Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and 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 the Sanskrit Vedas, Zoroastrian Gathas, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotle's Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on features such as repetition, verse form and rhyme, and emphasized the aesthetics which distinguish poetry from more objectively informative, prosaic forms of writing. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a fundamental creative act employing language.
Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, or to evoke emotive responses. Devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly figures of speech such as metaphor, simile and metonymy create a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between individual verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm.
A poem is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities.
Poem may also refer to:
"Poem" is a song by the band Taproot and the lead single from their second major label album, Welcome. It was released in 2002 and met with the highest success of any Taproot single, reaching #5 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks. The track, as well as its music video, were heavily played throughout the several months following its release.
During the production of Welcome, Taproot had given producer Toby Wright roughly 40 complete songs to which he said were not up to their potential and forced them to start from scratch. However, "Poem" was actually written long before the band started working with Wright. Guitarist Mike DeWolf elaborated:
"Poem" was performed on the December 13, 2002 edition of Last Call with Carson Daly. The band was late due to weather troubles in Chicago but treated the audience to a half-hour set. A live version of the song was included on the Music as a Weapon II album in 2004. "Poem" was also featured on the soundtracks for both MVP Baseball 2003 and True Crime: Streets of L.A.
Time with its change of mood and shade
A simple man is not afraid
Don't blame my pillow sickness
I'm pleased to make nothing less
Long dazzling flash of light
the rotted smell of smoke
you always satisfy it
the hanger of my thought
I can separate my breath
My expiation
Something throw my mind away
Your bloody aim
My body like a charnell house
And i cut with scissors my soul
I have to make a dreadful pain
Cause i don't wanna be your slave
Come on and walk inside me
You have to bury it with me
So what you'll gonna give me
Don't play with me, believe me
I pray many times for it
Begging my ending
I am wick but so close to see
or am i creeping dead
Breath in,
Dreamer