Poetry Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! {{Short description|Form of literature}} {{About|the art form}} {{redirect|Love poem|the EP|Love Poem (EP){{!}}''Love Poem'' (EP)|the IU song|Love Poem (song)}} {{pp-pc1}} {{pp-move-indef}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Literature}} '''Poetry''' (a term derived from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word ''[[poiesis]]'', "making"), also called '''verse''',{{NoteTag|The word "verse" functions here as a [[synecdoche]] which takes the poetic element of [[verse (poetry)|verse]] as representative of the entire art form. The word "verse" is often so used when comparing poetry to [[prose]].}} is a form of [[literature]] that uses [[aesthetics|aesthetic]] and often [[rhythm]]ic<!-- Please discuss on talk page before removing or altering this word. Dictionary definitions of "poetry" tend to include, in addition to the aesthetic quality of poetry, a structural/rhythmical/metrical quality as well. --><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/poetry?q=poetry |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618104733/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/poetry?q=poetry |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 June 2013 |title=Poetry |year=2013 |website=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=Oxford University Press |quote=poetry [...] Literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poetry |title=Poetry |year=2013 |website=Merriam-Webster |quote=poetry [...] 2 : writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/poetry?s=t |title=Poetry |year=2013 |website=Dictionary.com |quote=poetry [...] 1 the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts. |postscript=—Based on the Random House Dictionary}}</ref> qualities of [[language]] − such as [[phonaesthetics]], [[sound symbolism]], and [[metre (poetry)|metre]] − to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, a [[Prose|prosaic]] ostensible [[meaning (linguistics)|meaning]]. A '''poem''' is a [[Composition (language)|literary composition]], written by a [[poet]], using this principle. Poetry has a long and varied [[history of poetry|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 River|Niger]], and [[Volta River]] valleys.<ref>Ruth Finnegan, ''Oral Literature in Africa'', Open Book Publishers, 2012.</ref> 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]]. Early poems in the [[Eurasia]]n continent evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese [[Classic of Poetry|''Shijing'']] as well as from religious [[hymn]]s (the [[Sanskrit literature|Sanskrit]] ''[[Rigveda]]'', the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] [[Gatha (Zoroaster)|''Gathas'']], the ''[[Hurrian songs]]'', and the Hebrew ''[[Psalms]]''); or from a need to retell oral epics, as with the Egyptian ''[[Story of Sinuhe]]'', [[Indian epic poetry]], and the [[Homer]]ic epics, the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]''. Ancient Greek attempts to define poetry, such as [[Aristotle]]'s [[Poetics (Aristotle)|''Poetics'']], focused on the uses of [[Speech communication|speech]] in [[rhetoric]], [[drama]], [[song]], and [[comedy]]. Later attempts concentrated on features such as [[Repetition (rhetorical device)|repetition]], [[line (poetry)|verse form]], and [[rhyme]], and emphasized the aesthetics which distinguish poetry from more objectively-informative [[Prose|prosaic]] writing. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential [[Aesthetic interpretation|interpretations]] of words, or to evoke [[emotion|emotive]] responses. Devices such as [[assonance]], [[alliteration]], [[onomatopoeia]], and [[rhythm]] may convey [[music]]al or [[incantation|incantatory]] effects. The use of [[ambiguity]], [[symbol]]ism, [[irony]], and other [[stylistics (linguistics)|stylistic]] elements of [[poetic diction]] often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly, figures of speech such as [[metaphor]], [[simile]], and [[metonymy]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Strachan |first1=John R. |title=Poetry: an introduction |last2=Terry |first2=Richard G. |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8147-9797-6 |page=119}}</ref> establish a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between individual [[Verse (poetry)|verses]], in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm. Some poetry types are unique to particular [[culture]]s and [[genre]]s and respond to characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. Readers accustomed to identifying poetry with [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]], [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]], [[Adam Mickiewicz|Mickiewicz]], or [[Rumi]] may think of it as written in [[Line (poetry)|lines]] based on [[rhyme]] and regular [[meter (poetry)|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,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eliot |first=T. S. |title=Selected Essays |publisher=Faber & Faber |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-15-180387-3 |pages=13–34 |chapter=The Function of Criticism |orig-date=1923}}</ref> testing the principle of euphony itself or altogether forgoing rhyme or set rhythm.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Longenbach |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/modernpoetryafte0000long |title=Modern Poetry After Modernism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-19-510178-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernpoetryafte0000long/page/9 9], 103 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/harvillbookoftwe0000unse/page/ |title=The Harvill Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry in English |publisher=Harvill Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-86046-735-6 |editor-last=Schmidt |editor-first=Michael |pages=[https://archive.org/details/harvillbookoftwe0000unse/page/ xxvii–xxxiii]}}</ref> Poets – as, from the [[ancient Greek language|Greek]], "makers" of language – have contributed to the evolution of the linguistic, expressive, and utilitarian qualities of their languages. In an increasingly [[globalization|globalized]] world, poets often adapt forms, styles, and techniques from diverse cultures and languages. A [[Western culture|Western cultural]] tradition (extending at least from [[Homer]] to [[Rainer Maria Rilke|Rilke]]) associates the production of poetry with [[Artistic inspiration|inspiration]] – often by a [[Muse]] (either classical or contemporary), or through other (often canonised) poets' work which sets some kind of example or challenge. {{Anchor|Speaker}} In first-person poems, the lyrics are spoken by an "I", a [[character (arts)|character]] who may be termed the ''speaker'', distinct from the [[poet]] (the ''author''). Thus if, for example, a poem asserts, "I killed my enemy in Reno", it is the speaker, not the poet, who is the killer (unless this "confession" is a form of [[metaphor]] which needs to be considered in closer [[context (linguistics)|context]] – via [[close reading]]). ==History== {{Main|History of poetry|Literary theory}} ===Early works=== Some scholars believe that the art of poetry may predate [[literacy]], and developed from folk [[epic poetry|epics]] and other oral genres.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1= Höivik |first1= Susan |last2= Luger |first2=Kurt |date= 3 June 2009 |title= Folk Media for Biodiversity Conservation: A Pilot Project from the Himalaya-Hindu Kush |journal= International Communication Gazette |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=321–346 |doi= 10.1177/1748048509102184|s2cid= 143947520}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Goody |first=Jack | author-link=Jack Goody |url= https://archive.org/details/interfacebetween00good |title= The Interface Between the Written and the Oral |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year= 1987 |isbn= 978-0-521-33794-6 |page= [https://archive.org/details/interfacebetween00good/page/78 78] |quote= [...] poetry, tales, recitations of various kinds existed long before writing was introduced and these oral forms continued in modified 'oral' forms, even after the establishment of a written literature. |url-access= registration}}</ref> Others, however, suggest that poetry did not necessarily predate writing.<ref name="Goody, Jack 1987 98">{{Cite book |last= Goody |first=Jack |url= https://archive.org/details/interfacebetween00good |title= The Interface Between the Written and the Oral |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year= 1987 |isbn= 978-0-521-33794-6 |page= [https://archive.org/details/interfacebetween00good/page/98 98] |url-access= registration}}</ref> The oldest surviving epic poem, the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'', dates from the 3rd millennium{{nbsp}}BCE in [[Sumer]] (in [[Mesopotamia]], present-day [[Iraq]]), and was written in [[cuneiform]] script on clay tablets and, later, on [[papyrus]].<ref>{{Cite book |translator-last= Sanders | translator-first=N. K. | translator-link=Nancy Sandars |title= The Epic of Gilgamesh |publisher= Penguin Books |year= 1972 |edition= Revised |pages= 7–8}}</ref> The [[Istanbul 2461|Istanbul tablet#2461]], dating to {{circa}}{{nbsp}}2000{{nbsp}}BCE, describes an annual rite in which the king [[Hieros gamos|symbolically married]] and mated with the goddess [[Inanna]] to ensure fertility and prosperity; some have labelled it the world's oldest love poem.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.worldhistory.org/article/750/ |title= The World's Oldest Love Poem |last= Mark |first=Joshua J. |date= 13 August 2014 |quote= '[...] What I held in my hand was one of the oldest love songs written down by the hand of man [...].'}}</ref><ref name="oldest_poem">{{Cite news |last= Arsu |first= Şebnem |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/international/europe/14poem.html?_r=0 |title= Oldest Line in the World |access-date= 1 May 2015 |work= The New York Times|date= 14 February 2006 |quote= A small tablet in a special display this month in the Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient is thought to be the oldest love poem ever found, the words of a lover from more than 4,000 years ago.}}</ref> An example of Egyptian epic poetry is [[Story of Sinuhe|''The Story of Sinuhe'']] (c. 1800 BCE).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Chyla |first1=Julia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6u4mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA159 |title=Current Research in Egyptology 17 |last2=Rosińska-Balik |first2=Karolina |last3=Debowska-Ludwin |first3=Joanna |date=2017 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=978-1-78570-603-5 |pages=159–161 |language=en}}</ref> Other ancient epics includes the Greek ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]''; the Persian [[Avestan]] books (the ''[[Yasna]]''); the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[national epic]], [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' (written between 29 and 19 BCE); and the [[Indian epic poetry|Indian epics]], the ''[[Ramayana]]'' and the ''[[Mahabharata]]''. Epic poetry appears to have been composed in poetic form as an aid to memorization and oral transmission in ancient societies.<ref name="Goody, Jack 1987 98" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1= Ahl |first1=Frederick |url= https://archive.org/details/odysseyreformed00ahlf |title= The Odyssey Re-Formed |last2= Roisman |first2=Hanna M. |publisher= Cornell University Press |year= 1996 |isbn= 978-0-8014-8335-6 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/odysseyreformed00ahlf/page/1 1–26] |url-access= registration}}.</ref> Other forms of poetry, including such ancient collections of religious [[hymn]]s as the Indian [[Sanskrit]]-language ''[[Rigveda]]'', the Avestan [[Gatha (Zoroaster)|''Gathas'']], the ''[[Hurrian songs]]'', and the Hebrew ''[[Psalms]]'', possibly developed directly from [[folk song]]s. The earliest entries in the oldest extant collection of [[Chinese poetry]], the ''[[Classic of Poetry]]'' (''Shijing''), were initially [[lyrics]].