can you define poetry?

Answer 1

Great wording Adam T. !!!!! I was going to look up the definition of the word,(I still am)but after what Adam T. put down, I don't think I'll get the best answer! Claire P. did a good job,too, although she looked on Wikipedia, Adam did it on his own(as far as I know). anyway, here is the defintion of poetry along with the source(you don't have to read all of it:



po·et·ry ( P ) Pronunciation Key (p-tr)
n.
The art or work of a poet.

Poems regarded as forming a division of literature.
The poetic works of a given author, group, nation, or kind.
A piece of literature written in meter; verse.
Prose that resembles a poem in some respect, as in form or sound.
The essence or characteristic quality of a poem.
A quality that suggests poetry, as in grace, beauty, or harmony: the poetry of the dancer's movements.


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[Middle English poetrie, from Old French, from Medieval Latin potria, from Latin pota, poet. See poet.]

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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


poetry

n 1: literature in metrical form [syn: poesy, verse] 2: any communication resembling poetry in beauty or the evocation of feeling


Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University


poetry

has been well defined as "the measured language of emotion." Hebrew poetry deals
almost exclusively with the great question of man's relation to God. "Guilt,
condemnation, punishment, pardon, redemption, repentance are the awful themes
of this heaven-born poetry." In the Hebrew scriptures there are found three
distinct kinds of poetry, (1) that of the Book of Job and the Song of Solomon,
which is dramatic; (2) that of the Book of Psalms, which is lyrical; and (3)
that of the Book of Ecclesiastes, which is didactic and sententious. Hebrew
poetry has nothing akin to that of Western nations. It has neither metre nor
rhyme. Its great peculiarity consists in the mutual correspondence of sentences
or clauses, called parallelism, or "thought-rhyme." Various kinds of this
parallelism have been pointed out: (1.) Synonymous or cognate parallelism,
where the same idea is repeated in the same words (Ps. 93:3; 94:1; Prov. 6:2),
or in different words (Ps. 22, 23, 28, 114, etc.); or where it is expressed in
a positive form in the one clause and in a negative in the other (Ps. 40:12;
Prov. 6:26); or where the same idea is expressed in three successive clauses
(Ps. 40:15, 16); or in a double parallelism, the first and second clauses
corresponding to the third and fourth (Isa. 9:1; 61:10, 11).

(2.) Antithetic
parallelism, where the idea of the second clause is the converse of that of the
first (Ps. 20:8; 27:6, 7; 34:11; 37:9, 17, 21, 22). This is the common form of
gnomic or proverbial poetry. (See Prov. 10-15.)

(3.) Synthetic or constructive
or compound parallelism, where each clause or sentence contains some accessory
idea enforcing the main idea (Ps. 19:7-10; 85:12; Job 3:3-9; Isa. 1:5-9).

(4.)
Introverted parallelism, in which of four clauses the first answers to the
fourth and the second to the third (Ps. 135:15-18; Prov. 23:15, 16), or where
the second line reverses the order of words in the first (Ps. 86:2). Hebrew
poetry sometimes assumes other forms than these. (1.) An alphabetical
arrangement is sometimes adopted for the purpose of connecting clauses or
sentences. Thus in the following the initial words of the respective verses
begin with the letters of the alphabet in regular succession: Prov. 31:10-31;
Lam. 1, 2, 3, 4; Ps. 25, 34, 37, 145. Ps. 119 has a letter of the alphabet in
regular order beginning every eighth verse.

(2.) The repetition of the same
verse or of some emphatic expression at intervals (Ps. 42, 107, where the
refrain is in verses, 8, 15, 21, 31). (Comp. also Isa. 9:8-10:4; Amos 1:3, 6,
9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6.)

(3.) Gradation, in which the thought of one verse is
resumed in another (Ps. 121). Several odes of great poetical beauty are found
in the historical books of the Old Testament, such as the song of Moses (Ex.
15), the song of Deborah (Judg. 5), of Hannah (1 Sam. 2), of Hezekiah (Isa.
38:9-20), of Habakkuk (Hab. 3), and David's "song of the bow" (2 Sam. 1:19-27).

Answer 2

It could be the complex level of metaphor and theme which the above poem contains in just a few words which is why it is famous. Also no one would suspect that it had deeper meaning if it were by an obscure writer, so a poem like that coming from someone who is known for poetry who has a history is considered poetry from social recognition. Students who write free verse poetry can't be considered poetry because the context lacks the complexity that a poem Williams has in its structure and use of some literary devices. So student or amateur free verse poems are just really prose. They first have to learn how to write a traditional poem that uses poetic devices like rhyming and meter, they can't just start writing free verse poems and call it poetry, because it's not. Only a small amount of free verse poems that poets like E. E. Cummings, Carlos Williams or Bukowski wrote would be consider legitimate poems.

