Introduction
Today, we shift the focus from poetry form to craft style. Specifically: poems built around questions that remain unanswered.
This technique isn’t about confusion. This is about about curiosity, exploration, and invitation. Rather than providing closure, question-driven poetry creates space for the reader to think, feel, and wonder with you.
Pablo Neruda’s The Book of Questions – a posthumous collection of short interrogative poems – shows us how simple questions can become striking poetry when paired with vivid imagery, metaphor, and figurative language.
Craft Focus: Questions as a Poetic Device
Using questions as the central technique can:
*Engage the reader directly by inviting them into a conversation rather than broadcasting a statement
*Create tension and openness – questions don’t demand answers; they invite reflection
*Reveal voice and perspective – the type of questions we ask are deeply revealing
*Pair beautifully with other devices such as imagery, metaphor, personification, sound, and repetition enrich the unanswered question
To deepen this effect, you can pair questions with:
✦ Imagery
Concrete sensory detail grounds the abstract questions in lived experience e.g. the feel of rain, the color of a leaf, the scent of soil.
✦ Metaphor and Simile
Comparisons expand the meaning of what’s being questioned e.g., “Is the moon a silver button?” (a characteristic Neruda-like image).
✦ Personification
Attributing human qualities to objects or nature intensifies curiosity: Can a pine tree blush at sunset?
✦ Repetition and Rhythm
Repeating question structures can create musicality and tension.
✦ Contrast and Paradox
Questions framed against opposing images deepen the thematic complexity.
These techniques ensure your poem doesn’t simply become a list of questions. The poem becomes a textural, sensory exploration.
Examples of Question-Driven Poetry
Here are poems that make strong use of questions – some quiet and introspective, others playful or philosophical:
*Pablo Neruda, The Book of Questions
Neruda’s collection is almost entirely questions. Each short poem probes everyday and existential wonders e.g. Why do trees hide their roots? or Is the train in the rain sad?, without offering any answers. The questions come alive through metaphor, personification, and imagery, turning curiosity itself into poetic energy.
*Mary Oliver, “I Worried”
A string of personal questions about life, aging, and priority that ultimately reflect perspective. (This poem flows from question to reflective revelation.)
*Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day”
One of its most famous lines e.g. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?” , exemplifies questions that become the heart of the poem.
*Langston Hughes, “Harlem”
“What happens to a dream deferred?” opens the poem with a question that resonates as both image and idea.
Each of these poems uses unanswered questions alongside imagery, metaphor, rhythm, and tone.
Writing Exercise: Ask, Don’t Tell
Write a poem built entirely (or mostly) from questions.
Guidelines:
- Begin with a question but don’t answer it. Let it breathe.
2. Continue with more questions that deepen, pivot, or expand on the theme.
3. Pair each question with imagery and metaphor. Let the image do some of the work of meaning.
4. Use at least two other poetic devices:
*personification
*alliteration or assonance
*contrast or paradox
*repetition for musicality
5.End on a question and resist the urge to resolve.
Let curiosity guide your lines. Let questions feel as powerful as answers. I look forward to reading your poems.
Sources: Questions We Didn’t Know We Wanted to Ask – Poetry Foundation
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