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POETRY
Poetry (from the Greek word poiesis, "making") is a form of literary art that
uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in
addition to, or in place of, literal or surface-level meanings. Any particular instance of
poetry is called a poem and is written by a poet.
Most written poems are formatted in verse: a series or stack of lines on a
page, which follow the poetic structure. For this reason, verse has also become
a synonym (a metonym) for poetry.
Some poetry types are unique to particular cultures and genres and respond
to characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. Readers accustomed to
identifying poetry with Dante, Goethe, Mickiewicz, or Rumi may think of it as written
in lines based on rhyme and regular meter. There are, however, traditions, such
as Biblical poetry and alliterative verse, that use other means to create rhythm
and euphony. Much modern poetry reflects a critique of poetic tradition, testing the
principle of euphony itself or altogether forgoing rhyme or set rhythm.
Poetry has a long and varied history, evolving differentially across the globe. It
dates back at least to prehistoric times with hunting poetry in Africa and
to panegyric and elegiac court poetry of the empires of the Nile, Niger, and Volta
River valleys. Some of the earliest written poetry in Africa occurs among the Pyramid
Texts written during the 25th century BCE. The earliest surviving Western Asian epic
poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, was written in the Sumerian language.
History
 Early works
Some scholars believe that the art of poetry may predate literacy, and
developed from folk epics and other oral genres. Others, however, suggest that
poetry did not necessarily predate writing.
 Western traditions
Classical thinkers in the West employed classification as a way to define and
assess the quality of poetry. Notably, the existing fragments
of Aristotle's Poetics describe three genres of poetry—the epic, the comic, and the
tragic—and develop rules to distinguish the highest-quality poetry in each genre,
based on the perceived underlying purposes of the genre.
Later aestheticians identified three major genres: epic poetry, lyric poetry,
and dramatic poetry, treating comedy and tragedy as subgenres of dramatic poetry.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, there was also substantially more
interaction among the various poetic traditions, in part due to the spread of
European colonialism and the attendant rise in global trade. In addition to a boom
in translation, during the Romantic period numerous ancient works were
rediscovered.
 20th-century and 21st-century disputes
Some 20th-century literary theorists rely less on the ostensible opposition of
prose and poetry, instead focusing on the poet as simply one who creates using
language, and poetry as what the poet creates. The underlying concept of the poet
as creator is not uncommon, and some modernist poets essentially do not
distinguish between the creation of a poem with words, and creative acts in other
media. Other modernists challenge the very attempt to define poetry as misguided.
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Elements
 Prosody
Prosody is the study of the meter, rhythm, and intonation of a poem. Rhythm and
meter are different, although closely related. Meter is the definitive pattern
established for a verse (such as iambic pentameter), while rhythm is the actual
sound that results from a line of poetry. Prosody also may be used more specifically
to refer to the scanning of poetic lines to show meter.
 Rhythm
The methods for creating poetic rhythm vary across languages and between
poetic traditions. Languages are often described as having timing set primarily
by accents, syllables, or moras, depending on how rhythm is established, although a
language can be influenced by multiple approaches. Japanese is a mora-timed
language.
 Meter
In the Western poetic tradition, meters are customarily grouped according to a
characteristic metrical foot and the number of feet per line.
 Metrical patterns
Different traditions and genres of poetry tend to use different meters, ranging
from the Shakespearean iambic pentameter and the Homeric dactylic hexameter to
the anapestic tetrameter used in many nursery rhymes
 Rhyme, alliteration, assonance
Rhyme, alliteration, assonance and consonance are ways of creating repetitive
patterns of sound. They may be used as an independent structural element in a
poem, to reinforce rhythmic patterns, or as an ornamental element.
 Rhyming schemes
In many languages, including Arabic and modern European languages, poets use
rhyme in set patterns as a structural element for specific poetic forms, such
as ballads, sonnets and rhyming couplets. However, the use of structural rhyme is
not universal even within the European tradition
Form in poetry
Poetic form is more flexible in modernist and post-modernist poetry and
continues to be less structured than in previous literary eras. Many modern poets
eschew recognizable structures or forms and write in free verse.
 Lines and stanzas
Poetry is often separated into lines on a page, in a process known as lineation.
These lines may be based on the number of metrical feet or may emphasize a
rhyming pattern at the ends of lines.
Lines of poems are often organized into stanzas, which are denominated by the
number of lines included
 Visual presentation
Poetry is often written down in verse, writing structures that echo the poetic
structure. This poem by Uma no Naishi is written in chirashigaki (scattered writing).

 Diction
Poetic diction treats the manner in which language is used, and refers not only to
the sound but also to the underlying meaning and its interaction with sound and
form. Many languages and poetic forms have very specific poetic dictions, to the
point where distinct grammars and dialects are used specifically for poetry.
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Forms
Specific poetic forms have been developed by many cultures. In more
developed, closed or "received" poetic forms, the rhyming scheme, meter and other
elements of a poem are based on sets of rules, ranging from the relatively loose
rules that govern the construction of an elegy to the highly formalized structure of
the ghazal or villanelle.
Described below are some common forms of poetry widely used across a
number of languages. Additional forms of poetry may be found in the discussions of
the poetry of particular cultures or periods and in the glossary.
 Sonnet
Among the most common forms of poetry, popular from the Late Middle Ages on,
is the sonnet, which by the 13th century had become standardized as fourteen lines
following a set rhyme scheme and logical structure. By the 14th century and
the Italian Renaissance, the form had further crystallized under the pen of Petrarch,
whose sonnets were translated in the 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt, who is
credited with introducing the sonnet form into English literature.