<ref name="Ebrey">{{Cite book |last=Ebrey |first=Patricia |author-link=Patricia Buckley Ebrey |url=https://archive.org/details/chinesecivilizat00patr/page/11 |title=Chinese Civilisation: A Sourcebook |publisher=The Free Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-02-908752-7 |edition=2nd |pages=[https://archive.org/details/chinesecivilizat00patr/page/11 11–13]}}</ref> The Shijing, with its collection of poems and folk songs, was heavily valued by the philosopher [[Confucius]] and is considered to be one of the official [[Four Books and Five Classics|Confucian classics]]. His remarks on the subject have become an invaluable source in [[Music theory#China|ancient music theory]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cai|first=Zong-qi|title=In Quest of Harmony: Plato and Confucius on Poetry|journal=Philosophy East and West|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1399898|date=July 1999|volume=49|issue=3|pages=317–345|doi=10.2307/1399898|jstor=1399898}}</ref> The efforts of ancient thinkers to determine what makes poetry distinctive as a form, and what distinguishes good poetry from bad, resulted in "[[poetics]]"—the study of the aesthetics of poetry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abondolo |first=Daniel |title=A poetics handbook: verbal art in the European tradition |publisher=Curzon |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7007-1223-6 |pages=52–53}}</ref> Some ancient societies, such as China's through the ''Shijing'', developed canons of poetic works that had ritual as well as aesthetic importance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gentz |first=Joachim |title=Text and Ritual in Early China |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-295-98787-3 |editor-last=Kern |editor-first=Martin |pages=124–148 |chapter=Ritual Meaning of Textual Form: Evidence from Early Commentaries of the Historiographic and Ritual Traditions}}</ref> More recently, thinkers have struggled to find a definition that could encompass formal differences as great as those between Chaucer's [[The Canterbury Tales|''Canterbury Tales'']] and [[Matsuo Bashō]]'s ''[[Oku no Hosomichi]]'', as well as differences in content spanning [[Hebrew Bible|Tanakh]] [[Biblical poetry|religious poetry]], love poetry, and [[rapping|rap]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Habib |first=Rafey |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofliterar0000habi/page/607 |title=A history of literary criticism |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-631-23200-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofliterar0000habi/page/607 607–609, 620]}}</ref> Until recently, the earliest examples of [[stressed poetry]] had been thought to be works composed by [[Romanos the Melodist]] (''fl.'' 6th century CE). However, [[Tim Whitmarsh]] writes that an inscribed Greek poem predated Romanos' stressed poetry. <ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.archaeology.org/issues/459-2203/digs/10346-digs-roman-stressed-meter-poetry |title= Poetic License |author= Jarrett A. Lobell |date= March-April 2022 |website= Archaeology Magazine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207005404/https://www.archaeology.org/issues/459-2203/digs/10346-digs-roman-stressed-meter-poetry |archive-date= Dec 7, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/08/i-dont-care-text-shows-modern-poetry-began-much-earlier-than-believed |title= 'I don't care': text shows modern poetry began much earlier than believed |author= Alison Flood |date= September 8, 2021 |website=The Guardian |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118071914/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/08/i-dont-care-text-shows-modern-poetry-began-much-earlier-than-believed |archive-date= Jan 18, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title= Less Care, More Stress: A Rythmyic Poem From the Romas Empire |s2cid-access=free |author= Tim Whitmarsh |date= August 2021 |journal= The Cambridge Classical Journal|volume= 67 |pages= 135–163 |doi= 10.1017/S1750270521000051 |s2cid= 242230189 |doi-access= free }}</ref> <gallery mode="packed" heights="220"> File:The oldest love poem. Sumerian terracotta tablet from Nippur, Iraq. Ur III period, 2037-2029 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg|The oldest known love poem. Sumerian [[Istanbul 2461|terracotta tablet#2461]] from Nippur, Iraq. Ur III period, 2037–2029 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul File:Confucius the scholar.jpg|The philosopher [[Confucius]] was influential in the developed approach to poetry and [[Music theory#China|ancient music theory]]. File:Manuscript from Shanghai Museum 1.jpg|An early Chinese [[poetics]], the ''Kǒngzǐ Shīlùn'' (孔子詩論), discussing the [[Classic of Poetry|''Shijing'']] (''Classic of Poetry'') </gallery> ===Western traditions=== [[File:Aristoteles Louvre.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Aristotle]]]] Classical thinkers in the [[Western culture|West]] employed classification as a way to define and assess the quality of poetry. Notably, the existing fragments of [[Aristotle]]'s [[Poetics (Aristotle)|''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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Aristotle's ''Poetics'' |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-14-044636-4 |editor-last=Heath |editor-first=Malcolm}}</ref> Later [[Aesthetics|aestheticians]] identified three major genres: epic poetry, [[Greek lyric|lyric poetry]], and [[Verse drama and dramatic verse|dramatic poetry]], treating [[comedy]] and [[tragedy]] as [[Genre|subgenres]] of dramatic poetry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frow |first=John |title=Genre |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-415-28063-1 |edition=Reprint |pages=57–59}}</ref> [[File:John keats.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[John Keats]]]] Aristotle's work was influential throughout the Middle East during the [[Islamic Golden Age]],<ref>{{cite journal |last= Boggess |first=William F. |title='Hermannus Alemannus' Latin Anthology of Arabic Poetry |journal= Journal of the American Oriental Society |year= 1968 |volume= 88 |issue= 4 |pages= 657–670 |doi= 10.2307/598112 |jstor= 598112}} {{Cite book |last=Burnett |first=Charles |title=Poetry and Philosophy in the Middle Ages: A Festschrift for Peter Dronke |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |year=2001 |isbn=978-90-04-11964-2 |pages=29–62 |chapter=Learned Knowledge of Arabic Poetry, Rhymed Prose, and Didactic Verse from Petrus Alfonsi to Petrarch}}</ref> as well as in Europe during the [[Renaissance]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grendler |first=Paul F. |title=The Universities of the Italian Renaissance |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8018-8055-1 |page=239}}</ref> Later poets and aestheticians often distinguished poetry from, and defined it in opposition to [[prose]], which they generally understood as writing with a proclivity to logical explication and a linear narrative structure.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kant |first=Immanuel |translator-last=Bernard |translator-first=J. H. |title=Critique of Judgment |publisher=Macmillan |year=1914 |page=131}} Kant argues that the nature of poetry as a self-consciously abstract and beautiful form raises it to the highest level among the verbal arts, with tone or music following it, and only after that the more logical and narrative prose.</ref> This does not imply that poetry is illogical or lacks narration, but rather that poetry is an attempt to render the beautiful or sublime without the burden of engaging the logical or narrative thought-process. English [[Romantic poetry|Romantic]] poet [[John Keats]] termed this escape from logic "[[negative capability]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ou |first=Li |title=Keats and negative capability |publisher=Continuum |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4411-4724-0 |pages=1–3}}</ref> This "romantic" approach views [[form (disambiguation)|form]] as a key element of successful poetry because form is abstract and distinct from the underlying notional logic. This approach remained influential into the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watten |first=Barrett |title=The constructivist moment: from material text to cultural poetics |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8195-6610-2 |pages=17–19}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Abu-Mahfouz |first=Ahmad |year=2008 |title=Translation as a Blending of Cultures |journal=Journal of Translation |volume=4 |issue=1 |doi=10.54395/jot-x8fne|doi-access=free|pages=1–5}}</ref> In addition to a boom in [[translation]], during the Romantic period numerous ancient works were rediscovered.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Highet |first=Gilbert |title=The classical tradition: Greek and Roman influences on western literature |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-19-500206-5 |edition=Reissued |pages=355, 360, 479}}</ref> ===20th-century and 21st-century disputes=== [[File:Archibaldmacleish.jpeg|thumb|upright|[[Archibald MacLeish]]]] Some 20th-century [[Literary theory|literary theorists]] rely less on the ostensible opposition of prose and poetry, instead focusing on the poet as simply one who [[creation (disambiguation)|creates]] using language, and poetry as what the poet creates.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wimsatt |first1=William K. Jr. |title=Literary Criticism: A Short History |last2=Brooks |first2=Cleanth |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1957 |page=374}}</ref> The underlying concept of the poet as [[creative work|creator]] is not uncommon, and some [[modernist poetry|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Jeannine |title=Why write poetry?: modern poets defending their art |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8386-4105-7 |page=148}}</ref> The rejection of traditional forms and structures for poetry that began in the first half of the 20th century coincided with a questioning of the purpose and meaning of traditional definitions of poetry and of distinctions between poetry and prose, particularly given examples of poetic prose and prosaic poetry. Numerous modernist poets have written in non-traditional forms or in what traditionally would have been considered prose, although their writing was generally infused with poetic diction and often with rhythm and [[Tone (literature)|tone]] established by [[Metre (poetry)|non-metrical]] means. While there was a substantial [[New Formalism|formalist]] reaction within the modernist schools to the breakdown of structure, this reaction focused as much on the development of new formal structures and syntheses as on the revival of older forms and structures.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge companion to modernist poetry |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-61815-1 |editor-last1=Jenkins |editor-first1=Lee M. |pages=1–7, 38, 156 |editor-last2=Davis |editor-first2=Alex}}</ref> [[Postmodernism]] goes beyond modernism's emphasis on the creative role of the poet, to emphasize the role of the reader of a text ([[hermeneutics]]), and to highlight the complex cultural web within which a poem is read.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barthes |first=Roland |author-link=Roland Barthes |title=Image-Music-Text |publisher=Farrar, Straus & Giroux |year=1978 |pages=142–148 |chapter=[[Death of the author|Death of the Author]]}}</ref> Today, throughout the world, poetry often incorporates poetic form and diction from other cultures and from the past, further confounding attempts at definition and classification that once made sense within a tradition such as the [[Western canon]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Connor |first=Steven |title=Postmodernist culture: an introduction to theories of the contemporary |publisher=Blackwell |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-631-20052-9 |edition=2nd |pages=123–28}}</ref> The early 21st-century poetic tradition appears to continue to strongly orient itself to earlier precursor poetic traditions such as those initiated by [[Walt Whitman|Whitman]], [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]], and [[William Wordsworth|Wordsworth]]. The literary critic [[Geoffrey Hartman]] (1929–2016) used the phrase "the anxiety of demand" to describe the contemporary response to older poetic traditions as "being fearful that the fact no longer has a form",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Preminger |first=Alex |title=Princeton Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics |publisher=Macmillan Press |year=1975 |isbn=978-1349156177 |location=London and Basingstoke |pages=919|edition=enlarged }}</ref> building on a trope introduced by Emerson. Emerson had maintained that in the debate concerning poetic structure where either "form" or "fact" could predominate, that one need simply "Ask the fact for the form." This has been challenged at various levels by other literary scholars such as [[Harold Bloom]] (1930–2019), who has stated: "The generation of poets who stand together now, mature and ready to write the major American verse of the twenty-first century, may yet be seen as what Stevens called 'a great shadow's last embellishment,' the shadow being Emerson's."