Here you will find; What is poetry? A general or personal point of view about poetry. Functions of Poetry. Literature Review. Comparison Between Scholarly definitions and Mine. Conclusion. Poetry is the combination of the best words in their order. This best order has a rhyming scheme, metrical order and imagination along with a combination of human willpower, ordinary language and sometimes a reflection of life as well as society. It should criticize and interpret human feelings and reform the lives of its readers. The vitality of these qualities should render immense aesthetic pleasure to readers.

1. Poetry
Poetry is the combination of the best words in their order. This best order
has a rhyming scheme, metrical order and imagination along with a combination
of human willpower, ordinary language and sometimes a reflection of life as well
as society. It should criticize and interpret human feelings and reform the lives of
its readers. The vitality of these qualities should render immense aesthetic
pleasure to readers.
Additionally, good poetry should have ordinary language means that the
language used in the poetry must be as simple as it could be understood by the
majority of people. There should be universality in the selection of words so that
everyone can pick them the reader is more educated or less educated.
Furthermore, the language used in any kind of poetry must be in a specific
order such that it can mark some sort of difference between simple words of
general literary passage and poetry itself also. Under the umbrella of this concept,
poetry can have rhyming order with its well-organized scheme and poetry may
have metrical diction so that readers may observe and feels aesthetic pleasure.
This metrical order and proper ordering of words help to memorize poetry in the
normal
context.
Functions of Poetry
Firstly, arising feelings and emotions among readers is an influential
function of poetry, this quality leads poetry to the divine one. Some unique

2. features of versification are the identification of such feelings that the reader
could not felt before it. Moreover, the best function of poetry is to become the
cause of reformation in society, especially its reader or lover.
Secondly, a specimen of secondary imagination, means that poetry should
not be only a combination of primary imagination but it must be a combination
of primary plus will power of the poet as well i.e., secondary imagination.
Because of this secondary imagination poets can observe and understand nature
and other concepts in a better way. Similarly, artists can interpret different
processes in such a simple way that would highlight every aspect of human life
along with solutions to problems.
Thirdly, poetry should have the ability to recreation so that it not only
imitates the processes but also has a characteristic of re-organization of
imagination. It means that poetry is not a copy of things but something more than
it. It should be the combination of such imagination that would be imitated
according to the intellectual ability of its readers.
At last, poetry and its functions are supposed to be a wider topic for
discussion. Similarly, the different scholar has interpreted it in several ways that
depict their intellectual ability of observation and their experience with poetry
along its function.
Literature Review
T.S. Eliot states that “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. However, only those with personalities and feelings understand what
it means to want to get away from these things”. Since poetry is mainly about
feelings and emotions, and feelings and emotions are special, they should be
written in our own language.
“Poetry is really divine,” wrote P.B. Shelley in his essay “A Defense of
Poetry.” It is both the nucleus and the periphery of knowledge; it comprises all
science and is to which all science must be referred. It is both the root and the
blossom of all other systems of thought; it is the source of all life and the
embellishment of all; and it is the source of all fruit and seed, withholding
nourishment and succession of the scions of the tree of life from the barren world

3. if it is blighted. It is everything's flawless and consummate surface and bloom; it
is the odour and colour of a rose to the texture of the elements that make it up, the
shape and splendour of unfading beauty to the secrets of anatomy and
corruption.”
“I will describe, in brief, the Poetry of words as the Rhythmical
Development of Beauty,” writes Edgar Allan Poe. Taste is the only requirement.
It has no direct relationship with the intellect or the conscience. It has nothing to
do with obligation or fact unless it happens to be the case.”
“Poetry is not a profession, it is a way of life,” Mary Oliver says of his
philosophy. It's an empty basket; you fill it with your life and create something
from it.”
From William Wordsworth's reference, “poetry is the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in
tranquillity: the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the
tranquilly gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before
the subject of contemplation,
According to Matthew Arnold, “Poetry is a criticism of life; that the
greatness of a poet lies in his powerful and beautiful application of ideas to life
— to the question: How to live.”
William Hazlitt says, “Poetry is all that is worth remembering in life.” “The
light of poetry is not only a direct but also a reflected light, that, while it shows
us the object, throws a sparkling radiance on all around it: the flame of the
passions, communicated to the imagination, reveals to us, as with a flash of
lightning, the inmost recesses of thought, and penetrates our whole being. Poetry
represents forms chiefly as they suggest other forms; feelings, as they suggest
forms or other feelings. Poetry puts a spirit of life and motion into the universe.
It describes the flowing, not the fixed. It denotes the excess of the imagination
beyond the actual or ordinary impression of any object, rather than defining the
limits of sense or analyzing the distinctions of understanding.”
Comparison Between Scholarly definitions and Mine

