Poetry
Author of this webpage: Renée Goodvin
"The proper and immediate object of Science is the acquirement or communication of truth; the proper and immediate object of Poetry is the communication of pleasure... I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose: words in their best order; poetry: the best words in the best order."
"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry."
Poetry can be defined as writing, usually metrical, that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience using language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through its meaning, sound, and rhythm. Poetry is emotional, lyrical, imaginative, and appreciative of beauty in all its forms. Ultimately, the purpose of poetry is to please by appealing to various senses and emotions.
The most common characteristics of poetry are its frequent employment of meter, rhyme, and rhythm; its reliance upon the line as a formal unit; its heightened vocabulary; its freedom of syntax; and its dedication to arrangement, order and unity. In addition, most poetry employs one or more techniques including direct description to highly personalized symbolism, metaphor, simile, imagery, and/or alliteration.
Poetry Vocabulary
- Alliteration
- Alliteration is the repetition of initial identical consonant or vowel sounds in successive or closely associated words or syllables.
- Imagery
- Imagery is the representation of objects, feelings, or ideas; either literally or through the use of figurative language.
- Line
- Line is a unit in the rhythmic structure of verse. It is formed by the grouping together of a number of the smallest units of the rhythm according to some principle or norm supplied by the conventions of that type of verse.
- Metaphor
- A Metaphor is an implied comparison which imaginatively identifies one object with another. It is fundamental to of the language of poetry.
- Meter (more)
- Indispensable to poetry, Meter is the recurrence of a rhythmic pattern.
- Patterns
- Rhyme (Rime)
- Rhyme is the similarity or identity of sound between accented syllables occupying corresponding positions within two or more lines of verse. This correspondence of sound is based upon the vowels and succeeding consonants of the accented syllables.
- Simile
- A simile is a figure of speech in which a similarity between objects is directly expressed. Most similes are introduced by like or as.
- Symbolism
- Symbolism is the use of one object to represent or suggest another object.
- Syntax
- Syntax is the way in which words are combined into units such as phrases, clauses, and sentences.
- Types
Some information for the following page was adapted from:
Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature
A Handbook to Literature, rev. ed.,
by William Flint Thrall, Addison Hibbard, & C. Hugh Holman and
A Glossary of Literary Terms, 6th ed., by M. H. Abrams
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Last updated January 27, 2005