Poetry: Working definitions
Poetry is a compact form of writing focusing on meter and word choice, to elicit a specific response of
feeling and emotion. Lyric poetry is this with a beat.
Poetry: A string of words written in form with a theme meant to evoke feelings from the reader or writer,
has a meter, uses strong words, and can tell a story
Lyric Poetry: Can often be put to music, short poem that expresses the emotions and thoughts of the poet.
Anne
Poetry- a genre with auditory elements such as sounds, rhythms
evokes emotion
can be almost anything
lyric poetry- a short poem in which the speaker expresses intense personal emotion rather than describing a
narrative or dramatic situation
ex: Elegy- a formal lament for someone’s death
ode- a poem of celebration
Mike
“The universe of poetry is the universe of emotional truth.” - Muriel Rukeyser
Thoughts and emotion written in a kind of form.
Lyric
The fervent but structured expression of private thoughts and emotions by a single speaker who speaks in the
first person.
The listener waits to hear the rhyme.
-Annie Lennox
POETRY
Not as complete as prose—less complete thoughts
A “good poem” uses many images but cannot be understood.
One of the four major genres
Lyric
Single speaker
1st person
Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert
Frost
Ballad, sonnet, and ode are branches