Poetry

POETRY is a form of literature that uses AESTHETIC & RHYTHMIC qualities of language. —–such as SOUND SYMBOLISM, PHONAESTHETICS & METRE —–to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the PROSAIC OSTENSIBLE MEANING.

POETRY has a long history, dating back to the SUMERIAN EPIC of GILGAMESH,  Early poems evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese SHIJING, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with SANSKRIT VEDAS, ZOROASTRIAN GATHAS, and the Homeric Epics —–THE ILIAD, and THE ODYSSEY.  From the mid-20th Century, POETRY has sometimes been more general regarded as a fundamental creative act employing language.  Readers accustomed to identifying POETRY with DANTE, GOETHE, MICKIEWICZ & RUMI may think of it as lines based on RHYME & REGULAR METRE.

I have jotted down a few quotes on POETRY : –

(1) POETRY is ordinary language raised to the Nth power.  POETRY is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words. —–Paul Engle.

(2) POETRY is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought as found words. —–Robert Frost.

(3) 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.

(4)  POETRY is rhythmical creation of beauty in words. —–Edgar Allan Poe.

(5) Painting is SILENT POETRY, and POETRY is PAINTING THAT SPEAKS. —–Plutarch.

(6) POETRY is a deal of joy and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary. —–Khalil Gibran.

(7) Genuine POETRY can communicate before it is understood. —–T. S. Eliot.

(8) POETRY is an echo , asking a shadow to dance.—–Carl Sandberg.

(9) POETRY is PLUCKING at the HEARTSTRINGS, and MAKING MUSIC WITH THEM. —–Dennis Gabor

(10) POETRY heals the wounds inflicted by reason. —–Novalis.

(11) POETRY is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted. —–Percy Bysshe Shelley.

(12) There’s no money in POETRY, but then there’s no POETRY in money either. —–Robert Graves.