<ref> {{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Harold |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_wS0rbeF72QC |title=Contemporary Poets |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1604135886 |editor-last=Bloom |editor-first=Harold |editor-link=Harold Bloom |edition=revised |series=Bloom's modern critical views |location=New York |date=2010 |page=7 |chapter=Introduction |quote=The generation of poets who stand together now, mature and ready to write the major American verse of the twenty-first century, may yet be seen as what Stevens called 'a great shadow's last embellishment,' the shadow being Emerson's. |author-link=Harold Bloom |access-date=7 May 2019 |orig-date=1986}} </ref> ==Elements== ===Prosody=== {{Main|Meter (poetry)}} Prosody is the study of the meter, [[rhythm]], and [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]] of a poem. Rhythm and meter are different, although closely related.<ref>{{Harvnb|Pinsky|1998|p=52}}</ref> 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 [[scansion|scanning]] of poetic lines to show meter.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|pp=20–21}}</ref> ====Rhythm==== {{Main|Timing (linguistics)|tone (linguistics)|Pitch accent}} [[File:Robinsonjeffers (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Robinson Jeffers]]]] The methods for creating poetic rhythm vary across languages and between poetic traditions. Languages are often described as having timing set primarily by [[stress-timed language|accents]], [[syllable-timed language|syllables]], or [[mora-timed language|moras]], depending on how rhythm is established, although a language can be influenced by multiple approaches. [[Japanese Language|Japanese]] is a [[mora (linguistics)|mora]]-timed language. [[Latin language|Latin]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[French language|French]], [[Leonese language|Leonese]], [[Galician language|Galician]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] are called syllable-timed languages. Stress-timed languages include [[English language|English]], [[Russian language|Russian]] and, generally, [[German language|German]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schülter |first=Julia |title=Rhythmic Grammar |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2005 |pages=24, 304, 332}}</ref> Varying [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]] also affects how rhythm is perceived. Languages can rely on either pitch or tone. Some languages with a pitch accent are Vedic Sanskrit or Ancient Greek. [[Tonal language]]s include Chinese, Vietnamese and most [[Niger–Congo languages|Subsaharan languages]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yip |first=Moira |author-link=Moira Yip |title=Tone |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-77314-0 |series=Cambridge textbooks in linguistics |pages=1–4, 130}}</ref> Metrical rhythm generally involves precise arrangements of stresses or syllables into repeated patterns called [[foot (prosody)|feet]] within a line. In Modern English verse the pattern of stresses primarily differentiate feet, so rhythm based on meter in Modern English is most often founded on the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (alone or [[elision|elided]]).<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|p=12}}</ref> In the [[classical languages]], on the other hand, while the [[Meter (music)|metrical]] units are similar, [[vowel length]] rather than stresses define the meter.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jorgens |first=Elise Bickford |title=The well-tun'd word : musical interpretations of English poetry, 1597–1651 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-8166-1029-7 |page=23}}</ref> [[Old English]] poetry used a metrical pattern involving varied numbers of syllables but a fixed number of strong stresses in each line.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|pp=75–76}}</ref> [[File:Marianne Moore 1935.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Marianne Moore]]]] The chief device of ancient [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[Biblical poetry]], including many of the [[psalms]], was ''[[parallelism (rhetoric)|parallelism]]'', a rhetorical structure in which successive lines reflected each other in grammatical structure, sound structure, notional content, or all three. Parallelism lent itself to [[antiphon]]al or [[call and response (music)|call-and-response]] performance, which could also be reinforced by [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]]. Thus, Biblical poetry relies much less on metrical feet to create rhythm, but instead creates rhythm based on much larger sound units of lines, phrases and sentences.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walker-Jones |first=Arthur |title=Hebrew for biblical interpretation |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-58983-086-8 |pages=211–213}}</ref> Some classical poetry forms, such as [[Venpa]] of the [[Tamil language]], had rigid grammars (to the point that they could be expressed as a [[context-free grammar]]) which ensured a rhythm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bala Sundara Raman |first1=L. |last2=Ishwar |first2=S. |last3=Kumar Ravindranath |first3=Sanjeeth |year=2003 |title=Context Free Grammar for Natural Language Constructs: An implementation for Venpa Class of Tamil Poetry |journal=Tamil Internet |pages=128–136 |citeseerx=10.1.1.3.7738}}</ref> [[Shi (poetry)|Classical Chinese poetics]], based on the [[Four tones (Middle Chinese)|tone system of Middle Chinese]], recognized two kinds of tones: the level (平 ''píng'') tone and the oblique (仄 ''zè'') tones, a category consisting of the rising (上 ''sháng'') tone, the departing (去 ''qù'') tone and the entering (入 ''rù'') tone. Certain forms of poetry placed constraints on which syllables were required to be level and which oblique. The formal patterns of meter used in Modern English verse to create rhythm no longer dominate contemporary English poetry. In the case of [[free verse]], rhythm is often organized based on looser units of [[Cadence (poetry)|cadence]] rather than a regular meter. [[Robinson Jeffers]], [[Marianne Moore]], and [[William Carlos Williams]] are three notable poets who reject the idea that regular accentual meter is critical to English poetry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hartman |first=Charles O. |title=Free Verse An Essay on Prosody |publisher=Northwestern University Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-8101-1316-9 |pages=24, 44, 47}}</ref> Jeffers experimented with [[sprung rhythm]] as an alternative to accentual rhythm.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hollander|1981|p=22}}</ref> ====Meter==== {{Main|Scansion}} [[File:Alkaios Sappho Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2416 n2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Attica|Attic]] [[red-figure]] ''kathalos'' painting of [[Sappho]] from c. 470 BCE<ref>{{Citation |last=McClure |first=Laura K. |title=Sexuality and Gender in the Classical World: Readings and Sources |date=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W742ZLpdLBoC&q=Glyptothek+Sappho+and+Alcaeus&pg=PA38 |page=38 |place=Oxford, England |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |isbn=978-0-631-22589-8 }}</ref>]] In the Western poetic tradition, meters are customarily grouped according to a characteristic [[Foot (prosody)|metrical foot]] and the number of feet per line.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|p=24}}</ref> The number of metrical feet in a line are described using Greek terminology: [[tetrameter]] for four feet and [[hexameter]] for six feet, for example.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|pp=25, 34}}</ref> Thus, "[[iambic pentameter]]" is a meter comprising five feet per line, in which the predominant kind of foot is the "[[Iamb (poetry)|iamb]]". This metric system originated in ancient [[Greek poetry]], and was used by poets such as [[Pindar]] and [[Sappho]], and by the great [[Tragedy|tragedians]] of [[Athens]]. Similarly, "[[dactylic hexameter]]", comprises six feet per line, of which the dominant kind of foot is the "[[dactyl (poetry)|dactyl]]". Dactylic hexameter was the traditional meter of Greek [[epic poetry]], the earliest extant examples of which are the works of [[Homer]] and [[Hesiod]].<ref name="greek">{{Cite web |url=http://aoidoi.org/articles/meter/intro.pdf |title=Introduction to Greek Meter |last=Annis |first=William S. |date=January 2006 |publisher=Aoidoi |pages=1–15}}</ref> Iambic pentameter and dactylic hexameter were later used by a number of poets, including [[William Shakespeare]] and [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]], respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.unibl.eu/pdf/examples_metrical_systems.pdf |title=Examples of English metrical systems |publisher=Fondazione Universitaria in provincia di Belluno |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308211254/http://www.unibl.eu/pdf/examples_metrical_systems.pdf |archive-date=8 March 2012 |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref> The most common metrical feet in English are:<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|pp=23–24}}</ref> [[File:Homer British Museum.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Homer]]: Roman bust, based on Greek original<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=460092&partId=1 |title=Portrait Bust |website=britishmuseum.org |publisher=The British Museum}}</ref>]] * [[Iamb (poetry)|iamb]] – one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (e.g. des-'''cribe''', in-'''clude''', re-'''tract''') * [[trochee]]{{mdash}}one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (e.g. '''pic'''-ture, '''flow'''-er) * [[dactyl (poetry)|dactyl]] – one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (e.g. '''an'''-no-tate, '''sim'''-i-lar) * [[anapaest]]{{mdash}}two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (e.g. com-pre-'''hend''') * [[spondee]]{{mdash}}two stressed syllables together (e.g. '''heart'''-'''beat''', '''four'''-'''teen''') * [[pyrrhic]]{{mdash}}two unstressed syllables together (rare, usually used to end dactylic hexameter) There are a wide range of names for other types of feet, right up to a [[choriamb]], a four syllable metric foot with a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables and closing with a stressed syllable. The choriamb is derived from some ancient [[Greek literature|Greek]] and [[Latin poetry]].<ref name=greek/> Languages which use [[vowel length]] or [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]] rather than or in addition to syllabic accents in determining meter, such as [[Metre (poetry)#Ottoman Turkish|Ottoman Turkish]] or [[Vedic meter|Vedic]], often have concepts similar to the iamb and dactyl to describe common combinations of long and short sounds.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kiparsky |first=Paul |date=September 1975 |title=Stress, Syntax, and Meter |journal=Language |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=576–616 |doi=10.2307/412889 |jstor=412889}}</ref> Each of these types of feet has a certain "feel," whether alone or in combination with other feet. The iamb, for example, is the most natural form of rhythm in the English language, and generally produces a subtle but stable verse.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=John |title=The Founding of English Meter |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1961 |page=36}}</ref> Scanning meter can often show the basic or fundamental pattern underlying a verse, but does not show the varying degrees of [[stress (linguistics)|stress]], as well as the differing pitches and [[vowel length|lengths]] of syllables.<ref>{{Harvnb|Pinsky|1998|pp=11–24}}</ref> There is debate over how useful a multiplicity of different "feet" is in describing meter. For example, [[Robert Pinsky]] has argued that while dactyls are important in classical verse, English dactylic verse uses dactyls very irregularly and can be better described based on patterns of iambs and anapests, feet which he considers natural to the language.<ref>{{Harvnb|Pinsky|1998|p=66}}</ref> Actual rhythm is significantly more complex than the basic scanned meter described above, and many scholars have sought to develop systems that would scan such complexity. [[Vladimir Nabokov]] noted that overlaid on top of the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of verse was a separate pattern of accents resulting from the natural pitch of the spoken words, and suggested that the term "scud" be used to distinguish an unaccented stress from an accented stress.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nabokov |first=Vladimir |url=https://archive.org/details/notesonprosodyon0000nabo/page/9 |title=Notes on Prosody |publisher=[[Bollingen Foundation]] |year=1964 |isbn=978-0-691-01760-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/notesonprosodyon0000nabo/page/9 9–13]}}</ref> ====Metrical patterns==== {{Main|Meter (poetry)}} [[File:Lewis Carroll - Henry Holiday - Hunting of the Snark - Plate 6.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[The Hunting of the Snark]]'' (1876) is mainly in [[anapestic tetrameter]].]] 