what is poetry

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What is Poetry?
 Emily Dickinson once defined poetry this way: “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no
fire can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know
that is poetry. These are the only way I know it. Is there any other way?”
 The crown of literature is poetry. (W. Somerset Maugham, British playwright, novelist and short story
writer)
 I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty. (Edgar Allan Poe)
 Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. (Robert Frost)
 What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound anguish in his heart but whose lips are so
formed that as sighs and cries pass over them they sound like beautiful music. (Soren Kierkegaard, was a
Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and religious author who is widely considered to be the
first existentialist philosopher.)
 Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality,
but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what
it means to want to escape from these things. (T. S. Eliot)
 Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. (T. S. Eliot)
 Poetry: the best words in the best order. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
 I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or
inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing
in the least what they mean. (Socrates)
 A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds. (Percy
Bysshe Shelley)
 Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
 Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks. (Plutarch, Plutarch was a Greek historian,
biographer and essayist)
 Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in
tranquility. (William Wordsworth)
 Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only
the particular. (Aristotle)
 A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. (W. H. Auden)
 Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity, it should strike the reader as a wording of
his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance. (John Keats)
 Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. (Thomas Gray, Thomas Gray was an English poet,
letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University)
 A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman. (Wallace Stevens, Wallace Stevens was an
American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading)
 Poetry is the mother-tongue of the human race. (Johann Georg Hamann, Johann Georg Hamann was a
German philosopher)
 Always be a poet, even in prose. (Charles Baudelaire, was a French poet who also produced notable work
as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe)
 There's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money, either. (Robert Graves)
 Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth. (Samuel Johnson, Samuel Johnson, often referred to as Dr
Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist,
moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor)
 Poetry is what gets lost in translation. (Robert Frost)
 If you cannot be a poet, be the poem. (David Carradine, David Carradine was an American actor and
martial artist,)

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Figures of Speech
List of Figure of Speech and Examples
1. Alliteration
This is a very common figure of speech that involves using words that begin with the same sound.
For instance, “Sally sells sea shells by the seashore” is alliteration – and try saying it fast to see how difficult it
is! It is often used in advertising slogans to create something catchy that more people will remember.
2. Anaphora
This figure of speech uses a specific clause at the beginning of each sentence or point to make a statement.
For instance: “Good night and good luck” is an example of the beginning word being the same. The more it is
used, the more of an emotional effect is can evoke among those who are listening. Another example is "Mad
world! Mad kings! Mad composition!" from King John, II, I by William
Shakespeare.
3. Assonance
Remember the phrase “I Like Ike”? It was a very common phase for those who supported Dwight Eisenhower
during his presidential run. This is a figure of speech that focuses on the vowel sounds in a phrase, repeating them
over and over to great effect.
4. Hyperbole
“It was as big as a mountain! It was faster than a cheetah! It was dumber than a rock!” This figure of speech
makes things seem much bigger than they really were by using grandiose depictions of everyday things.
Hyperbole is often seen as an exaggeration that adds a bit of humor to a story.

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5. Irony
This figure of speech tries to use a word in a literal sense that debunks what has just been said. “Gentlemen, you
can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!” from Dr. Strangelove is a great example. It is often used to poke fun
at a situation that everyone else sees as a very serious matter.
There are different types of irony and here are the details and examples.
6. Metaphor
The use of metaphor compares two things that are not alike and finds something about them to make them alike.
“My heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill” from a book by William Sharp is a good example of
metaphor. Some writers try to use this style to create something profound out of comparing two things that appear
to have nothing at all in common.
7. Simile
In this figure of speech, two things are compared that are not really the same, but are used to make a point about
each other.
“Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get” is a famous line from the movie
Forrest Gump that illustrates the simile. This is often used to make an emotional point about something. The
difference between simile and metaphor is that you can obviously see words "like" in the sentence.
8. Metonymy
In this figure of speech, one word that has a very similar meaning can be used for another. Using the word “crown”
for “royalty” or “lab coats” for “scientists” are two examples. In some ways it can be seen as a nickname for
something else; for instance, “The White House said” doesn’t actually mean the White House said it (a house
can’t speak!) but that the President said it. However, we all understand the meaning, and so the words are
interchangeable.
9. Onomatopoeia
This is the use of a word that actually sounds like what it means. Good examples include “hiss” or “ding-dong”
or “fizz.” These words are meant to describe something that actually sounds very much like the word itself. This
is a trick often used in advertising to help convey what something is really like.
10. Paradox
This figure of speech completely contradicts itself in the same sentence. Famous quotes that illustrate this from
George Orwell’s “1984” include: “War is peace. Ignorance is strength. Freedom is slavery.” Though we know