4. As the notion of poetry is interpreted by different scholars in their context.
So, there are some differences and similarities that we might possibly find among
several definitions and also the following are similarities and differences between
my definition of poetry and other scholars.
As far as T.S. Eliot’s concept of poetry, he talked about the feelings and
emotions of the reader thus he is similar to me in this sense. Because Eliot is
emphasizing the arising emotions inside the readers through poetry. In terms of
differences, he believes poetry should be something that allows the reader to
escape his or her personality after reading it; that is, it should transport the reader
to another sense or aspect of life where he or she can no longer experience past
lives, sad or sorrowful thoughts.
P.B. Shelley developed the idea that poetry is a part of divinity and that it
can explain all other processes, such as philosophy and science. However, in
comparison to him, I have mentioned that it should be imaginative as well as
willpower, which is the main difference between us.
Edgar Allan Poe’s concept about poetry is approximately the same as mine
because he says it should have rhythmical order that would feed the soul, and also
there should be a combination of intellectual abilities as well. Apart from them,
he hadn’t talked about truth delivered by poetry so the main point is similar to
mine.
Mary Oliver focused on the idea that poetry reflects human life so in this
way he is making similarities with me as I have depicted it as the reflection of
aspects of life. But a difference between us is that he said only poetry leads us in
the right way so that is not my point of view.
William Wordsworth’s concept of poetry is similar to mine to some extent
and to some extent it is different. He focused on the tranquility and poet’s
imagination so I have also talked about will power of poets to develop it further.
Also, he talked about feelings and emotions among readers so which is another
similarity between us. But for differences, he only mentioned interpretation by
the poet so for me it's the interpretation for readers and exercise of secondary
imagination.
Matthew Arnold’s way of definition is also similar to mine because he says
poetry is the criticism and interpretation of human life. So poetical ideology like
to resolve complex and perpetual situations in life. But he is not similar to me in

5. the context of the function of poetry because I have taken it as both criticism and
pleasure but he proved it as only criticism.
William Hazlitt said poetry is reflected in the light of the poet so he is
contradicting my point of view as I was engaging it as a reflection of human life.
But he has similarities with me because he said poetry of communication of
imagination thus, he is talking about the exercise of imagination no matter
whether it are primary or secondary. Also, the difference between us is that he
put forth the idea of imagination to lead to the other world so this is a disputed
one among us.
Conclusion
At last, the flexible topic of poetry has a couple of definitions and
interpretations and varies according to the scholars. There have been mentioned
some famous poetry concepts by several thinkers. Poetry plays important role in
our lives some thinks that it must be nothing but a show-off and some have an
idea which makes it divine and other has supposed that it is a way of fun and
pleasure. Thus, no matter how it’s been explained but it cannot be denied that it
has some role in portraying the life of people, something special that could not be
attained by any other source. Poetry interprets life, demonstrates complex and
philosophical concepts, gives aesthetic pleasure through verification and metrical
order or rhyming scheme and it has a great part in developing the imagination of
the person to transcend natural beauty either exists in the physical object of the
world or abstract aspect of human life. Furthermore, apart from all other
controversial interpretations related to poetry, it has explored the philosophy of
mental actions and the creative power of the human mind.
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