Today is Random Acts of Poetry Day, so we thought we'd share with you all things poetry.
Let's begin with its definition.
Poetry is one of the oldest literary art forms. As an art form, it uses human language artistically to evoke emotions in its readers.
Both prose and poetry are forms of creative writing but they differ in the following ways:
Here’s how poets have described prose and poetry:
Prose talks and poetry sings.
- Franz Grillparzer
Poetry is to prose as dancing is to walking.
- Paul Valéry
I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose = words in their best order; - poetry = the best words in the best order.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Also, we compiled a few interesting facts about poetry.
The word ‘poetry’ is from the Greek term ‘poiein’, which means “to make.”
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the world's shortest poem is a one-letter poem by Aram Saroyan comprising a four-legged version of the letter "m".
The longest poem ever written is the ancient Indian epic, Mahabharata with more than 220,000 verses (almost 100,000 couplets) and about 1.8 million words in total—about seven times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined.
A phobia of poetry exists and it’s called ‘Metrophobia’ - fear of poetry. People who suffer from this condition are likely to experience a great deal of anxiety simply thinking about poetry, let alone reading it.
William Shakespeare is the best-selling poet in English of all time. With over 4 billion book sales globally, his surviving works include approximately 40 plays, 150 sonnets, 2 long-story poems, and a few eulogies.
Below are some tips you can use to improve your poetry writing.
Read poetry every single day. Also, you can subscribe to a poetry podcast or attend live poetry readings.
Use literary devices such as metaphor, synecdoche, allegory, or imagery, to enrich your poetry writing, but refrain from using clichés.
Get to know the different types of poetry and their requirements, such as rhyme scheme and meter.
Join a poetry writing group and connect with other poets.
Lastly, and most importantly, write poetry regularly. Tell a story and express your thoughts and feelings through poetry.
Have you got any additional tips you’d like to share? Feel free to leave a comment below!
At IABX, our mission is to promote and empower independent authors. We strive to provide useful and valuable information to do just that.
Feel free to send us an email at info@iabx.org if you have any comments or suggestions. We would love to hear from you!
Missed the past weeks' Wednesday Writing Tips? Check them out here.