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these things aren’t true, they present an interesting paradox that makes a person think seriously about what they
have just read or heard.
11. Personification
This is a way of giving an inanimate object the qualities of a living thing. “The tree quaked with fear as the wind
approached” is an example; “The sun smiled down on her” is another. This can sometimes be used to invoke an
emotional response to something by making it more personable, friendly and relatable.
12. Pun
This play on words uses different senses of the word, or different sounds that make up the word, to create
something fun and interesting. For instance: “I would like to go to Holland someday. Wooden shoe?” is a pun
that actually means “wouldn’t you?” Sometimes puns are so subtle that they can be tough to pick up unless you
are really listening for them.
13. Synecdoche
This is a figure of speech in which one thing is meant to represent the whole. A few good examples include
“ABCs” for alphabet, “new set of wheels” for car, or “9/11” to demonstrate the whole of the tragedy that happened
in the United States on September 11, 2001. This is often used in journalism as a type of shorthand.
14. Understatement
This is a situation in which the thing discussed is made to seem much less important than it really is. This famous
line from Catcher in the Rye is a good example: “I have to have this operation. It isn’t very serious. I have this
tiny tumor on the brain.” Understatement can often be used to comedic effect.
15. Antithesis
This is a contradiction that pits two ideas against each other in a balanced way. “You’re easy on the eyes, hard on
the heart” is a line from a country song that illustrates this perfectly. This is often used to indicate just how
something can be more than one thing at the same time.

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16. Euphemism
Words that are used to soften the message are often considered euphemisms. “Passed away” is often used in place
of “died” or “killed.” A “misunderstanding” might be used in place of “fight” or “argument.” And who could
forget “wardrobe malfunction,” which is a fancy way of saying “your clothes fell off.”
17. Oxymoron
This puts two words together that seem to contradict each other. “Military intelligence,” “real phony,” “civil war, ”
and “silent yell” are all examples of an oxymoron. Many people use these to promote the humor in a situation.
What is tautology?
Tautology is a statement that says the same thing twice in different ways, or a statement that is unconditionally
true by the way it is phrased.
Examples of tautology
 Forward planning.
 It's a free gift.
 The mobile phone is a new innovation.
 In my point of view, it is completely useless.
 These are necessary essentials.
 My first priority is to buy food the children.
 Anaphora is a stylistic device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of
neighboring clauses to give them emphasis. This rhetorical device is contrasted with epiphora, also called
epistrophe, which consists of repeating words at the end of clauses.
 Examples of anaphora
 Some examples of the literary works that use anaphora are listed below:
 In time the savage bull sustains the yoke,
In time all haggard hawks will stoop to lure,
In time small wedges cleave the hardest oak,
In time the flint is pierced with softest shower.
 Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy, I, vi. 3
 Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition!
 William Shakespeare, King John, II,
 What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
 William Blake, "The Tyger"
 Strike as I

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http://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/litotesterm.htm
An allegory takes the idea of a metaphor, where one thing is taken to represent another, and stretches it out into
a longer context than a metaphor might normally be used. An allegory also appeals to the imagination more than
a metaphor, which tends to have a more rational basis.
Short 'teaching' stories, such as fables and parables, are often allegorical, as this alternative form softens the
lecturing tone of a direct presentation. Allegories are likewise useful in business presentations keeping them
interesting whilst also making the message more palatable.
Aporia is pretending to doubt something.
Example
Maybe I am stupid, or something. Maybe I am not paying attention here. Or maybe you are talking rubbish.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, would you say that was the worst joke I have told? Or was it the best joke? Funny,
that. I can't tell either.
Discussion
Expressing doubt prompts others to empathetically consider how something may be doubted and so sows seeds
of uncertainty in them. This causes confusion and leads others to seek certainty, which the speaker can give with
subsequent statements (and which are thus less likely to be challenged).
Doubt may thus be used as the start of an argument, clearing the decks for the speaker's real intent. The doubt
may be sustained or, more often, the speaker proves themself wrong by showing the doubt to be unfounded.
Aporia often appears in the form of a rhetorical question.