Poetry

What is poetry?

Poetry has existed for centuries. Originally, most forms of poetry were communicated orally. History, culture, beliefs, and morals were passed down from generation to generation. Poetry was used to communicate information because it was easier for the listeners and singers to remember.

Poetry is easier to remember when it has rhythm and rhyme. Generally, most poetry, even modem poetry, has rhythm. Rhythm is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables of language. The language of poetry tends to be more rhythmic than every day language. Poetry which rhymes is also easier to remember. Until the modem day, poets followed strict rules for using rhythm and rhyme. Modem poets may or may not use rhyme.

In addition to rhyme and rhythm, poetry is distinguished from other types of writing for the poet’s choice of topics or themes. Most poetry deals with topics of an emotional or philosophical nature. Love, revenge, tragedy, triumph, celebration, war, and adventure are a few of the topics commonly addressed in poetry.

Poets try to address these topics using as few words as possible. They accomplish this by relying on figures of speech which amplify the emotions of the reader while reducing the number of words needed to communicate the message.

The last major distinction between poetry and prose, every day writing, is the organization and structure of words and lines. A number of lines of poetry, also called verses, are organized into stanzas. Stanzas are roughly equivalent to a paragraph in prose. Each line of a poem is usually capitalized.