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Poetry

Poetry is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose. It may use condensed or compressed form to convey emotion or ideas to the reader's or listener's mind or ear; it may also use devices such as assonance and repetition to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poems frequently rely for their effect on imagery, word association, and the musical qualities of the language used. Because of its nature of emphasising linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another.

Table of contents
1 Nature of poetry
2 Sound in poetry
3 Poetry and form
4 Poetry and rhetoric
5 The history of poetry
6 Terms
7 Poetry of specific cultures/languages
8 Other
9 Related genres
10 External links

Nature of poetry

Poetry can be differentiated most of the time from prose, which is language meant to convey meaning in a more expansive and less condensed way, frequently using more complete logical or narrative structures than poetry does. A further complication is that prose poetry combines the characteristics of poetry with the superficial appearance of prose. And there is, of course, narrative poetry, not to mention dramatic poetry, both of which are used to tell stories and so resemble novels and playss. However, both these forms of poetry use the specific features of verse composition to make these stories more memorable or to enhance them in some way.

The Greek verb poieo (I make or create), gave rise to three words: poietis (the one who creates), poiesis (the act of creation), and poiema (the thing created). From these we get three English words: poet (the creator), poesy (the creation) and poem (the created). A poet is therefore one who creates, and poetry is what the poet creates. The underlying concept of the poet as maker or creator is not uncommon. For example, in Anglo-Saxon a poet is a scop (shaper or maker) and in Scots makar.

Sound in poetry

Perhaps the most vital element of sound in poetry is rhythm. Often the rhythm of each line is arranged in a particular meter. Different types of meter played key roles in Classical, Early European, Eastern and Modern poetry. In the case of free verse, the rhythm of lines is often organized into looser units of cadence.

Poetry in English and other modern European languages often uses rhyme. Rhyme at the end of lines is the basis of a number of common poetic forms such as ballads, sonnets and rhyming coupletss. However, the use of rhyme is not universal. Much modern poetry, for example, avoids traditional rhyme schemes. Furthermore, Classical Greek and Latin poetry did not use rhyme. In fact, rhyme did not enter European poetry at all until the High Middle Ages, when it was adopted from the Arabic language. The Arabs have always used it extensively, for example in the Koran.

Alliteration played a key role in structuring early Germanic and English forms of poetry (called Alliterative verse), akin to the role of rhyme in later European poetry.

The alliterative patterns of early Germanic poetry and the rhyme schemes of Modern European poetry alike both include meter as a key part of their structure which determines when the listener expects instances rhyme or alliteration to occur. In this sense, both alliteration and rhyme when used in poetic structures help to emphasize and define a rhythmic pattern.

In addition to the forms of rhyme, alliteration and rhythm that structure much poetry, sound plays a more subtle role in even free verse poetry in creating pleasing, varied patterns and emphasizing or sometimes even illustrating semantic elements of the poem. Devices such as alliteration, assonance, consonance, dissonance and internal rhyme are among the ways poets use sound.

Poetry and form

As it is created using language, poetry tends to use formal linguistic units like phrases, sentences and paragraphs. In addition, it uses units of organisation that are purely poetic. The main units that are used are the line, the couplet, the strophe, the stanza, and the verse paragraph.

Lines may be self-contained units of sense, as in the famous To be, or not to be: that is the question. Alternatively a line may end in mid-phrase or sentence: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer. The linguistic unit is generally completed in the next line: The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. This technique is called enjambment, and is used to create a sense of expectation in the reader and/or to add a dynamic to the movement of the verse.

Couplets, stanzas, and strophes are generally self-contained units of sense, although a kind of enjambment may also be used across these units. In blank verse, verse paragraphs are employed to indicate natural breaks in the flow of the poem.

