Poetry | Definition, Types, Terms, Examples, & Facts

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md-article-drawer position-relative d-flex border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/poetry">poetry</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/art/poetry">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref50835"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/poetry#ref50835">Attempts to define poetry</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref50836"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/poetry/Poetry-and-prose">Poetry and prose</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50837"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/poetry/Poetry-and-prose#ref50837">Major differences</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50838"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/poetry/Poetry-and-prose#ref50838">Poetic diction and experience</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref50839"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/poetry/Form-in-poetry">Form in poetry</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref50840"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/poetry/Poetry-as-a-mode-of-thought-the-Protean-encounter">Poetry as a mode of thought: the Protean encounter</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/poetry/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/poetry">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/poetry/images-videos">Images, Videos & Interactives</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex overflow-hidden text-nowrap ml-15"> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/81/98181-050-F79738A1/Poems-poetry-line-International-Festival-of-Poetry.jpg" data-href="/media/1/466108/94190" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/81/98181-004-38C3D815/Poems-poetry-line-International-Festival-of-Poetry.jpg" alt="International Festival of Poetry" height="50" /> </a> <a href="" data-href="/media/1/466108/330581" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/46/266846-049-1763F97E/poetry-movements-over-time.jpg" alt="Movements in American poetry" height="50" /> </a> <a href="/video/robert-frost-the-onset-poem/322577" data-href="/media/1/466108/322577" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <div class="position-relative --aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/78/264478-138-C1641EDE/robert-frost-the-onset-poem.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop" alt="Reading and interpretation: “The Onset” by Robert Frost" class="col-100" /> <div class="btn btn-sm btn-white btn-circle position-absolute shadow" style="top: 50%; left:50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%)"> <em class="material-icons font-14" data-icon="play_arrow" > </em> </div> </div> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/67/65467-004-65FB5EAC/Forsythia-genre-example-concrete-poetry-Mary-Ellen.jpg" data-href="/media/1/466108/124566" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/67/65467-004-65FB5EAC/Forsythia-genre-example-concrete-poetry-Mary-Ellen.jpg" alt="“Forsythia”" height="50" /> </a> <a href="" data-href="/media/1/466108/330558" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/45/266845-049-8821F322/poet-laureates-portraits.jpg" alt="U.S. poet laureates" height="50" /> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/64/2864-004-8FB85464/Poetic-Metre.jpg" data-href="/media/1/466108/61527" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/64/2864-004-8FB85464/Poetic-Metre.jpg" alt="classical poetic metre" height="50" /> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/65/2865-004-1000C076/Classification-of-Rhythmic-Metre-Music.jpg" data-href="/media/1/466108/61528" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/65/2865-004-1000C076/Classification-of-Rhythmic-Metre-Music.jpg" alt="rhythmic metre" height="50" /> </a> <a href="/video/introduction-love-sonnets-Mary-Wroth-poets-Renaissance/202872" data-href="/media/1/466108/202872" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <div class="position-relative --aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/74/185974-138-64DCD32B/introduction-love-sonnets-Mary-Wroth-poets-Renaissance.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop" alt="Learn about the love poetry written by Vittoria Colonna, Gaspara Stampa, and Lady Mary Wroth during the Renaissance" class="col-100" /> <div class="btn btn-sm btn-white btn-circle position-absolute shadow" style="top: 50%; left:50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%)"> <em class="material-icons font-14" data-icon="play_arrow" > </em> </div> </div> </a> </div> <button disabled class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-blue " aria-label="Previous"> <span class="material-icons md-24" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span> </button> <button 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font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> Quizzes </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/the-literary-world"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/56/142356-131-A563F1D0/books-Row-bookshelf-pile-Stack-literature-reading-2010.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Row of colorful books on a bookshelf. 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Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/the-literary-world" >The Literary World</a> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/a-study-of-poetry"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/30/129330-131-2C73ED00/The-Lamb-edition-Songs-of-Innocence-William.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/a-study-of-poetry" >A Study of Poetry</a> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/famous-poets-and-poetic-form"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/76/168476-131-42654A68/letter-Sun-Rose-Dickinson-Emily-A-Life.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/famous-poets-and-poetic-form" >Famous Poets and Poetic Form</a> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/poetry-first-lines"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/91/185691-131-0ACC5DF8/Emily-Dickinson-1847.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/poetry-first-lines" >Poetry: First Lines</a> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/emily-dickinson"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/31/152331-131-F1200FA8/Emily-Dickinson-portrait.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Emily Dickinson, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/emily-dickinson" >Emily Dickinson</a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-related-questions"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 pb-0 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-15"> Related Questions </div> <ul> <li class="link-gray-900 mb-15"><a class="" href="/question/What-is-Miguel-de-Cervantes-best-known-for">What is Miguel de Cervantes best known for?</a> </li> <li class="link-gray-900 mb-15"><a class="" href="/question/What-was-Miguel-de-Cervantess-early-life-like">What was Miguel de Cervantes’s early life like?</a> </li> <li class="link-gray-900 mb-15"><a class="" href="/question/Why-is-Dante-significant">Why is Dante significant? </a> </li> <li class="link-gray-900 mb-15"><a class="" href="/question/What-was-Dantes-early-life-like">What was Dante’s early life like? </a> </li> <li class="link-gray-900 mb-15"><a class="" href="/question/What-is-William-Blakes-poetry-about">What is William Blake’s poetry about?</a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-read-next"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> Read Next </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/story/world-poetry-day"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/23/181923-131-76FC0CA5/poet-clothing-poetry-festival-Heian-Kyoto-shrine.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="poem. A poet in a Heian period kimono writes Japanese poetry during the Kamo Kyokusui No En Ancient Festival at Jonan-gu shrine on April 29, 2013 in Kyoto, Japan. Festival of Kyokusui-no Utage orignated in 1,182, party Heian era (794-1192)." width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/story/world-poetry-day" >World Poetry Day</a> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/story/cervantes-after-400-years"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/115108-131-4E70053F/Miguel-de-Cervantes-1590.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Spanish poet and novelist Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547 - 1616), the author of 'Don Quixote de la Mancha', ca. 1590. 