What is poetry?

As the title states. I wonder, what is your opinion on this?

I really like the way Emily Dickinson stated it:

"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 ways I know it."

This is a tricky one and one that I'm sure can lead to fireworks with the wrong fuse lit....

Poetry has changed. I think what defines poetry has certainly changed. Go back to the times of Wordsworth/Coleridge and the 'classic' poets and I think poetry was regarded as any verse that had meter/rhyme/both.
I think blank verse is still the most commonly used form worldwide (I may be mistaken) ie, a poem written in iambic pentameter that doesn't rhyme, but there is no doubt that free verse has grown and become immensely popular - just look at this site.
I believe (personally) that a poem doesn't necessarily have to incorporate meter or rhyme but that it should include poetic elements like onomatopoeia (wow, I actually spelt that right first time!), personification, metaphors, alliteration, assonance and imagery (which all those things create) or put simply, figurative language. It doesn't need all, but it should probably have some.
I think often free verse straddles the line between prose and poetry so when writing it, the author should be careful and ask 'does it flow, does it conjure imagery - is it poetic?' But when written well, it is as poetic and beautiful as any type of poetry; I think everyone will agree with me when I use Andrea, Mr Darcy (Michael), and Mark himself - to name but a few - as fine examples. But equally, just because a poem rhymes doesn't make it poetry - far from it.
As Mark alluded to with Emily Dickinson's quote - if it touches you and you feel something stir as you read it, then it's poetry. Poetry has (and needs to) evolve in order to stay relevant and the more forms there are (written well) the better for everyone - after all, we are supposed to enjoy what we read and the more styles/forms etc, the richer the experience.

All the very best
Ben

* Just so no one is offended, I used those three examples because I read their work often - I am fully aware of the numerous free verse talent on this site - it is awash with it.

Poetry is thought.
Thoughts makes one feel.
Anything that makes one feel can be poetry.
Except that Poetry is written.

So Poetry is written thoughts.

Poetry is divided between Prose and Verse.
The quality of the poetry depends on the different elements used to create the written thoughts.

So for the most part, a poem written in verse tend to have more quality because if the "elements" used from ( i.e. rhyme to meter, etc) are done with skill, then the Poem sounds better and its more appealing to the senses.

One word can be poetry depending on our state of moods but it doesn't mean that that one word is a poetry with a lot of quality.

Just sharing my thoughts - / poetry. lol

So yeah, in my opinion anyone can write poetry. . . but not everyone can write poetry with high quality unless that one person is a genius by nature or a hardworking person.

Like any art, I feel who am I to decide besides for myself? My concept of poetry is free. No rules. I know it when I see it. Rarely do I read something an author intended as poetry and think, "that's not a poem." It happens, but rarely. Just like some of the more modern art out there, I rarely fail to see it as art even if I don't like it. I guess what makes art to me is it has no rules. Sure, within poetry, you can have rules... Sonnets, haikus, acrostics, abab rhyme scheme, but if you fail to meet those rules, does it fail to be a poem? I don't think so.
The only time I have "loose" rules is when differentiating between what I consider good and bad art (or poetry). And if I've learned anything from this site, one person's trash is another's treasure.

^
"Who am I to decide besides for myself? "

What is poetry though? Some of my recent work like 'French Bread, and 'Red Envelope' could be regarded as script based and/or too long. Should work like this be deterred in the future if it is classed as "not a poem "

Hmm...

what is a poem?

A poem is created with poetry (written thoughts).

Let's not forget in this discussion that poetry means different things worldwide, and that a Western context for this discussion is going to be very different from an Eastern one.

