“Practice condensing your theme into fewer lines. Say three verses of four lines each. Not all the time. Just now and again for practice. The opening. The development. And the conclusion. It’s good practice for concentrating the mind on essentials. One might also say: The question: The ramifications: Synthesis. But my main point was to practice brevity. Strain a bit to catch the “particular and most fully expressive” word-in-context or phrase on the fly. One doesn’t often fulfill the aspiration - - but it’s still good practice. It’s excellent practice for repartee - - especially in public speaking. The telling off-the-cuff retort.” -- Tom Humble

An exercise that is familiar to other types of writers is the idea of an introduction, the body in which the idea is developed, and a summary. This can also be done in poems and songs, depending on length and style of the work.