In many instances, the effectiveness of a poem derives from the tension between the use of linguistic and formal units. With the advent of printing, poets gained greater control over the visual presentation of their work. As a result, the use of these formal elements, and of the white space they help create, became an important part of the poet's toolbox. Modernist poetry tends to take this to an extreme, with the placement of individual lines or groups of lines on the page forming an integral part of the poem's composition. In its most extreme form, this leads to the writing of concrete poetry.

Poetry and rhetoric

Rhetorical devices such as simile and metaphor are frequently used in poetry. Indeed, Aristotle wrote in his Poetics that "the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor". However, particularly since the rise of Modernism, many poets have opted for reduced use of these devices, preferring rather to attempt the direct presentation of things and experiences.

The history of poetry

Poetry as an art form predates literacy. In pre-literate societies, poetry was frequently employed as a means of recording oral history, storytelling (epic poetry), genealogy, law and other forms of expression or knowledge that modern societies might expect to be handled in prose. Poetry is also often closely identified with liturgy in these societies, as the formal nature of poetry makes it easier to remember priestly incantations or prophecies. The greater part of the world's sacred scriptures are made up of poetry rather than prose.

Some writers believe that poetry has its origins in song. Most of the characteristics that distinguish it from other forms of utterance - rhythm, rhyme, compression, intensity of feeling, the use of refrains - appear to have come about from efforts to fit words to musical forms. However, in the European tradition the earliest surviving poems, the Homeric and Hesiodic epics, identify themselves as poems to be recited or chanted to a musical accompaniment rather than as pure song. Another interpretation, developed from 20th century studies of living Montenegran epic reciters by Milman Parry and others, is that rhythm, refrains, and kennings are essentially paratactic devices that enable the reciter to reconstruct the poem from memory.

In preliterate societies, all these forms of poetry were composed for, and sometimes during, performance. As such, there was a certain degree of fluidity to the exact wording of poems, given this could change from one performance or performer to another. The introduction of writing tended to fix the content of a poem to the version that happened to be written down and survive. Written composition also meant that poets began to compose not for an audience that was sitting in front of them but for an absent reader. Later, the invention of printing tended to accelerate these trends. Poets were now writing more for the eye than for the ear.

The development of literacy gave rise to more personal, shorter poems intended to be sung. These are called lyrics, which derives from the Greek lura or lyre, the instrument that was used to accompany the performance of Greek lyrics from about the seventh century B.C. onward. The Greek's practice of singing hymns in large choruses gave rise, in the sixth century B.C. to dramatic verse, and to the practice of writing poetic plays for performance in their theatres.

In more recent times, the introduction of electronic media and the rise of the poetry reading have led to a resurgence of performance poetry and have resulted in a situation where poetry for the eye and poetry for the ear coexist, sometimes in the same poem.

Terms

Verse forms

Periods, styles and movements

Technical means

Alexander Pope used poetry self-referentially in "Sound and Sense", to describe how the poetic meter should reinforce the meaning.

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense:
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar;
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line too labors, and the words move slow;
Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise,
And bid alternate passions fall and rise!

Tropes

Measures of verse

Types of metre Types of line

Poetry of specific cultures/languages

stood as a giant of 19th century American poetry.]] Main article: List of national poetries
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Bartleby.com
American and English works between 1250 and 1920. Offers numerous anthologies including "The Oxford Book of English Verse", the "Yale Book of American Verse" and "Modern American and British Poetry".
http://www.bartleby.com/verse/

A Small Collection of Poetry
Poetry by famous British and American poets including Wendy Cope, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Oscar Wilde.
http://www.pmms.cam.ac.uk/~gjm11/poems/

Snap Dragon Poetry Corner
A collection of poems (all on one page). Also includes a selection of "Bad Poems".
http://www.snap-dragon.com/poetry.htm

Anthology of Poetry
Contains about 650 poems by 117 great poets.
http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Poetry/Anthology/contents.htm

David P Brown - Favorite Poetry
Personal collection of favorite poetry and passages from poets such as Robert Frost, William Shakespeare and Edward Lear; includes related links.
http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/index-poetry.html

