Poetry

===Diction===
{{Main|Poetic 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barfield |first=Owen |title=Poetic diction: a study in meaning |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-8195-6026-1 |edition=2nd |page=41}}</ref> Many languages and poetic forms have very specific poetic dictions, to the point where distinct [[grammar]]s and [[dialect]]s are used specifically for poetry.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sheets |first=George A. |date=Spring 1981 |title=The Dialect Gloss, Hellenistic Poetics and Livius Andronicus |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=102 |issue=1 |pages=58–78 |doi=10.2307/294154 |jstor=294154}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Blank |first=Paula |title=Broken English: dialects and the politics of language in Renaissance writings |publisher=Routledge |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-415-13779-9 |pages=29–31}}</ref> [[Register tone|Registers]] in poetry can range from strict employment of ordinary speech patterns, as favoured in much late-20th-century [[Prosody (poetry)|prosody]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Perloff |first=Marjorie |author-link=Marjorie Perloff |title=21st-century modernism: the new poetics |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-631-21970-5 |page=2}}</ref> through to highly ornate uses of language, as in medieval and Renaissance poetry.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Medieval lyric: genres in historical context |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-252-02536-5 |editor-last=Paden |editor-first=William D. |page=193}}</ref>

Poetic diction can include [[rhetorical device]]s such as [[simile]] and [[metaphor]], as well as tones of voice, such as [[irony]]. [[Aristotle]] wrote in the ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'' that "the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor."<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Gutenberg|title=The Poetics of Aristotle|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1974|date=1974|page=22}}</ref> Since the rise of [[Modernism]], some poets have opted for a poetic diction that de-emphasizes rhetorical devices, attempting instead the direct presentation of things and experiences and the exploration of [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge companion to modernist poetry |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-61815-1 |editor-last1=Davis |editor-first1=Alex |pages=90–96 |editor-last2=Jenkins |editor-first2=Lee M.}}</ref> On the other hand, [[surrealism|Surrealists]] have pushed rhetorical devices to their limits, making frequent use of [[catachresis]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=San Juan |first=E. Jr. |title=Working through the contradictions from cultural theory to critical practice |publisher=Bucknell University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8387-5570-9 |pages=124–125}}</ref>

[[Allegory|Allegorical]] stories are central to the poetic diction of many cultures, and were prominent in the West during classical times, the [[Allegory in the Middle Ages|late Middle Ages]] and the [[Renaissance]]. ''[[Aesop's Fables]]'', repeatedly rendered in both verse and prose since first being recorded about 500 BCE, are perhaps the richest single source of allegorical poetry through the ages.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Treip |first=Mindele Anne |title=Allegorical poetics and the epic: the Renaissance tradition to Paradise Lost |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-8131-1831-4 |page=14}}</ref> Other notables examples include the ''[[Roman de la Rose]]'', a 13th-century French poem, [[William Langland]]'s ''[[Piers Ploughman]]'' in the 14th century, and [[Jean de la Fontaine]]'s ''Fables'' (influenced by Aesop's) in the 17th century. Rather than being fully allegorical, however, a poem may contain [[symbols]] or [[allusion]]s that deepen the meaning or effect of its words without constructing a full allegory.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crisp |first=P. |date=1 November 2005 |title=Allegory and symbol – a fundamental opposition? |journal=Language and Literature |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=323–338 |doi=10.1177/0963947005051287|s2cid=170517936 }}</ref>

Another element of poetic diction can be the use of vivid [[imagery (literature)|imagery]] for effect. The juxtaposition of unexpected or impossible images is, for example, a particularly strong element in surrealist poetry and [[haiku]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gilbert |first=Richard |year=2004 |title=The Disjunctive Dragonfly |journal=Modern Haiku |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=21–44}}</ref> Vivid images are often endowed with symbolism or metaphor. Many poetic dictions use repetitive phrases for effect, either a short phrase (such as Homer's "rosy-fingered dawn" or "the wine-dark sea") or a longer [[refrain]]. Such repetition can add a somber tone to a poem, or can be laced with irony as the context of the words changes.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hollander|1981|pp=37–46}}</ref>