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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2025-03-10T00:00:00CDT" >Mar 10, 2025</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/poetry/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn btn-sm border-2 btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 module-spacing js-inline-ai-ask-button p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Key People: </dt> <dd><a href="/biography/William-Shakespeare" topicid="537853">William Shakespeare</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe" topicid="237027">Johann Wolfgang von Goethe</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/John-Milton" topicid="383113">John Milton</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Samuel-Johnson" topicid="305432">Samuel Johnson</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Michelangelo" topicid="379957">Michelangelo</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/art/epic" topicid="189625">epic</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/ballad" topicid="50461">ballad</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/sonnet" topicid="554519">sonnet</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/heroic-poetry" topicid="263592">heroic poetry</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/utopian-poetry" topicid="1773729">utopian poetry</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/poetry"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref503062"></span>poetry</strong>, <span id="ref503061"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">literature</a> that <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="evokes" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/evokes" data-type="EB">evokes</a> a concentrated imaginative <span id="ref503060"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/aesthetics" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">awareness</a> of experience or a specific <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/emotion" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">emotional</a> response through <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/language" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">language</a> chosen and arranged for its <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/meaning" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">meaning</a>, sound, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/rhythm-poetry" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">rhythm</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Howard-Nemerov" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">(Read Britannica’s biography of this author, Howard Nemerov.)</a></em></p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Poetry is a vast subject, as old as history and older, present wherever <span id="ref503063"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/religion" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">religion</a> is present, possibly—under some definitions—the primal and primary form of languages themselves. This article means only to describe in as general a way as possible certain properties of poetry and of poetic thought regarded as in some sense independent modes of the mind. Naturally, not every tradition nor every local or individual variation can be—or need be—included, but the article illustrates by giving examples of poetry ranging between <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/nursery-rhyme" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">nursery rhyme</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/epic" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">epic</a>. This article considers:</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><ul><li><div>The difficulty or impossibility of defining poetry</div></li><li><div>Humankind’s nevertheless familiar acquaintance with it</div></li><li><div>The differences between poetry and prose</div></li><li><div>The idea of form in poetry</div></li><li><div>Poetry as a mode of thought</div></li><li><div>What little may be said in prose of the spirit of poetry</div></li></ul></section> <span class="marker h2"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref50835"> <h2 class="h1">Attempts to define poetry</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Poetry is the other way of using <span id="ref503064"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/language" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">language</a>. Perhaps in some <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="hypothetical" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypothetical" data-type="MW">hypothetical</a> beginning of things it was the only way of using language or simply was language tout court, prose being the derivative and younger rival. Both poetry and language are fashionably thought to have belonged to <span id="ref503065"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ritual" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">ritual</a> in early agricultural societies, and poetry in particular, it has been claimed, arose at first in the form of <span id="ref503066"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/magic-supernatural-phenomenon" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">magical</a> spells recited to ensure a good harvest. Whatever the truth of this <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="hypothesis" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypothesis" data-type="MW">hypothesis</a>, it blurs a useful distinction: by the time there begins to be a separate class of objects called poems, recognizable as such, these objects are no longer much regarded for their possible yam-growing properties, and such magic as they may be thought capable of has retired to do its business upon the human spirit and not directly upon the natural world outside.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <div class="feature-block pullquote"><p class="topic-paragraph">“It utters somewhat above a mortal mouth.” —<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ben-Jonson-English-writer" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ben Jonson</a> on poetry</p></div> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Formally, poetry is recognizable by its greater dependence on at least one more <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="parameter" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parameter" data-type="MW">parameter</a>, the <em>line</em>, than appears in <span id="ref503067"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/prosody" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">prose</a> <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="composition" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/composition" data-type="MW">composition</a>. This changes its appearance on the page, and it seems clear that people take their cue from this changed appearance, reading poetry aloud in a very different voice from their habitual voice, possibly because, as English poet <span id="ref503068"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ben-Jonson-English-writer" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ben Jonson</a> said, poetry “utters somewhat above a mortal mouth.” If, as a test of this description, people are shown poems printed as prose, it most often turns out that they will read the result as prose simply because it looks that way, which is to say that they are no longer guided in their reading by the balance and shift of the line in relation to the breath as well as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/syntax" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">syntax</a> (the arrangement of words).</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/literary-terms-and-more-quiz" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/81/215981-131-F5A8E048/Colorized-engraving-English-author-Samuel-Johnson-undated.jpg" alt="Colorized engraving of English author Samuel Johnson; undated portrait." class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Literary Terms and More Quiz</div> </div> </a><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">That is a minimal definition but perhaps not altogether uninformative. It may be all that ought to be attempted in the way of a definition: <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Poetry-American-magazine" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Poetry</a> is the way it is because it looks that way, and it looks that way because it sounds that way and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="vice versa" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/vice versa" data-type="EB">vice versa</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span><div class="mb-20"><div class="w-100 assembly-container"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="330581" data-asm-type="infogram"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="infogram"><script id="infogram_0__/lQV5BkiNkYyiLVwbEIK6" src="https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?Itp" type="text/javascript" title="Movements in American poetry"></script></div></figure></div></div> </section> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-simplify-root"></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":4,"pageId":466108,"pageLength":511,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-134/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.134.19"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-134/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.134.19' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":true,"hasAiTopQuestions":false,"hasSimplifyButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Poetry | Definition, Types, Terms, Examples, & Facts | Britannica