by Justin Mcafee

Created on: January 10, 2009

Wordsworth defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings;" Emily Dickinson said, "If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry;" and Dylan Thomas defined poetry this way: "Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing." So what exactly is poetry? How is this elusive term that has captivated the minds and souls of so many defined?

We'll start with the basics. The dictionary defines poetry as 'literary work in metrical form; verse.' This definition, however, is lost in modern poetry (since Walt Whitman) with free verse that strips away the rhythmic and 'metrical' foundation of poetry. As the name vers libre suggests, this technique of using more irregular cadences is often said to derive from the practices of 19th century French poets. However, in English the sort of cadencing that we now recognize as a variety of free verse can be traced back at least as far as the Bible.

So, the first definition is lacking certain aspects of poetry.

Definition two states that poetry is 'the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.' Once again, the rhythmic aspect of poetry chooses to ignore many compositions. But ignoring this fact, the rest of the definition is true. And wrong. Poetry is often accepted as an expression of words for 'exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.' but this is not always the case. Poets such as e.e. cummings and Pablo Neruda, two highly-acclaimed writers, are often filled with sexual and dirty writing. But, they are still great poets. This definition refuses to accept in authors of poetry that is filthy and degrading, sometimes necessary to portray an idea correctly.

So what is the definition of poetry? No one knows. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this holds true with poetry. Free verse, although a commonly accepted form of poetry, is often ridiculed as not really being poetry. Others perceive it as unique expression. Poetry isn't always beautiful and it doesn't always have a message. Poetry is writing from the soul and mind. Writing that truly shows the creative individual in all of us. But no, there is no true definition of what is poetry and that is why poetry is so hard to define.

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