for your remembrance poems? Browsing through our library collection is a worthwhile exploration.