Top 10 free wordpress themes for poetry blogs

For almost two years I have been blogging constantly on wordpress.com. For that time I had opportunity to follow and read numerous blogs, both on writing and poetry. It made me realize, at least in my case, that certain blogging themes, offered here on wordpress.com in terms of functionality and readability can impact a lot reader’s experience. I have experimented with several themes and today I will share what I think are the best free themes you can use on your blog to better present your poems and make your blog more attractive to your readers. These are my personal preference, but I suggest you play around with different templates and see which one best suits your writing needs. Experiment for couple of days/months and see how it goes. You can always switch to another.

One thing I think is helpful to have in mind is that the theme should always serve your writing. One that presents your content in the most beneficial way, not distracting your reader.

In general what is the best to look for in blogging theme:

• one that is responsive, which means it looks good on any device;
• one that offers emphasizing your words, like different typography;
• one where you can place your social buttons prominent and people can easily access your social media accounts.

So here’s my list:

1. Penscracth: I used this theme for a long time and I’ve been very pleased with its performance. It is a clean, responsive writing theme with support for site logos, featured images, and in side bar you can place any widget to enhance the functionality of your website. It was really developed with writer’s needs in mind.

2. Button is very similar to penscratch. Perfect for long forms of writing, but you can also define a static page, and it allows featured images to really pop up!

3. Independent publisher is a beautiful theme with wide central column. It has a light color scheme and paired with bold typography makes any content more attractive. The menu is easily accessible in the upper right corner, and most importantly, it’s responsive.

4. Chateau-is to go for, if you are looking for something more classic and vintage. It’s an elegant theme which offers the experience of reading an old book, written by hand. You can choose between three different layouts for your blog and multiple archive styles. With five widgets areas in the footer you can customize your blog in many different ways.

5. Rebalance is a simple portfolio theme. Initially it is designed with photographers and artists in mind, but if you are more into visual poetry, where you use a lot of graphics, this theme might be perfect for you. Its responsive layout is optimized for all devices and it has a stylish typography. Front page allows you to display multiple posts in clear view.This template supports ‘featured images’ to appear in several places, including archive pages, the portfolio page template, and the home page, so it’s perfect for any visual artist. It also supports for you to upload your own logo and social media buttons are neatly placed just above the menu.

6. Syntax is a designed to enhance both writing and reading experience. It’s responsive, with large, easy-to-read type. This is where content takes on all the attention and primary menu is placed behind a tab on the left side of the screen. Very handy!

7. Celsius is another minimal and clean template that very well accentuates any type of content. This theme supports multiple post formats, slide-out navigation with bold featured images that look good on any device.

8. Apostrophe is a fully responsive theme. It’s perfect if you want to organize your poetry like in a poetry journal/magazine for example and give your reader that kind of experience. It has easy-to-read typography paired with a modern, minimalist design. Choose from a single-column layout, or make use of multiple sidebar and footer widget areas. Highlight your best posts to add variety and interest to your homepage, and showcase your social media links at the top of the page.

9. Sapor is another simple and clean theme I recommend. It supports bold images and content that is easy to read. You can chose a layout with right sidebar where you can place your important social media links, your gravatar with your short author biography, list of most popular posts and ext. With this template any content becomes more attractive.

10. Radcliffe is a bold theme with strong typography and full-width header images. Here is all attention placed on the content, and I what like the most about it (beside the fact it’s responsive) is that it is very eye-catching and it’s inviting you in – to look for more, to read more. It allows you to upload your own custom logo and also includes custom menu in the header.

This is just a tiny selection of wide range of themes offered on wordpress.com. Find one that best fits your blog’s needs and customize the way to accentuate your blog, with information in widgets area that are valuable to your readers and that enhances your content.

What are your favorite blogging themes? Please share in the comments below.

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