What is poetry - The definition of poetry.

• What is poetry - The definition of poetry.

  tags: Poetry define

  • Wordsworth defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings;"
  • Dickinson said, "If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry;"
  • Thomas defined poetry this way: "Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing."
  • unwillingness to be defined, labeled, or nailed down.
  • Poetry is the chiseled marble of language; it's a paint-spattered canvas - but the poet uses words instead of paint, and the canvas is you.
  • economy of language
  • considering a word's emotive qualities, its musical value, its spacing, and yes, even its spacial relationship to the page.
  • Poetry is evocative.
  • evokes in the reader an intense emotion: joy, sorrow, anger, catharsis, love...
  • surprise
  • Poetry is artistically rendering words in such a way as to evoke intense emotion or an Ah Ha! experience from the reader.
  • It doesn't like your definitions and will shirk them at every turn. If you really want to know what poetry is, read it. Read it carefully. Pay attention. Read it out loud. Now read it again.
  • defining poetry is like grasping at the wind - once you catch it, it's no longer wind.

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