A mold may be a sonnet, prose poem, persona, refrain pattern, or conceptual structure into which experience is poured. It provides limits that can accelerate invention by making some decisions already. Yet material may cool unevenly or resist the mold, and those distortions can become the poem’s most revealing features. A poet should ask whether the inherited form clarifies the subject, pressures it into productive conflict, or merely disguises uncertainty behind a familiar outline.

A mold gives an emerging poem a structure before all its details are known. The mold may be a sonnet, villanelle, dramatic monologue, list, letter, or inherited mythic pattern. Working within a mold can create useful pressure and reveal unexpected meaning, while resisting it can produce productive tension. Distinguish a mold from a jig: the mold shapes the whole object, whereas a jig guides repeated actions.