Beautiful Words
Small personal collection of favourite poetry and selected other texts.
http://www.beautifulwords.com

Canadian Poetry Archive
Selected poems from over 100 early Canadian poets in both English and French.
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/canvers/index-e.html

American Verse Project
Organization for the acquisition, creation and maintenance of electronic texts. Includes a bibliography and a mission statement.
http://www.hti.umich.edu/a/amverse/

Poetry In Translation
An electronic archive of browsable and downloadable English translations of major European and Chinese Classical poets. Also offers original works by A.S. Kline.
http://www.tonykline.co.uk/

Poetry X » Poems
Large poetry archive featuring classic and contemporary poems along with commentary and analysis.
http://poetry.poetryx.com

British Poetry 1780-1910
A hypertext archive of scholarly editions from the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia.
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/britpo.html

Poetry Through the Ages
Collection of well known poems categorized by subject: love, religion, myth and fantasy, nature, children, philosophy, love of country, war. Section for submission of personal poems to be included on site.
http://www.geocities.com/net_skater1

CMU Poetry Index of Canonical Verse
Searchable archive of online texts from a wide range of recognized poets, both historical and contemporary.
http://eserver.org/poetry/

Poetry
Collection of assorted poems indexed by author, title, first line and keywords.
http://www.raingod.com/angus/Poetry/index.html

Internet Poetry Archive
Collection of poems by six contemporary poets: Czeslaw Milosz, Seamus Heaney, Philip Levine, Robert Pinsky, Margaret Walker and Yusef Komunyakaa.
http://metalab.unc.edu/dykki/poetry/

Bibliomania Poetry Archive
An archive of public domain poetry texts including the works of Blake, Rupert Brooke and Oscar Wilde. Requires JavaScript.
http://www.bibliomania.com/0/2/frameset.html

Representative Poetry On-line
Collection of poetry, edited by members of the Department of English at the University of Toronto from 1912 to the present. Indexed by poet, title and first line.
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/intro.html

Dream Wine
Ongoing anthology with traditional and translated works from poets such as William Carlos Williams and A. A. Milne.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~lavie/dreamwine

Oldpoets
Archive of classic poetry. Visitors have the option of ranking poems on a star scale and leaving their personal opinions of individual works.
http://oldpoets.com/

The Poem Tree
Traditional and contemporary metered poetry, with critical essays and links.
http://www.poemtree.com/

Womenpoets
Biographies and selected works of thirty women poets from various countries.
http://www.geocities.com/womenpoets

The Wondering Minstrels
Archive of the mailing list offering works by numerous poets. Includes personal commentary, critical analysis and biographical information.
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels

Famous Poets and Their Best Poems
Shelley, Shakespeare, Becquer, Byron, Poe, Wordsworth, Neruda, Frost, Benedetti, and Dickinson, among others. All in English, classified by poet and by country. You can also submit your own poetry.
http://galeon.com/mlz/famouspoets.html

Plagiarist.com Poetry Archive
Personal collection of favourite works by poets including Leonard Cohen, T.S. Eliot and Allen Ginsberg.
http://www.plagiarist.com/poetry/

The Compendium
Personal collection of classic and contemporary poems, indexed by both author and title.
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~richie/poetry/html/

Poetry and Music of the War Between the States
Archive of American Civil War poetry from both sides of the conflict. Also includes an archive of music from the era.
http://users.erols.com/kfraser/index.html

A Small Anthology of Poems
Wide variety of poems that are annotated and/or introduced with commentary and author biographical information.
http://unix.cc.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/index.html

Poetry 180
A poem a day provided by the Library of Congress, one for each of the 180 days of a typical American high school year.
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/

The Scratch Pad
Small archive of poems and lines from both established and emerging authors.
http://www.mercantilestreet.com/archive.htm

Poems on Poems
Small collection of poems written about poems or about writing poetry.
http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/cybereng/poetry/