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. However, a number of variations to the established meter are common, both to provide emphasis or attention to a given foot or line and to avoid boring repetition. For example, the stress in a foot may be inverted, a [[caesura]] (or pause) may be added (sometimes in place of a foot or stress), or the final foot in a line may be given a [[Meter (poetry)|feminine ending]] to soften it or be replaced by a [[spondee]] to emphasize it and create a hard stop. Some patterns (such as iambic pentameter) tend to be fairly regular, while other patterns, such as dactylic hexameter, tend to be highly irregular.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|pp=36–71}}</ref> Regularity can vary between language. In addition, different patterns often develop distinctively in different languages, so that, for example, [[iambic tetrameter]] in Russian will generally reflect a regularity in the use of accents to reinforce the meter, which does not occur, or occurs to a much lesser extent, in English.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nabokov |first=Vladimir |url=https://archive.org/details/notesonprosodyon0000nabo/page/46 |title=Notes on Prosody |publisher=Bollingen Foundation |year=1964 |isbn=978-0-691-01760-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/notesonprosodyon0000nabo/page/46 46–47]}}</ref> [[File:Kiprensky Pushkin.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Alexander Pushkin]]]] Some common metrical patterns, with notable examples of poets and poems who use them, include: * [[Iambic pentameter]] ([[John Milton]], ''[[Paradise Lost]]''; [[William Shakespeare]], ''[[Shakespeare's Sonnets|Sonnets]]'')<ref>{{Harvnb|Adams|1997|p=206}}</ref> * [[Dactylic hexameter]] (Homer, ''[[Iliad]]''; [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'')<ref>{{Harvnb|Adams|1997|p=63}}</ref> * [[Iambic tetrameter]] ([[Andrew Marvell]], "[[To His Coy Mistress]]"; [[Alexander Pushkin]], ''[[Eugene Onegin]]''; [[Robert Frost]], ''[[Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening]]'')<ref name="tetra">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tetrameter.com |title=What is Tetrameter? |publisher=tetrameter.com |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref> * [[Trochaic octameter]] ([[Edgar Allan Poe]], "[[The Raven]]")<ref>{{Harvnb|Adams|1997|p=60}}</ref> * [[Trochaic tetrameter]] ([[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]], ''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]''; the Finnish national epic, ''[[Kalevala|The Kalevala]]'', is also in trochaic tetrameter, the natural rhythm of Finnish and Estonian) * {{lang|fr|[[Alexandrin]]}} ([[Jean Racine]], ''[[Phèdre]]'')<ref>{{Cite book |last1=James |first1=E. D. |url=https://archive.org/details/racinephdre00jame |title=Racine: Phèdre |last2=Jondorf |first2=G. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-521-39721-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/racinephdre00jame/page/32 32–34] |url-access=registration}}</ref> ===Rhyme, alliteration, assonance=== {{Main|Rhyme|Alliterative verse|Assonance}} [[File:Beowulf Cotton MS Vitellius A XV f. 132r.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Old English]] [[epic poem]] ''[[Beowulf]]'' is in [[alliterative]] [[Verse (poetry)|verse]].]] Rhyme, alliteration, assonance and [[Literary consonance|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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|p=65}}</ref> They can also carry a meaning separate from the repetitive sound patterns created. For example, [[Chaucer]] used heavy alliteration to mock Old English verse and to paint a character as archaic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Osberg |first=Richard H. |title=Essays on the art of Chaucer's Verse |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8153-2951-0 |editor-last=Gaylord |editor-first=Alan T. |pages=195–228 |chapter='I kan nat geeste': Chaucer's Artful Alliteration}}</ref> Rhyme consists of identical ("hard-rhyme") or similar ("soft-rhyme") sounds placed at the ends of lines or at locations within lines ("[[internal rhyme]]"). Languages vary in the richness of their rhyming structures; Italian, for example, has a rich rhyming structure permitting maintenance of a limited set of rhymes throughout a lengthy poem. The richness results from word endings that follow regular forms. English, with its irregular word endings adopted from other languages, is less rich in rhyme.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alighieri |first=Dante |translator-last=Pinsky |translator-first=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/infernoofdante00dant |title=The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation |publisher=Farrar, Straus & Giroux |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-374-17674-7 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref> The degree of richness of a language's rhyming structures plays a substantial role in determining what poetic forms are commonly used in that language.<ref name="kiparsky">{{Cite journal |last=Kiparsky |first=Paul |date=Summer 1973 |title=The Role of Linguistics in a Theory of Poetry |journal=Daedalus |volume=102 |issue=3 |pages=231–44}}</ref> Alliteration is the repetition of letters or letter-sounds at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals; or the recurrence of the same letter in accented parts of words. Alliteration and assonance played a key role in structuring early Germanic, Norse and Old English forms of poetry. The alliterative patterns of early Germanic poetry interweave meter and alliteration as a key part of their structure, so that the metrical pattern determines when the listener expects instances of alliteration to occur. This can be compared to an ornamental use of alliteration in most Modern European poetry, where alliterative patterns are not formal or carried through full stanzas. Alliteration is particularly useful in languages with less rich rhyming structures. Assonance, where the use of similar vowel sounds within a word rather than similar sounds at the beginning or end of a word, was widely used in [[skald]]ic poetry but goes back to the Homeric epic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russom |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Russom |url=https://archive.org/details/beowulfoldgerman0000russ |title=Beowulf and old Germanic metre |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-521-59340-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beowulfoldgerman0000russ/page/64 64–86] |url-access=registration}}</ref> Because verbs carry much of the pitch in the English language, assonance can loosely evoke the tonal elements of Chinese poetry and so is useful in translating Chinese poetry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Liu |first=James J. Y. |title=Art of Chinese Poetry |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-226-48687-1 |pages=21–22}}</ref> Consonance occurs where a consonant sound is repeated throughout a sentence without putting the sound only at the front of a word. Consonance provokes a more subtle effect than alliteration and so is less useful as a structural element.<ref name=kiparsky/> ====Rhyming schemes==== {{Main|Rhyme scheme}} [[File:Paradiso Canto 31.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Divine Comedy]]'': [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] and [[Beatrice Portinari|Beatrice]] see God as a point of light.]] 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 [[ballad]]s, [[sonnet]]s and [[couplet|rhyming couplets]]. However, the use of structural rhyme is not universal even within the European tradition. Much modern poetry avoids traditional [[rhyme scheme]]s. Classical Greek and Latin poetry did not use rhyme.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wesling |first=Donald |url=https://archive.org/details/chancesofrhymede0000wesl |title=The chances of rhyme |publisher=University of California Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-520-03861-5 |pages=x–xi, 38–42 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Rhyme entered European poetry in the [[High Middle Ages]], due to the influence of the [[Arabic language]] in [[Al Andalus]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Menocal |first=María Rosa |author-link=María Rosa Menocal |title=The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8122-1324-9 |page=88}}</ref> Arabic language poets used rhyme extensively not only with the development of literary Arabic in the [[6th century in poetry|sixth century]], but also with the much older oral poetry, as in their long, rhyming [[qasida]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Qasida poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa |publisher=Brill |year=1996 |isbn=978-90-04-10387-0 |editor-last=Sperl |editor-first=Stefan |page=49}}</ref> Some rhyming schemes have become associated with a specific language, culture or period, while other rhyming schemes have achieved use across languages, cultures or time periods. Some forms of poetry carry a consistent and well-defined rhyming scheme, such as the [[chant royal]] or the [[Ruba'i|rubaiyat]], while other poetic forms have variable rhyme schemes.<ref>{{Harvnb|Adams|1997|pp=71–104}}</ref> Most rhyme schemes are described using letters that correspond to sets of rhymes, so if the first, second and fourth lines of a quatrain rhyme with each other and the third line do not rhyme, the quatrain is said to have an AA BA [[rhyme scheme]]. This rhyme scheme is the one used, for example, in the rubaiyat form.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|p=27}}</ref> Similarly, an A BB A quatrain (what is known as "[[enclosed rhyme]]") is used in such forms as the [[Petrarchan sonnet]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Adams|1997|pp=88–91}}</ref> Some types of more complicated rhyming schemes have developed names of their own, separate from the "a-bc" convention, such as the [[ottava rima]] and [[terza rima]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|pp=81–82, 85}}</ref> The types and use of differing rhyming schemes are discussed further in the [[rhyme scheme|main article]]. ===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]]. Free verse is, however, not "formless" but composed of a series of more subtle, more flexible prosodic elements.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://literarydevices.com/free-verse/ |title=FREE VERSE |date=25 May 2015 |access-date=22 May 2021}}</ref> Thus poetry remains, in all its styles, distinguished from prose by form;<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/f/forms-of-verse-free-verse/ |title=Forms of verse: Free verse [Victoria and Albert Museum] |date=4 July 2011 |access-date=22 May 2021}}</ref> some regard for basic formal structures of poetry will be found in all varieties of free verse, however much such structures may appear to have been ignored.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whitworth |first=Michael H. |title=Reading modernist poetry |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4051-6731-4 |page=74}}</ref> Similarly, in the best poetry written in classic styles there will be departures from strict form for emphasis or effect.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hollander|1981|pp=50–51}}</ref> Among major structural elements used in poetry are the line, the [[stanza]] or [[verse paragraph]], and larger combinations of stanzas or lines such as [[canto]]s. Also sometimes used are broader visual presentations of words and [[calligraphy]]. These basic units of poetic form are often combined into larger structures, called ''poetic forms'' or poetic modes (see the following section), as in the [[sonnet]]. ====Lines and stanzas==== {{main|Line (poetry)|Stanza}} Poetry is often separated into lines on a page, in a process known as [[line break (poetry)|lineation]]. These lines may be based on the number of metrical feet or may emphasize a rhyming pattern at the ends of lines. Lines may serve other functions, particularly where the poem is not written in a formal metrical pattern. Lines can separate, compare or contrast thoughts expressed in different units, or can highlight a change in tone.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|pp=7–13}}</ref> See the article on [[line break (poetry)|line breaks]] for information about the division between lines. Lines of poems are often organized into [[stanza]]s, which are denominated by the number of lines included. Thus a collection of two lines is a [[couplet]] (or [[distich]]), three lines a [[tercet|triplet]] (or [[tercet]]), four lines a [[quatrain]], and so on. These lines may or may not relate to each other by rhyme or rhythm. For example, a couplet may be two lines with identical meters which rhyme or two lines held together by a common meter alone.