Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning.

 

Poetry, literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm.

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Mary (Poem)

Mary (Poem) This article covers the life of Mary, (Mother of Jesus) as a poem. Mary was a 1st-century BC Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth, and the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran. Mary Hannah, the grandmother of Jesus, the mother of Mary, the wife of Aaron, the mother-in-law of Zachariah, the daughter...

Procession of Characters from Shakespeare's Plays by an unknown 19th-century artist

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon” (or simply “the Bard”). His extant works, including collaborations,...

Xiao He chases Han Xin by Yosa Buson (Nomura Art Museum)

Haiku

Haiku Haiku (俳句) is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a kireji, or “cutting word”, 17 on (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern and a kigo, or seasonal reference. Similar poems that do not adhere to these rules are generally classified...

A miniature of Nizami's narrative poem. Layla and Majnun meet for the last time before their deaths. Both have fainted and Majnun's elderly messenger attempts to revive Layla while wild animals protect the pair from unwelcome intruders. Late 16th-century illustration.

Ghazal

Ghazal The ghazal (Arabic: غَزَل‎, Bengali: গজল, Hindi-Urdu: ग़ज़ल/غزَل, Persian: غزل‎, Azerbaijani: qəzəl, Turkish: gazel, Uzbek: gʻazal, Gujarati: ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The ghazal...

Wakan-roei-shu Poetry Anthology – Heian era. The scroll is meant to read right to left.

Waka In Poetry

Waka In Poetry Waka (和歌, “Japanese poem”) is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Although waka in modern Japanese is written as 和歌, in the past it was also written as 倭歌, and a variant name is yamato-uta (大和歌). Etymology The word waka has two different but related meanings: the original meaning was “poetry in Japanese” and encompassed several...

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire, The Arcadia or Pastoral State, 1834

Villanelle

Villanelle A villanelle, also known as villanesque, is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third line of the first tercet repeated alternately at the end of each subsequent stanza until the last stanza, which includes both repeated lines. The villanelle is an...

Detached segment of the Deeds of the Zen Masters (紙本墨画禅機図断簡, shihon bokuga zenkizu dankan): Hanshan and Shide (寒山拾得図, kanzan jittokuzu). Handscroll, 35.0 x 49.5 cm. Ink on paper. Located at Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo.

Shi In Poetry

Shi In Poetry Shi (in poetry) and shih are romanizations of the character 詩/诗, the Chinese word for all poetry generally and across all languages. In Western analysis of the styles of Chinese poetry, shi is also used as a term of art for a specific poetic tradition, modeled after the Old Chinese works collected in the Confucian Classic of Poetry. This anthology included both aristocratic poems (the “Hymns”...

William Shakespeare's Sonnet XXX ​as a wall poem in Leiden

Sonnet

Sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form which originated in the Italian poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in Palermo, Sicily. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet’s invention for expressing courtly love. The Sicilian School of poets who surrounded him at the...

Fragment of Tablet II of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq

Epic Poetry

Epic Poetry An epic poem (Epic Poetry) is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily involving a time beyond living memory in which occurred the extraordinary doings of the extraordinary people who, in dealings with the gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants, the poet and their audience,...

"Justum et tenacem propositi virum" – "a man just and steadfast in purpose", from Horace's Odes, III.3, on the gravestone of Elliot Charles Bovill, Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements, in Fort Canning Green, Singapore

Ode

Ode An ode (ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyrical stanza. It is an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also enter. Greek...

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Rhyme

Rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, exactly the same sound) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic effect in the final position of lines within poems or songs. More broadly, a...

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Free Verse

Free Verse Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French vers libre form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Definition Free verse does not “proceed by a strict set of rules … is...

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Narrative Poetry

Narrative Poetry Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metred verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be short or long, and the story it relates...

Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard, illustration by William Blake.

Elegy

Elegy In English literature, an elegy is a poem of serious reflection, usually a lament for the dead. However, “for all of its pervasiveness … the ‘elegy’ remains remarkably ill defined: sometimes used as a catch-all to denominate texts of a somber or pessimistic tone, sometimes as a marker for textual...

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Poems About God

Poems About God We have collected and put the best poems about God. Enjoy reading these insights and feel free to share this page on your social media to inspire others. What is God?, Who is God?, Who Created God?, and Does God exist? are the main questions that humankind is asking since...

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I Believe…

I Believe… I Believe is a poem about the importance of friendship. I believe- that we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change. I believe- that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must...

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When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking

When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking Mary Rita Schilke Korzan wrote When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking to her mother 24 years ago, thanking her for all she had done as a mother, friend, and role model. She gave the poem to her mother and, a few months later, offered it...

A Native American with a wolf

Two Wolves

Two Wolves The story of the Two Wolves is a popular legend of unknown origin, sometimes attributed to the Cherokee or Lenape people that is also known as “Which one do you feed“, “Grandfather Tells“, “The Wolves Within“, and “Tale Of Two Wolves“. It is a story of a grandfather using a metaphor of...

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Friendship Poems

Friendship Poems We have collected and put the best Friendship Poems. Enjoy reading these insights and feel free to share this page on your social media to inspire others. Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. Friendship is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association. Friendship has been...

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God Saw You Getting Tired

God Saw You Getting Tired God Saw You Getting Tired was written in 1939 by Frances M. Coelho for her mother, Frances Medeiros. She took it out again on the 1st anniversary of my father’s death. I got to change 1-1/2 lines, so she wanted my name on the copyright...