Answer 3

You may be looking for something more simple, but there is a whole area of philosophy that deals with the nature of "what is art" and "why do we make art." Poetry is an art form, as others have said. Poetry is ultimately something that we find aesthetically pleasing in a verbal format. It may be structured or unstructured, have clear meaning or have no meaning. That which is aesthetically pleasing may not be "beautiful." It may be jarring or disturbing, but if it creates a certain "feeling" (again refer to the philosophy on how this might be defined) then it is "art." If you are interested in what is poetry or what is art, look into "aesthetics" or the "philosophy of art."

Answer 4

It is where our courage has been misplaced. It is where our dreams we want to live and pray we will find the courage to live them. A canvas of words, of what we wanted to say to the one we love but haven't and promises we have not sold out to. Promises we have made and pray we don't break them.

Poetry is a mirror of who we are and words we want others say to us. It is a place where we make sense while in the world we are seen as failures. In our poems we are heroes, knights, wizards, legend football players of this century, doctors with cure, and a place of what we wish to be and what we hate to be.

Here lies our many faces, the true, the liar, the fighter, the quitter, the winnner, the staller, the adventurous, the vision, the fake, the smile, the tears that fall to paint another word or sentences.

Poetry a canvas of how we want our to be and what we try not to be.

If only we live the words we inscribe in our poems.

Answer 5

Being a poet myself (poems on file for proof)
Poetry is a song, a rhyme, a chance standing in time
A word a phrase to help make it thru the days
A thought, idea, endless from above,
Your heart , your soul, your feelings deep in love.

And that is what poetry is

Answer 6

A collosal waste of time where the "artists" try and use large and /or bizarre words to envoke imagry while having a unique and pleasurable flow.

Hell, it doesn't even have to make sense. It only has to sound good and give liberal lefties something to discuss because despite their insight into the human soul they're not capable of understanding math, science or anything else that's somewhat worthwhile to society.

Here's one I wrote just now. I call it "Mother, they butt is too big."

Mother, far downtrodden by the river.
Aspen wishes on a long forgotten wave.
Tears fall down, rising up in hope,
another doughnut from krispy creme.

Alas poor mother, none were to be found,
they'd consumed by the masses,
far gone now, shuttled off to their prisons
you'll have to settle for McDonalds.

Look away from the trans fat dear mater,
Look away from that triple cheese baiter.
Find another sweeter essence inside your soul.
Shove that apple turnover, into your pie hole.

/bow

Answer 7

Poetry comes from your heart and by it coming from your heart you have to listen to your heart. This might not define the word poetry to you, but to me this is the definition to poetry.

Answer 8

Poetry is the precise use of language to evoke a response in the reader.

Answer 9

I looked it up on Wikipedia.

Poetry is an art form in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, notional and semantic content. Poetry has a long history, and early attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotle's Poetics, focused on the various uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts focused on the deliberate use of features such as repetition and rhyme and the emphasis on aesthetics to distinguish poetry from prose. Contemporary poets, such as Dylan Thomas, often identify poetry not as a literary genre within a set of genres, but as a fundamental creative act using language.

Poetry often uses condensed forms and conventions to reinforce or expand the meaning of the underlying words or to invoke emotional or sensual experiences in the reader, as well as using devices such as assonance, alliteration and rhythm to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poetry's use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations.

Specific forms of poetry have become traditional within and across different cultures and genres, and often respond to underlying characteristics of the language in which poetry is created. Each language's richness in rhyme and method of creating timing and tonal differences provides distinct opportunities for poets writing in that language. While those accustomed to identifying poetry with Shakespeare, Dante and Goethe may understand poetry by reference primarily to rhyming lines and regular accentual meter, other traditions, such as those of Du Fu and Beowulf, use other methods to achieve rhythm and euphony. In today's globalized world, poets often borrow styles, techniques and forms from different cultures and languages.

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My favourite poem is this:

You only live twice
once when you are born
and once when you look death in the face

Although it is so simple, it really says something to me - I don't know why. It's called a Haiku, which is a Japanese style of poetry. It does not rhyme, but it sounds nice!

To sum up, a poem is something that uses words that sound nice together - and it often looks good on the page as well!

Answer 10

Beautiful.