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|pp=78–82}}</ref> [[File:Alexander Blok - Noch, ulica, fonar, apteka.jpg|thumb|[[Alexander Blok|Blok]]'s [[Russian language|Russian]] poem, "''Noch, ulitsa, fonar, apteka''" ("Night, street, lamp, drugstore"), on a wall in [[Leiden]]]] Other poems may be organized into [[verse paragraph]]s, in which regular rhymes with established rhythms are not used, but the poetic tone is instead established by a collection of rhythms, alliterations, and rhymes established in paragraph form.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|p=78}}</ref> Many medieval poems were written in verse paragraphs, even where regular rhymes and rhythms were used.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Middle English Literature: a guide to criticism |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-631-23290-2 |editor-last=Dalrymple |editor-first=Roger |page=10}}</ref> In many forms of poetry, stanzas are interlocking, so that the rhyming scheme or other structural elements of one stanza determine those of succeeding stanzas. Examples of such interlocking stanzas include, for example, the [[ghazal]] and the [[villanelle]], where a refrain (or, in the case of the villanelle, refrains) is established in the first stanza which then repeats in subsequent stanzas. Related to the use of interlocking stanzas is their use to separate thematic parts of a poem. For example, the [[strophe]], [[antistrophe]] and [[epode]] of the ode form are often separated into one or more stanzas.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|pp=78–79}}</ref> In some cases, particularly lengthier formal poetry such as some forms of epic poetry, stanzas themselves are constructed according to strict rules and then combined. In [[skald]]ic poetry, the [[dróttkvætt]] stanza had eight lines, each having three "lifts" produced with alliteration or assonance. In addition to two or three alliterations, the odd-numbered lines had partial rhyme of consonants with dissimilar vowels, not necessarily at the beginning of the word; the even lines contained internal rhyme in set syllables (not necessarily at the end of the word). Each half-line had exactly six syllables, and each line ended in a trochee. The arrangement of dróttkvætts followed far less rigid rules than the construction of the individual dróttkvætts.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture |publisher=Blackwell |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-4051-3738-6 |editor-last=McTurk |editor-first=Rory |editor-link=Rory McTurk |pages=269–280}}</ref> ====Visual presentation==== {{Main|Visual poetry}} Even before the advent of printing, the visual appearance of poetry often added meaning or depth. [[Acrostic]] poems conveyed meanings in the initial letters of lines or in letters at other specific places in a poem.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Freedman |first=David Noel |date=July 1972 |title=Acrostics and Metrics in Hebrew Poetry |journal=Harvard Theological Review |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=367–392 |doi=10.1017/s0017816000001620|s2cid=162853305 }}</ref> In [[Arabic poetry|Arabic]], [[Jewish literature#Poetry|Hebrew]] and [[Chinese poetry]], the visual presentation of finely [[calligraphy|calligraphed]] poems has played an important part in the overall effect of many poems.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kampf |first=Robert |title=Reading the Visual – 17th century poetry and visual culture |publisher=GRIN Verlag |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-640-60011-3 |pages=4–6}}</ref> With the advent of [[printing]], poets gained greater control over the mass-produced visual presentations of their work. Visual elements have become an important part of the poet's toolbox, and many poets have sought to use visual presentation for a wide range of purposes. Some [[Modernism|Modernist]] poets have made the placement of individual lines or groups of lines on the page an integral part of the poem's composition. At times, this complements the poem's [[rhythm]] through visual [[caesura]]s of various lengths, or creates [[Contrast (linguistics)|juxtapositions]] so as to accentuate meaning, [[ambiguity]] or [[irony]], or simply to create an aesthetically pleasing form. In its most extreme form, this can lead to [[concrete poetry]] or [[asemic writing]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bohn |first=Willard |url=https://archive.org/details/aestheticsofvisu0000bohn/page/1 |title=The aesthetics of visual poetry |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-226-06325-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/aestheticsofvisu0000bohn/page/1 1–8]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2009/07/web-semantics-asemic-writing/ |title=Web Semantics: Asemic writing |last=Sterling |first=Bruce |date=13 July 2009 |magazine=Wired |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027152452/http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2009/07/web-semantics-asemic-writing/ |archive-date=2009-10-27 |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref> ===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> ==Forms== {{see also|Category: Poetic forms}} [[File:Сортавала. Рунопевец с кантеле.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of runic singer Petri Shemeikka at Kolmikulmanpuisto Park in [[Sortavala]], [[Republic of Karelia|Karelia]]]] 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]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|pp=160–165}}</ref> 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 of poetry terms|glossary]]. ===Sonnet=== {{Main|Sonnet}} [[File:William Shakespeare by John Taylor, edited.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[William Shakespeare]]]] 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 [[Thomas Wyatt (poet)|Sir Thomas Wyatt]], who is credited with introducing the sonnet form into English literature.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|p=94}}</ref> A traditional Italian or [[Petrarchan sonnet]] follows the rhyme scheme ''ABBA, ABBA, CDECDE'', though some variation, perhaps the most common being CDCDCD, especially within the final six lines (or ''sestet''), is common.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Minta |first=Stephen |url=https://archive.org/details/petrarchpetrarch0000mint/page/15 |title=Petrarch and Petrarchism |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-7190-0748-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/petrarchpetrarch0000mint/page/15 15–17]}}</ref> The [[English sonnet|English (or Shakespearean) sonnet]] follows the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, introducing a third [[quatrain]] (grouping of four lines), a final [[couplet]], and a greater amount of variety in rhyme than is usually found in its Italian predecessors. By convention, sonnets in English typically use [[iambic pentameter]], while in the [[Romance languages]], the [[hendecasyllable]] and [[Alexandrine]] are the most widely used meters. Sonnets of all types often make use of a ''volta'', or "turn," a point in the poem at which an idea is turned on its head, a question is answered (or introduced), or the subject matter is further complicated. This ''volta'' can often take the form of a "but" statement contradicting or complicating the content of the earlier lines. In the Petrarchan sonnet, the turn tends to fall around the division between the first two quatrains and the sestet, while English sonnets usually place it at or near the beginning of the closing couplet. [[File:Carol Ann Duffy (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Carol Ann Duffy]]]] Sonnets are particularly associated with high poetic diction, vivid imagery, and romantic love, largely due to the influence of Petrarch as well as of early English practitioners such as [[Edmund Spenser]] (who gave his name to the [[Spenserian sonnet]]), [[Michael Drayton]], and Shakespeare, whose [[Shakespeare's sonnets|sonnets]] are among the most famous in English poetry, with twenty being included in the ''[[Oxford Book of English Verse]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Oxford Book of English Verse |title-link=Oxford Book of English Verse |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1900 |editor-last=Quiller-Couch |editor-first=Arthur}}</ref> However, the twists and turns associated with the ''volta'' allow for a logical flexibility applicable to many subjects.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|pp=119–133}}</ref> Poets from the earliest centuries of the sonnet to the present have used the form to address topics related to politics ([[John Milton]], [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]], [[Claude McKay]]), theology ([[John Donne]], [[Gerard Manley Hopkins]]), war ([[Wilfred Owen]], [[e.e. cummings]]), and gender and sexuality ([[Carol Ann Duffy]]). Further, postmodern authors such as [[Ted Berrigan]] and [[John Berryman]] have challenged the traditional definitions of the sonnet form, rendering entire sequences of "sonnets" that often lack rhyme, a clear logical progression, or even a consistent count of fourteen lines. ===Shi=== {{Main|Shi (poetry)}} [[File:Dufucalligraphy.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Du Fu]], "On Visiting the Temple of [[Laozi]]"]] ''Shi'' ({{zh|t=[[wikt:詩|詩]]|s=[[wikt:诗|诗]]|p=shī|w=shih}}) Is the main type of [[Classical Chinese poetry]].<ref>[[Burton Watson|Watson, Burton]] (1971). ''Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century''. (New York: Columbia University Press). {{ISBN|0-231-03464-4}}, 1</ref> Within this form of poetry the most important variations are "folk song" styled verse (''[[yuefu]]''), "old style" verse (''[[gushi (poetry)|gushi]]''), "modern style" verse (''[[jintishi]]''). In all cases, rhyming is obligatory. The Yuefu is a folk ballad or a poem written in the folk ballad style, and the number of lines and the length of the lines could be irregular. For the other variations of ''shi'' poetry, generally either a four line (quatrain, or ''[[jueju]]'') or else an eight-line poem is normal; either way with the even numbered lines rhyming. The line length is scanned by an according number of characters (according to the convention that one character equals one syllable), and are predominantly either five or seven characters long, with a [[caesura]] before the final three syllables. The lines are generally end-stopped, considered as a series of couplets, and exhibit verbal parallelism as a key poetic device.<ref>[[Burton Watson|Watson, Burton]] (1971). ''Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century''. (New York: Columbia University Press). {{ISBN|0-231-03464-4}}, 1–2 and 15–18</ref> The "old style" verse (''Gushi'') is less formally strict than the ''jintishi'', or regulated verse, which, despite the name "new style" verse actually had its theoretical basis laid as far back as [[Shen Yue]] (441–513 CE), although not considered to have reached its full development until the time of [[Chen Zi'ang]] (661–702 CE).<ref>[[Burton Watson|Watson, Burton]] (1971). ''Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century''. (New York: Columbia University Press). {{ISBN|0-231-03464-4}}, 111 and 115</ref> A good example of a poet known for his ''Gushi'' poems is [[Li Bai]] (701–762 CE). Among its other rules, the jintishi rules regulate the tonal variations within a poem, including the use of set patterns of the [[Four tones (Middle Chinese)|four tones]] of [[Middle Chinese]]. The basic form of jintishi (sushi) has eight lines in four couplets, with parallelism between the lines in the second and third couplets. The couplets with parallel lines contain contrasting content but an identical grammatical relationship between words. Jintishi often have a rich poetic diction, full of [[allusion]], and can have a wide range of subject, including history and politics.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faurot |first=Jeannette L |url=https://archive.org/details/drinkingwithmoon0000unse/page/30 |title=Drinking with the moon |publisher=China Books & Periodicals |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8351-2639-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/drinkingwithmoon0000unse/page/30 30]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wang |first=Yugen |date=1 June 2004 |title=Shige: The Popular Poetics of Regulated Verse |journal=T'ang Studies |volume=2004 |issue=22 |pages=81–125 |doi=10.1179/073750304788913221|s2cid=163239068 }}</ref> One of the masters of the form was [[Du Fu]] (712–770 CE), who wrote during the Tang Dynasty (8th century).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schirokauer |first=Conrad |title=A brief history of Chinese and Japanese civilizations |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-15-505569-8 |edition=2nd |page=119}}</ref> ===Villanelle=== {{Main|Villanelle}} [[File:AudenVanVechten1939.jpg|thumb|upright|[[W. H. Auden]]]] 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. The remaining lines of the poem have an AB alternating rhyme.