Mr Darcy, I might consider something you write to be script, but someone else considers it a poem. And if I spent more time thinking about it, I'd probably realize just because it reads to me like script doesn't mean it's not a poem. So I mean this exactly: Who am I to decide besides for myself? I can only decide for me. If you're asking do I think you shouldn't post something as a poem because I don't think it's a poem -- absolutely not. If you meant it as a poem, then post it as one. Screw what I think! As a matter of fact, it depends entirely on my mood, the way it's read in my head, and how it makes me feel that determines what I think of it. So it changes. It's free, not trapped in one box or another. Maybe I'll read the poem you wrote that I thought sounded like script on a different day, and in a different mood, and think, "Now THAT'S a poem!"
Scripts can be poems too. After all... what is a script? "The written text of a play, movie, or broadcast." Ok, can't that be a poem? Because what's a poem? "Literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm." What classifies special intensity? What is style? How many kinds of rhythm are there? Lol. Oh no, someone stop me.

By everything I've posted so far, my main point is: poetry is subjective. We all seem to know this, or we claim to know this, but then we can't accept it. Subjective means no one is right or wrong and 2 people can have opposite opinions and that's fine. Subjective means I thought The Revenant was crap, but you think it's movie of the year. Subjective means I love this piece of art when I'm happy, but I hate it when I'm sad. There are no rules that decide these things -- only people -- otherwise it'd be computerized and we'd be done with it, or there'd be certain knowledge that we could all acquire and then eventually come to the same conclusion.

How cool would it be if we could establish exact rules for what makes a good poem and then build a program that produces beautiful poetry? A robot poet.

EDIT: Didn't mean to sound preachy. Just thinking out loud/writing as a I think.

Jane you've said the most brilliant thing:
"I feel who am I to decide besides for myself?"

& the scariest:
"A robot poet."

TO ME:

- a poem is a direct encounter with the unconscious manifesting itself. It may be an observation, a quixotic reflection or a sorely wrested conclusion from an inner struggle.

- a poem may be inspired by the grandest concept spanning time and the cosmos or it may arise from fox spoor on the trail.

- the best poem uses the precise number of words to convey its meaning. More is a distraction. Less is "failure to communicate."

- the properly articulated poem dictates its form. It may be that I attempt a particular formed poetry, but the outcome is the result of thoughts that required that particular form.

- a poem, like any writing, is never finished until you are convinced any further changes are mere tampering. It may be at the first draft or the eightieth.

- a poem by anyone else is a gift.

Poetry is the flowing river of life, the emotional outburst of those who live it, breathe it, question it, and share it.

Poetry is thought, feeling and/ or an idea worded eloquently and briefly with the intent to touch the receiver's heart and/or mind.

Usually, the shorter the verse, the stronger the message (unless the poet is not gifted enough to find the right words to create such)

Jane

I am in agreement with almost everything you say....except for your grand ideas for a "poetbot", lol. Surely, verse would never be so charmless and lacking in any type of soul :)
But ultimately, you are right - poetry is purely subjective, or we wouldn't still be discussing what it is in 2016.

Take care

ps Ingrid, I agree to a point but some poems are stories written in verse (Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner and Milton's Paradise Lost come to mind) and so need to be of more epic proportions.

Ja, Ben. This is my personal view on what I consider poetry is. Opinions differ and that is great, we are all 'right', in as much that our opinions are equally important and each poet adds to the rich database of collected poetry and thereby changes the concept slightly, until, over time, 'poetry' aquires a whole new meaning. Like any artform, it is forever changing.
I like that you brought back a touch of old school poetry and made it hip again, mr. Rhymer;)

I suppose it comes back to that cliché, wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same. As you say Ingrid, poetry is rich in diversity as are the other arts; there is a 'market' that caters for everyone.
Of course some will hate rhyming poetry, as others can't stand free verse. My opinion is that the more we open our minds and the more eclectic our tastes, the richer our experiences.
When I first joined this site, I couldn't imagine myself writing free verse, and while I don't find it comes as naturally to me, I enjoy the challenge of trying it now and then and love reading it. I have also enjoyed learning more formed poetry; I had never written a sonnet until a few months ago, and now I can't stop counting syllables - I literally lose sleep over it!

All the best.

I think poetry is something that a person believes to be important to them at the time of writing whether or not it is relevant to anybody else doesn't matters because it is in their heart/head that matters at that particular time that matters.
It is a beautiful thing and opinions on it will differentiate.

Poetry is the way you let the creative mind run free

Emotional writing never finished