 Shi
Shi (simplified Chinese: 诗; traditional Chinese: 詩; pinyin: shī; Wade–Giles: shih)
Is the main type of Classical Chinese poetry.[119] Within this form of poetry the most
important variations are "folk song" styled verse (yuefu), "old style" verse (gushi),
"modern style" verse (jintishi). In all cases, rhyming is obligatory.
 Villanelle
The villanelle is a nineteen-line poem made up of five triplets with a closing
quatrain; the poem is characterized by having two refrains, initially used in the first
and third lines of the first stanza, and then alternately used at the close of each
subsequent stanza until the final quatrain, which is concluded by the two refrains.
 Limerick
A limerick is a poem that consists of five lines and is often humorous. Rhythm is
very important in limericks for the first, second and fifth lines must have seven to ten
syllables.
 Tanka
Tanka is a form of unrhymed Japanese poetry, with five sections totalling
31 on (phonological units identical to morae), structured in a 5–7–5–7–7 pattern.
 Haiku
Haiku is a popular form of unrhymed Japanese poetry, which evolved in the 17th
century from the hokku, or opening verse of a renku.
 Khlong
The khlong (โคลง, [kʰlōːŋ]) is among the oldest Thai poetic forms. This is
reflected in its requirements on the tone markings of certain syllables, which must be
marked with mai ek (ไม ้เอก, Thai pronunciation: [máj èːk], ◌่) or mai
tho (ไม ้โท, [máj tʰōː], ◌่ ้
Khlong si suphap
 Ode
Odes were first developed by poets writing in ancient Greek, such as Pindar, and
Latin, such as Horace. Forms of odes appear in many of the cultures that were
influenced by the Greeks and Latins
 Ghazal
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The ghazal (also ghazel, gazel, gazal, or gozol) is a form of poetry common
in Arabic, Bengali, Persian and Urdu. In classic form, the ghazal has from five to
fifteen rhyming couplets that share a refrain at the end of the second line. This
refrain may be of one or several syllables and is preceded by a rhyme. Each line has
an identical meter and is of the same length. The ghazal often reflects on a theme of
unattainable love or divinity.
Genres
In addition to specific forms of poems, poetry is often thought of in terms of
different genres and subgenres. A poetic genre is generally a tradition or
classification of poetry based on the subject matter, style, or other broader literary
characteristics. Some commentators view genres as natural forms of literature.
 Narrative poetry
Narrative poetry is a genre of poetry that tells a story. Broadly it subsumes epic
poetry, but the term "narrative poetry" is often reserved for smaller works, generally
with more appeal to human interest. Narrative poetry may be the oldest type of
poetry. Many scholars of Homer have concluded that his Iliad and Odyssey were
composed of compilations of shorter narrative poems that related individual
episodes.
 Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre that, unlike epic and dramatic poetry, does not attempt to
tell a story but instead is of a more personal nature. Poems in this genre tend to be
shorter, melodic, and contemplative. Rather than depicting characters and actions, it
portrays the poet's own feelings, states of mind, and perceptions.[156] Notable poets
in this genre include Christine de Pizan, John Donne, Charles Baudelaire, Gerard
Manley Hopkins, Antonio Machado, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
 Epic poetry
Epic poetry is a genre of poetry, and a major form of narrative literature. This
genre is often defined as lengthy poems concerning events of a heroic or important
nature to the culture of the time. It recounts, in a continuous narrative, the life and
works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons.
 Satirical poetry
Poetry can be a powerful vehicle for satire. The Romans had a strong tradition of
satirical poetry, often written for political purposes. A notable example is the Roman
poet Juvenal's satires.
 Dramatic poetry
Dramatic poetry is drama written in verse to be spoken or sung, and appears in
varying, sometimes related forms in many cultures. Greek tragedy in verse dates to
the 6th century B.C., and may have been an influence on the development of
Sanskrit drama, just as Indian drama in turn appears to have influenced the
development of the bianwen verse dramas in China, forerunners of Chinese
Opera. East Asian verse dramas also include Japanese Noh.
 Speculative poetry
Speculative poetry, also known as fantastic poetry (of which weird or macabre
poetry is a major sub-classification), is a poetic genre which deals thematically with
subjects which are "beyond reality", whether via extrapolation as in science fiction or
via weird and horrific themes as in horror fiction. Such poetry appears regularly in
modern science fiction and horror fiction magazines.
 Prose poetry
Prose poetry is a hybrid genre that shows attributes of both prose and poetry. It
may be indistinguishable from the micro-story (a.k.a. the "short short story", "flash
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fiction"). While some examples of earlier prose strike modern readers as poetic,
prose poetry is commonly regarded as having originated in 19th-century France,
where its practitioners included Aloysius Bertrand, Charles Baudelaire, Stéphane
Mallarmé, and Arthur Rimbaud.
 Light poetry
Light poetry, or light verse, is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Poems
considered "light" are usually brief, and can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and
often feature word play, including puns, adventurous rhyme and heavy alliteration.
Although a few free verse poets have excelled at light verse outside the formal verse
tradition, light verse in English usually obeys at least some formal conventions.
Common forms include the limerick, the clerihew, and the double dactyl.
 Slam poetry
Slam poetry as a genre originated in 1986 in Chicago, Illinois, when Marc Kelly
Smith organized the first slam. Slam performers comment emotively, aloud before an
audience, on personal, social, or other matters. Slam focuses on the aesthetics of
word play, intonation, and voice inflection. Slam poetry is often competitive, at
dedicated "poetry slam" contests.
 Performance poetry
Performance poetry, similar to slam in that it occurs before an audience, is a
genre of poetry that may fuse a variety of disciplines in a performance of a text, such
as dance, music, and other aspects of performance art.