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kumin |first=Maxine |author-link=Maxine Kumin|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/exaltationofform00finc/page/314 |title=An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-472-06725-1 |editor-last=Varnes |editor-first=Kathrine |page=[https://archive.org/details/exaltationofform00finc/page/314 314] |chapter=Gymnastics: The Villanelle}}</ref> The villanelle has been used regularly in the English language since the late 19th century by such poets as [[Dylan Thomas]],<ref>"[[Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night]]" in {{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Dylan |title=In Country Sleep and Other Poems |publisher=New Directions Publications |year=1952 |page=18}}</ref> [[W. H. Auden]],<ref>"Villanelle", in {{Cite book |last=Auden |first=W. H. |title=Collected Poems |publisher=Random House |year=1945}}</ref> and [[Elizabeth Bishop]].<ref>"One Art", in {{Cite book |last=Bishop |first=Elizabeth |title=Geography III |publisher=Farrar, Straus & Giroux |year=1976}}</ref> ===Limerick=== {{main|Limerick (poetry)}} 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. However, the third and fourth lines only need five to seven. Lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme with each other, and lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other. Practitioners of the limerick included [[Edward Lear]], [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Lord Alfred Tennyson]], [[Rudyard Kipling]], [[Robert Louis Stevenson]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Poets|first=Academy of American|title=Limerick {{!}} Academy of American Poets|url=https://poets.org/glossary/limerick|access-date=2020-10-10|website=poets.org|quote="Limericks can be found in the work of Lord Alfred Tennyson, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson"}}</ref> ===Tanka=== {{Main|Tanka}} [[File:Kakinomoto Hitomaro.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Kakinomoto no Hitomaro]]]] Tanka is a form of unrhymed [[Japanese poetry]], with five sections totalling 31 ''[[On (Japanese prosody)|on]]'' (phonological units identical to [[Mora (linguistics)|morae]]), structured in a 5–7–5–7–7 pattern.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Global linguistic flows |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8058-6283-6 |editor-last1=Samy Alim |editor-first1=H. |page=181 |editor-last2=Ibrahim |editor-first2=Awad|editor3-link=Alastair Pennycook |editor-last3=Pennycook |editor-first3=Alastair}}</ref> There is generally a shift in tone and subject matter between the upper 5–7–5 phrase and the lower 7–7 phrase. Tanka were written as early as the [[Asuka period]] by such poets as [[Kakinomoto no Hitomaro]] (''fl.'' late 7th century), at a time when Japan was emerging from a period where much of its poetry followed Chinese form.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Brower |first1=Robert H. |title=Japanese court poetry |last2=Miner |first2=Earl |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-8047-1524-9 |pages=86–92}}</ref> Tanka was originally the shorter form of Japanese formal poetry (which was generally referred to as "[[waka (poetry)|waka]]"), and was used more heavily to explore personal rather than public themes. By the tenth century, tanka had become the dominant form of Japanese poetry, to the point where the originally general term ''waka'' ("Japanese poetry") came to be used exclusively for tanka. Tanka are still widely written today.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The tanka anthology: tanka in English from around the world |publisher=Red Moon Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-893959-40-8 |editor-last1=McCllintock |editor-first1=Michael |pages=xxx–xlviii |editor-last2=Ness |editor-first2=Pamela Miller |editor-last3=Kacian |editor-first3=Jim}}</ref> ===Haiku=== {{Main|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]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|p=117}}</ref> Generally written in a single vertical line, the haiku contains three sections totalling 17 ''on'' ([[Mora (linguistics)|morae]]), structured in a 5–7–5 pattern. Traditionally, haiku contain a [[kireji]], or cutting word, usually placed at the end of one of the poem's three sections, and a [[kigo]], or season-word.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Haiku moment: an anthology of contemporary North American haiku |publisher=Charles E. Tuttle Co |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-8048-1820-9 |editor-last=Ross |editor-first=Bruce |page=xiii}}</ref> The most famous exponent of the haiku was [[Matsuo Bashō]] (1644–1694). An example of his writing:<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.worldhaikureview.org/5-1/whcj/basho_fuji.htm |title=Basho's Haiku on the theme of Mt. Fuji |last=Yanagibori |first=Etsuko |website=The personal notebook of Etsuko Yanagibori |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070528144552/http://www.worldhaikureview.org/5-1/whcj/basho_fuji.htm |archive-date=28 May 2007}}</ref> :{{nihongo2|富士の風や扇にのせて江戸土産}} :fuji no kaze ya oogi ni nosete Edo miyage :the wind of Mt. Fuji :I've brought on my fan! :a gift from Edo ===Khlong=== {{Main|Thai poetry}} The ''khlong'' ({{lang|th|โคลง}}, {{IPA-th|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'' ({{lang|th|ไม้เอก}}, {{IPA-th|máj èːk}}, {{lang|th|◌่}}) or ''mai tho'' ({{lang|th|ไม้โท}}, {{IPA-th|máj tʰōː|}}, {{lang|th|◌้}}). This was likely derived from when the Thai language had three tones (as opposed to today's five, a split which occurred during the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]] period), two of which corresponded directly to the aforementioned marks. It is usually regarded as an advanced and sophisticated poetic form.<ref name="Hudak khloong">{{Cite web |url=http://thaiarc.tu.ac.th/poetry/khloong/khloonge.html |title=โคลง Khloong |website=Thai Language Audio Resource Center |publisher=Thammasat University |access-date=6 March 2012}} Reproduced form {{cite book |last=Hudak |first=Thomas John |title=The indigenization of Pali meters in Thai poetry |year=1990 |series=Monographs in International Studies, Southeast Asia Series |issue=87 |publisher=Ohio University Center for International Studies|location=Athens, Ohio |isbn=978-0-89680-159-2 }}</ref> In ''khlong'', a stanza (''bot'', {{lang|th|บท}}, {{IPA-th|bòt}}) has a number of lines (''bat'', {{lang|th|บาท}}, {{IPA-th|bàːt}}, from [[Pali]] and [[Sanskrit]] ''[[Pada (foot)|pāda]]''), depending on the type. The ''bat'' are subdivided into two ''wak'' ({{lang|th|วรรค}}, {{IPA-th|wák}}, from Sanskrit ''varga'').{{NoteTag|In literary studies, ''line'' in western poetry is translated as ''bat''. However, in some forms, the unit is more equivalent to ''wak''. To avoid confusion, this article will refer to ''wak'' and ''bat'' instead of ''line'', which may refer to either.}} The first ''wak'' has five syllables, the second has a variable number, also depending on the type, and may be optional. The type of ''khlong'' is named by the number of ''bat'' in a stanza; it may also be divided into two main types: ''khlong suphap'' ({{lang|th|โคลงสุภาพ}}, {{IPA-th|kʰlōːŋ sù.pʰâːp|}}) and ''khlong dan'' ({{lang|th|โคลงดั้น}}, {{IPA-th|kʰlōːŋ dân|}}). The two differ in the number of syllables in the second ''wak'' of the final ''bat'' and inter-stanza rhyming rules.<ref name="Hudak khloong" /> ====Khlong si suphap==== The ''khlong si suphap'' ({{lang|th|โคลงสี่สุภาพ}}, {{IPA-th|kʰlōːŋ sìː sù.pʰâːp|}}) is the most common form still currently employed. It has four ''bat'' per stanza (''si'' translates as ''four''). The first ''wak'' of each ''bat'' has five syllables. The second ''wak'' has two or four syllables in the first and third ''bat'', two syllables in the second, and four syllables in the fourth. ''Mai ek'' is required for seven syllables and ''Mai tho'' is required for four, as shown below. "[[Dead word (Thai language)|Dead word]]" syllables are allowed in place of syllables which require ''mai ek'', and changing the spelling of words to satisfy the criteria is usually acceptable. ===Ode=== {{Main|Ode}} [[File:Quintus Horatius Flaccus.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Horace]]]] 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gray |first=Thomas |title=English lyrics from Dryden to Burns |publisher=Elibron |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-4021-0064-2 |pages=155–56}}</ref> The ode generally has three parts: a [[strophe]], an [[antistrophe]], and an [[epode]]. The strophe and the antistrophe of the ode possess similar metrical structures and, depending on the tradition, similar rhyme structures. In contrast, the epode is written with a different scheme and structure. Odes have a formal poetic diction and generally deal with a serious subject. The strophe and antistrophe look at the subject from different, often conflicting, perspectives, with the epode moving to a higher level to either view or resolve the underlying issues. Odes are often intended to be recited or sung by two choruses (or individuals), with the first reciting the strophe, the second the antistrophe, and both together the epode.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gayley |first1=Charles Mills |title=English Poetry |last2=Young |first2=Clement C. |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-4179-0086-2 |edition=Reprint |page=lxxxv}}</ref> Over time, differing forms for odes have developed with considerable variations in form and structure, but generally showing the original influence of the Pindaric or Horatian ode. One non-Western form which resembles the ode is the [[qasida]] in [[Arabic poetry]].<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Kuiper |editor-first=Kathleen |url=https://archive.org/details/poetrydramaliter0000unse/page/51 |title=Poetry and drama literary terms and concepts |publisher=Britannica Educational Pub. in association with Rosen Educational Services |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-61530-539-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/poetrydramaliter0000unse/page/51 51]}}</ref> ===Ghazal=== {{Main|Ghazal}} The {{transliteration|ar|italic=no|ghazal}} (also {{transliteration|ar|italic=no|ghazel}}, {{transliteration|ar|italic=no|gazel}}, {{transliteration|ar|italic=no|gazal}}, or {{transliteration|ar|italic=no|gozol}}) is a form of poetry common in [[Arabic poetry|Arabic]], [[Bengali poetry|Bengali]], [[Persian literature|Persian]] and [[Urdu poetry|Urdu]]. In classic form, the {{transliteration|ar|italic=no|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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://poets.org/glossary/ghazal |title=Ghazal - glossary on poets.org |access-date=18 July 2023}}</ref> The ghazal often reflects on a theme of unattainable love or divinity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Campo |first=Juan E. |title=Encyclopedia of Islam |publisher=Infobase |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8160-5454-1 |page=260}}</ref> As with other forms with a long history in many languages, many variations have been developed, including forms with a quasi-musical poetic diction in [[Urdu]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Qureshi |first=Regula Burckhardt |date=Autumn 1990 |title=Musical Gesture and Extra-Musical Meaning: Words and Music in the Urdu Ghazal |journal=Journal of the American Musicological Society |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=457–497 |doi=10.1525/jams.1990.43.3.03a00040}}</ref> Ghazals have a classical affinity with [[Sufism]], and a number of major Sufi religious works are written in ghazal form. The relatively steady meter and the use of the refrain produce an incantatory effect, which complements Sufi mystical themes well.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sequeira |first=Isaac |date=1 June 1981 |title=The Mystique of the Mushaira |journal=The Journal of Popular Culture |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1111/j.0022-3840.1981.4745121.x}}</ref> Among the masters of the form are [[Rumi]], the celebrated 13th-century [[Persia]]n poet,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schimmel |first=Annemarie | author-link=Annemarie Schimmel|date=Spring 1988 |title=Mystical Poetry in Islam: The Case of Maulana Jalaladdin Rumi |journal=Religion & Literature |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=67–80}}</ref> and his equally famous near-contemporary [[Hafez]]. Hafez uses the ghazal to expose hypocrisy and the pitfalls of worldliness, but also expertly exploits the form to express the divine depths and secular subtleties of love; creating translations that meaningfully capture such complexities of content and form is immensely challenging, but lauded attempts to do so in English include [[Gertrude Bell]]'s ''Poems from the Divan of Hafiz''<ref>{{cite book |last=Hafez |author-link=Hafez |translator-first=Gertrude |translator-last=Bell |title=Poems from the Divan of Hafiz |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.507877 |place=London |date=1897 |ref=none}}</ref> and ''Beloved: 81 poems from Hafez'' ([[Bloodaxe Books]]) whose Preface addresses in detail the problematic nature of translating ghazals and whose versions (according to [[Fatemeh Keshavarz]], Roshan Institute for [[Persian Studies]]) preserve "that audacious and multilayered richness one finds in the originals".