Poetry Archive
Directory-structured database of famous poetry, both written in English and translated.
http://www.poetry-archive.com/

Poems, Short Stories, Quotes
A small collection of poems, short stories, and quotes.
http://www.metalvortex.com/poems/index.htm

Digital Poets Society
Large searchable collection of classic poetry including Blake, Eliot, Shakespeare and Wilde. Includes related links.
http://users.compaqnet.be/cn127848/main.htm

Categorized Poetry by Pros
Collection of mostly humorous but sometimes sentimental poetry by authors such as Housman, Herrick, Cope, and Chesterton, sorted by categories such as Advice, Animals, Death, and War.
http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/Poetry.html

Billie Dee's Electronic Poetry Anthology
Collection of primarily 20th-century works with photos, biographical notes and links.
http://www.geocities.com/billiedee2000/anthology.html

Poetry.com.au
Archive of classic poetry, including original poetic works by independent writers. Includes links to related resources.
http://www.poetry.com.au/

Poetry
A collection of poetry by Djuna Barnes, Robert Steiner, Peter Schjeldahl, Patrick Carrothers, James Inskeep and others.
http://www.geocities.com/johbeil/poetry_index.html

World Wide School: Literature-Poetry
Collection of rare and popular works including "Ballad of Reading Gaol", by Oscar Wilde and "The Hunting of the Snark" by Lewis Carroll.
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/catalogs/bysubject-lit-poetry.html

The Poetry Searcher
Searchable database of poems from antiquity to the nineteenth century. Good for English translations of non-English poems.
http://www.glaced.digitalspace.net

The Poetry Place
Personal archive of poems from poets including Wilfred Owen, Rudyard Kipling and Emily Dickenson. Includes pictures and artwork.
http://www.theofficenet.com/~jack/arts/

Poem of the Week
Archive of past offerings indexed by poet, first line, title and occasion. Includes submission guidelines and related links.
http://www.potw.org

Classic Poetry Treasure Chest
Search thousands of poems by title, first line, or poet. Full texts, extracts, and forums.
http://jollyroger.com/classicalpoetry

Random Poems
Extensive personal selection of public domain poems by poets including Ben Johnson, John Keats and John Milton.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2464/randindx.html

LionHeart
Searchable collection of love poems spanning four centuries of literature. Also indexed by poet name.
http://lionheart.chadwyck.co.uk/

Chesil's Favorite Poetry
An archive of classic poetry including Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson and Coleridge. Includes brief biographies and personal commentary.
http://www.photoaspects.com/chesil/

Lothlorien
Personal selection of poems by various well-known poets including Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Keats.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/8325/index.html

Poems
Personal and eclectic online collection of poems by many well-known authors and songwriters.
http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/poems/

Poetry from All Over
A very broad, eclectic but easily-navigated selection of poems, with texts from various authors of various nations from various time-periods.
http://cmgm.stanford.edu/~ahmad/poetry.html

Our Favorite Poems
Eclectic personal selection of public domain texts of poems from a wide range of authors.
http://www.webcom.com/duane/poems.html

eMule.com: Poetry Archives
Educational resource dedicated to researching poetry. Includes an online archive of poetry by numerous recognized poets.
http://www.emule.com/poetry/

Poetic Miscellany
Includes selections by Shakespeare, Keats and Tennyson in addition to a personal poetry archive and related links.
http://www.angelfire.com/co3/poeticmiscellany/

EveryPoet.com - Archive of World Poetry
Classic poetry from around the world. Mostly British and American.
http://www.everypoet.com/archive/

Contemporary American Poetry Archive
Archive of out-of-print collections of contemporary American poetry, indexed alphabetically by poet name.
http://capa.conncoll.edu/

Rhythm and Pain
Archive of poetry and lyrics by a variety of poets and songwriters including Leonard Cohen, Aldous Huxley, Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan.
http://members.tripod.com/%7ERaincloud771/poetry.htm



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