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/beloved-1196 |title=Beloved: 81 poems from Hafez |date=2018 |publisher=Bloodaxe Books}}</ref> Indeed, Hafez's ghazals have been the subject of much analysis, commentary and interpretation, influencing post-fourteenth century Persian writing more than any other author.<ref>Yarshater. Retrieved 25 July 2010.</ref><ref>[http://www.amaana.org/sultweb/msmhafiz.htm Hafiz and the Place of Iranian Culture in the World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503140008/http://www.amaana.org/sultweb/msmhafiz.htm |date=3 May 2009 }} by [[Aga Khan III]], 9 November 1936 London.</ref> The [[West-östlicher Diwan]] of [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]], a collection of lyrical poems, is inspired by the Persian poet Hafez.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shamel |first=Shafiq |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nwKfmAEACAAJ&q=goethe+hafiz |title=Goethe and Hafiz |year=2013 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-3-0343-0881-6 |access-date=29 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=70235 |title=Goethe and Hafiz |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029210449/http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=70235 |archive-date=29 October 2014 |access-date=29 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lifeofthought.com/e69.htm |title=GOETHE |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905080250/http://www.lifeofthought.com/e69.htm |archive-date=5 September 2015 |access-date=29 October 2014}}</ref> ==Genres== In addition to specific forms of poems, poetry is often thought of in terms of different [[genre]]s and subgenres. A poetic genre is generally a tradition or classification of poetry based on the subject matter, style, or other broader literary characteristics.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre.html |title=Introduction to Genre Theory |last=Chandler |first=Daniel |publisher=Aberystwyth University |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509013303/http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/intgenre/intgenre.html |archive-date=9 May 2015 |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref> Some commentators view genres as natural forms of literature. Others view the study of genres as the study of how different works relate and refer to other works.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Beyond the screen: transformations of literary structures, interfaces and genres |publisher=Verlag |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-8376-1258-5 |editor-last1=Schafer |editor-first1=Jorgen |pages=16, 391–402 |editor-last2=Gendolla |editor-first2=Peter}}</ref> ===Narrative poetry=== [[File:Chaucer Hoccleve.png|thumb|upright|[[Chaucer]]]] {{Main|Narrative poetry}} Narrative poetry is a genre of poetry that tells a [[narrative|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. Much narrative poetry—such as Scottish and English [[ballad]]s, and [[Balts|Baltic]] and [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] heroic poems—is [[performance poetry]] with roots in a preliterate [[oral tradition]]. It has been speculated that some features that distinguish poetry from prose, such as meter, [[alliteration]] and [[kenning]]s, once served as [[memory]] aids for [[bard]]s who recited traditional tales.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kirk |first=G. S. |title=Homer and the Oral Tradition |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-13671-6 |edition=reprint |pages=22–45}}</ref> Notable narrative poets have included [[Ovid]], [[Dante]], [[Juan Ruiz]], [[William Langland]], [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]], [[Fernando de Rojas]], [[Luís de Camões]], [[Shakespeare]], [[Alexander Pope]], [[Robert Burns]], [[Adam Mickiewicz]], [[Alexander Pushkin]], [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]], [[Edgar Allan Poe]], [[Alfred Tennyson]], and [[Anne Carson]]. ===Lyric poetry=== [[File:Christine de Pisan - cathedra.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Christine de Pizan]] ''(left)'']] {{Main|Lyric poetry}} Lyric poetry is a genre that, unlike [[epic poetry|epic]] and dramatic poetry, does not attempt to tell a story but instead is of a more [[person]]al nature. Poems in this genre tend to be shorter, melodic, and contemplative. Rather than depicting [[Character (arts)|characters]] and actions, it portrays the poet's own [[feeling]]s, [[Qualia|states of mind]], and [[perception]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blasing |first=Mutlu Konuk |author-link=Mutlu Konuk Blasing |title=Lyric poetry : the pain and the pleasure of words |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-691-12682-1 |pages=1–22}}</ref> 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=== {{Main|Epic poetry}} [[File:Camões, por Fernão Gomes.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Camões]]]] 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 [[hero]]ic or [[mythological]] person or group of persons.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hainsworth |first=J. B. |title=Traditions of heroic and epic poetry |publisher=Modern Humanities Research Association |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-947623-19-7 |pages=171–175}}</ref> Examples of epic poems are [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'', [[Virgil]]'s [[Aeneid]], the ''[[Nibelungenlied]]'', [[Luís de Camões]]' ''[[Os Lusíadas]]'', the ''[[Cantar de Mio Cid]]'', the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'', the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', [[Lönnrot]]'s ''[[Kalevala]]'', [[Valmiki]]'s ''[[Ramayana]]'', [[Ferdowsi]]'s ''[[Shahnama]]'', [[Nizami Ganjavi|Nizami]] (or Nezami)'s Khamse (Five Books), and the ''[[Epic of King Gesar]]''. While the composition of epic poetry, and of [[long poem]]s generally, became less common in the west after the early 20th century, some notable epics have continued to be written. ''[[The Cantos]]'' by [[Ezra Pound]], ''[[Helen in Egypt]]'' by [[H.D.]], and ''[[Paterson (poem)|Paterson]]'' by [[William Carlos Williams]] are examples of modern epics. [[Derek Walcott]] won a [[Nobel prize]] in 1992 to a great extent on the basis of his epic, ''[[Omeros]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1992/press.html |title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1992: Derek Walcott |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref> ===Satirical poetry=== [[File:Jacob Huysmans - Portrait of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester 1.jpg|thumb|upright|[[John Wilmot]]]] Poetry can be a powerful vehicle for [[satire]]. The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] had a strong tradition of satirical poetry, often written for [[political]] purposes. A notable example is the Roman poet [[Juvenal]]'s [[Satires of Juvenal|satires]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dominik |first1=William J. |title=Roman verse satire: Lucilius to Juvenal |last2=Wehrle |first2=T. |publisher=Bolchazy-Carducci |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-86516-442-0 |pages=1–3}}</ref> The same is true of the English satirical tradition. [[John Dryden]] (a [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]]), the first [[Poet Laureate]], produced in 1682 ''[[Mac Flecknoe]]'', subtitled "A Satire on the True Blue Protestant Poet, T.S." (a reference to [[Thomas Shadwell]]).<ref>{{Cite book |title=Broadview Anthology of British Literature |publisher=Broadview Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-55481-048-2 |editor-last=Black |editor-first=Joseph |volume=1 |page=1056}}</ref> Satirical poets outside England include [[Poland]]'s [[Ignacy Krasicki]], [[Azerbaijan]]'s [[Mirza Alakbar Sabir|Sabir]], [[Portugal]]'s [[Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage]], and Korea's [[Kim Kirim]], especially noted for his ''[[Gisangdo]]''. ===Elegy=== {{Main|Elegy}} [[File:PortraitThomasGrayByJohnGilesEccart1747to1748.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Thomas Gray]]]] An elegy is a mournful, melancholy or plaintive poem, especially a [[lament]] for the dead or a [[funeral]] song. The term "elegy," which originally denoted a type of poetic meter ([[elegiac]] meter), commonly describes a poem of [[mourning]]. An elegy may also reflect something that seems to the author to be strange or mysterious. The elegy, as a reflection on a death, on a sorrow more generally, or on something mysterious, may be classified as a form of lyric poetry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pigman |first=G. W. |url=https://archive.org/details/griefenglishrena0000pigm |title=Grief and English Renaissance elegy |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-521-26871-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/griefenglishrena0000pigm/page/40 40–47] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=David |title=Elegy |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-134-20906-4 |pages=10–34}}</ref> Notable practitioners of elegiac poetry have included [[Propertius]], [[Jorge Manrique]], [[Jan Kochanowski]], [[Chidiock Tichborne]], [[Edmund Spenser]], [[Ben Jonson]], [[John Milton]], [[Thomas Gray]], [[Charlotte Smith (writer)|Charlotte Smith]], [[William Cullen Bryant]], [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]], [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]], [[Evgeny Baratynsky]], [[Alfred Tennyson]], [[Walt Whitman]], [[Antonio Machado]], [[Juan Ramón Jiménez]], [[William Butler Yeats]], [[Rainer Maria Rilke]], and [[Virginia Woolf]]. ===Verse fable=== [[File:Per Krafft - Portrait of Bishop Ignacy Krasicki - MNK II-a-671 - National Museum Kraków.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Ignacy Krasicki|Krasicki]]]] {{Main|Fable}} The fable is an ancient [[literary genre]], often (though not invariably) set in [[Verse (poetry)|verse]]. It is a succinct story that features [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphised]] [[animal]]s, [[legendary creature]]s, [[plant]]s, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that illustrate a moral lesson (a "[[moral]]"). Verse fables have used a variety of [[meter (poetry)|meter]] and [[rhyme]] patterns.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Harpham |first1=Geoffrey Galt |last2=Abrams |first2=M. H. |title=A glossary of literary terms |year=2011 |publisher=Wadsworth Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0-495-89802-3 |edition=10th |page=9}}</ref> Notable verse fabulists have included [[Aesop]], [[Vishnu Sarma]], [[Phaedrus (fabulist)|Phaedrus]], [[Marie de France]], [[Robert Henryson]], [[Biernat of Lublin]], [[Jean de La Fontaine]], [[Ignacy Krasicki]], [[Félix María de Samaniego]], [[Tomás de Iriarte]], [[Ivan Krylov]] and [[Ambrose Bierce]]. ===Dramatic poetry=== [[File:Goethe (Stieler 1828).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Goethe]]]] {{Main|Verse drama and dramatic verse|Theatre of ancient Greece|Sanskrit drama|Chinese Opera|Noh}} Dramatic poetry is [[drama]] written in [[Verse (poetry)|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,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keith |first=Arthur Berriedale |title=Sanskrit Drama in its origin, development, theory and practice |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1992 |isbn=978-81-208-0977-2 |pages=57–58}}</ref> just as Indian drama in turn appears to have influenced the development of the ''[[bianwen]]'' verse dramas in China, forerunners of [[Chinese Opera]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dolby |first=William |url=https://archive.org/details/chinesetheater00coli |title=Chinese Theater: From Its Origins to the Present Day |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-8248-1220-1 |editor-last=Mackerras |editor-first=Colin |page=[https://archive.org/details/chinesetheater00coli/page/17 17] |chapter=Early Chinese Plays and Theatre |url-access=registration}}</ref> [[East Asia]]n verse dramas also include Japanese [[Noh]]. Examples of dramatic poetry in [[Persian literature]] include [[Nizami Ganjavi|Nizami]]'s two famous dramatic works, ''[[Layla and Majnun]]'' and ''[[Khosrow and Shirin]]'', [[Ferdowsi]]'s tragedies such as ''[[Sohrab|Rostam and Sohrab]]'', [[Rumi]]'s ''[[Masnavi]]'', [[Asad Gorgani|Gorgani]]'s tragedy of ''[[Vis and Ramin]]'', and [[Vahshi Bafqi|Vahshi]]'s tragedy of ''[[Farhad]]''. American poets of 20th century revive dramatic poetry, including [[Ezra Pound]] in "''Sestina: Altaforte,''"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Giordano|first=Mathew|title=Dramatic Poetics and American Poetic Culture, 1865–1904, Doctoral Dissertation|publisher=Ohio State|year=2004|location=Columbus, Ohio|quote=Dramatic poetry: Pound’s 'Sestina: Altaforte' or Eliot’s 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Proufrock'.}}</ref> [[T. S. Eliot|T.S. Eliot]] with "[[The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock]]".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Eliot|first=T. S.|date=1951|title=Poetry and Drama|url=https://tseliot.com/|access-date=2020-10-09|website=tseliot.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock {{!}} Modern American Poetry|url=https://www.modernamericanpoetry.org/poem/love-song-j-alfred-prufrock|access-date=2020-10-09|website=www.modernamericanpoetry.org}}</ref> ===Speculative poetry=== {{Main|Speculative poetry}} [[File:Edgar Poe 1848.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Poe]]]] 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. [[Edgar Allan Poe]] is sometimes seen as the "father of speculative poetry".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Mike |title=The alchemy of stars |publisher=Science Fiction Poetry Association |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8095-1162-4 |editor-last=Dutcher |editor-first=Roger |pages=11–17}}</ref> Poe's most remarkable achievement in the genre was his anticipation, by three-quarters of a century, of the [[Big Bang theory]] of the [[universe]]'s origin, in his then much-derided 1848 [[essay]] (which, due to its very speculative nature, he termed a "[[prose poem]]"), ''[[Eureka: A Prose Poem]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rombeck |first=Terry |date=22 January 2005 |title=Poe's little-known science book reprinted |url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/jan/22/poes_littleknown_science/ |journal=Lawrence Journal-World & News }}</ref><ref>[[Marilynne Robinson|Robinson, Marilynne]], "On Edgar Allan Poe", ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', vol. LXII, no. 2 (5 February 2015), pp. 4, 6.</ref> ===Prose poetry=== {{Main|Prose poetry}} [[File:Étienne Carjat, Portrait of Charles Baudelaire, circa 1862.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Baudelaire]]]] Prose poetry is a hybrid genre that shows attributes of both prose and poetry. It may be indistinguishable from the [[microfiction|micro-story]] ([[List of acronyms and initialisms: A#AK|a.k.a.]] the "[[short short story]]", "[[flash 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]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Monte |first=Steven |title=Invisible fences: prose poetry as a genre in French and American literature |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8032-3211-2 |pages=4–9}}</ref> Since the late 1980s especially, prose poetry has gained increasing popularity, with entire journals, such as ''The Prose Poem: An International Journal'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/prosepoem/ |title=''The Prose Poem: An International Journal'' |publisher=Providence College |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref> ''Contemporary Haibun Online'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://contemporaryhaibunonline.com |title=''Contemporary Haibun Online'' |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref> and ''Haibun Today''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://haibuntoday.com/pages/about.html|title=Haibun Today: A Haibun & Tanka Prose Journal|website=haibuntoday.com}}</ref> devoted to that genre and its hybrids. [[Latin American poetry|Latin American poets]] of the 20th century who wrote prose poems include [[Octavio Paz]] and [[Alejandra Pizarnik]]. ===Light poetry=== {{Main|Light poetry}} [[File:LewisCarrollSelfPhoto.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lewis Carroll]]]] 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 [[pun]]s, 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 (poetry)|limerick]], the [[clerihew]], and the [[double dactyl]]. While light poetry is sometimes condemned as [[doggerel]], or thought of as poetry composed casually, humor often makes a serious point in a subtle or subversive way. Many of the most renowned "serious" poets have also excelled at light verse. Notable writers of light poetry include [[Lewis Carroll]], [[Ogden Nash]], [[X. J. Kennedy]], [[Willard R. Espy]], [[Shel Silverstein]], [[Gavin Ewart]] and [[Wendy Cope]]. ===Slam poetry=== {{Main|Poetry slam}} [[File:Marc Smith - Slam à La Zone de Liege - 19 mars 2009.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Marc Smith (poet)|Smith]]]] Slam poetry as a genre originated in 1986 in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], when [[Marc Kelly Smith]] organized the first slam.<ref name="maryhutchingsreed">{{Cite web |url=http://maryhutchingsreed.com/honoring-marc-kelly-smith-and-international-poetry-slam-movement/ |title=Honoring Marc Kelly Smith and International Poetry Slam Movement |website=Mary Hutchings Reed |access-date=5 May 2019 |ref=maryhutchingsreed}}</ref><ref name="aap">{{Cite web |url=https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/brief-guide-slam-poetry |title=A Brief Guide to Slam Poetry |website=Academy of American Poets |access-date=5 May 2019 |ref=aap}}</ref> 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.<ref name="powerpoetry">{{Cite web |url=https://www.powerpoetry.org/actions/5-tips-spoken-word |title=5 Tips on Spoken Word |website=Power Poetry |access-date=5 May 2019 |ref=powerpoetry}}</ref> ===Performance poetry=== {{main|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]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Wheeler | first=Lesley |author-link=Lesley Wheeler | title=Voicing American Poetry: Sound and Performance from the 1920s to the Present | publisher=Cornell University Press | year=2008 | isbn=978-0801446689}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Fernanda |last1=Seavon |title=Instantní Nostalgie |journal=A2 |date=March 2022 |issue=5/2022 |page=11 |url=https://www.advojka.cz/archiv/2022/5/instantni-nostalgie}}</ref> ===Language happenings=== The term ''[[happening]]'' was popularized by the [[avant-garde]] movements in the 1950s and regard spontaneous, site-specific performances.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama: Volume 3 Beyond Broadway |first=Christopher W. |last=Bigsby |author-link=Christopher Bigsby |year=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521278966 |page=45 |access-date=September 5, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_gZPUSNnDXwC&q=Allan+Kaprow+coined+happening&pg=PA45}}</ref> ''Language happenings'', termed from the [[poetics]] collective [[OBJECT:PARADISE]] in 2018, are events which focus less on poetry as a prescriptive [[literary]] genre, but more as a descriptive [[linguistic]] act and performance, often incorporating broader forms of [[performance art]] while poetry is read or created in that moment.<ref name="Radio Prague">{{cite web |last1=Gironès |first1=Cristina |title=Object Paradise, el colectivo artístico que quiere devolver la vida y la voz al barrio de Žižkov |url=https://espanol.radio.cz/object-paradise-el-colectivo-artistico-que-quiere-devolver-la-vida-y-la-voz-al-8742138 |website=Radio Prague International |date=16 February 2022 |access-date=21 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=obtydeník živé literatury |journal=Tvar |date=July 2022 |issue=7 |url=https://itvar.cz/z-cisla/noc-kdy-jsme-se-poznali |access-date=2 June 2022}}</ref> ==See also== {{Portal|Poetry}} * [[Anti-poetry]] * [[Digital poetry]] * [[Glossary of poetry terms]] * [[Improvisation]] * [[List of poetry groups and movements]] * [[Oral poetry]] * [[Outline of poetry]] * [[Persona poetry]] * [[Phonestheme]] * [[Phono-semantic matching]] * [[Poetry reading]] * [[Rhapsode]] * [[Semantic differential]] * [[Spoken word]] ==Notes== {{NoteFoot}} ==References== ===Citations=== {{Reflist|30em}} ==Bibliography== * {{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Stephen J. |url=https://archive.org/details/poeticdesigns00step |title=Poetic designs: an introduction to meters, verse forms and figures of speech |publisher=Broadview |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-55111-129-2}} * {{Cite book |last=Corn |first=Alfred |url=https://archive.org/details/poemsheartbeatma00corn |title=The Poem's Heartbeat: A Manual of Prosody |publisher=Storyline Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-885266-40-8}} * {{Cite book |last=Fussell |first=Paul |url=https://archive.org/details/poeticmeterpoeti00fuss |title=Poetic Meter and Poetic Form |publisher=Random House |year=1965 |author-link=Paul Fussell |url-access=registration}} * {{Cite book |last=Hollander |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/rhymesreasonguid00holl_1 |title=Rhyme's Reason |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-300-02740-2 |author-link=John Hollander}} * {{Cite book |last=Pinsky |first=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/soundsofpoetry00robe |title=The Sounds of Poetry |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-374-26695-0 |author-link=Robert Pinsky}} ==Further reading== {{Wikiquote}} {{Wikisource index}} {{Wiktionary|poetry}} {{Commons}} ;Encyclopedias * {{Cite encyclopedia |editor-surname=Greene |editor-given=Roland |editor-link=Roland Greene |display-editors=etal |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics |edition=4th rev. |year=2012 |url={{Google books|id=uKiC6IeFR2UC|plainurl=y|page=|keywords=|text=}} |place=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-15491-6}} ;Other critics * {{Cite book |last=Brooks |first=Cleanth |url=https://archive.org/details/wellwroughturnst00broo |title=The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry |publisher=Harcourt Brace & Company |year=1947 |isbn=978-0156957052 |author-link=Cleanth Brooks |url-access=registration}} * {{Cite book |last=Finch |first=Annie |author-link=Annie Finch|title=A Poet's Ear: A Handbook of Meter and Form |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-472-05066-6}} * {{Cite book |last=Fry |first=Stephen |title=The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within |title-link=The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within |publisher=Arrow Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-09-950934-9 |author-link=Stephen Fry}} * {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Verse |volume= 27 |last= Gosse |first= Edmund William |author-link= Edmund William Gosse| pages = 1041–1047|short=1}} * {{Cite book |last=Pound |first=Ezra |title=ABC of Reading |publisher=Faber |year=1951 |author-link=Ezra Pound}} * [https://www.academia.edu/43045369/The_Science_of_Art Poetry, Music and Narrative – The Science of Art]. * [[Władysław Tatarkiewicz|Tatarkiewicz, Władysław]], "The Concept of Poetry", ''Dialectics and Humanism: The Polish Philosophical Quarterly'', vol. II, no. 2 (spring 1975), pp. 13–24. ;Anthologies {{Main|List of poetry anthologies}} * {{Cite book |title=The Norton Anthology of Poetry |title-link=The Norton Anthology of Poetry |publisher=W.W. Norton & Co |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-393-96820-0 |editor-last1=Ferguson |editor-first1=Margaret |edition=4th |editor-last2=Salter |editor-first2=Mary Jo |editor2-link=Mary Jo Salter|editor-last3=Stallworthy |editor-first3=Jon | editor-link3=Jon Stallworthy}} * {{Cite book |title=New Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1950 |title-link=New Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1950 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1972 |isbn=978-0-19-812136-7 |editor-last=Gardner |editor-first=Helen | editor-link=Helen Gardner (critic)}} * {{Cite book |title=The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse |title-link=The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1973 |editor-last=Larkin | editor-first=Philip |editor-link=Philip Larkin}} * {{Cite book |title=The Oxford Book of English Verse |title-link=The Oxford Book of English Verse |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-19-214182-8 |editor-last=Ricks |editor-first=Christopher | editor-link=Christopher Ricks}} * {{Cite book |title=Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892–1935 |title-link=Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892–1935 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1936 |editor-last=Yeats | editor-first=W. B. | editor-link=W. B. Yeats}} {{Humanities}} {{Schools of poetry}} {{Poetry of different cultures and languages}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Poetry| ]] [[Category:Literature]] [[Category:Aesthetics]] [[Category:Genres of poetry| ]] [[Category:Poetic forms| ]] [[Category:Spoken word]] Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! 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