Poem

Definition of Poem
A poem is a collection of spoken or written words that express ideas or emotions in a powerfully vibrant and inventive style. A poem consists of a certain rhythmic and metric pattern. In fact, it is a literary technique that is different from prose, or ordinary language, as found either in metrical patterns or in free verse. Writers or poets more easily express their feelings through this medium as they have difficulty expressing themselves through another medium. It serves the purpose of a light to receive readers on the right track. Sometimes it also teaches them a moral lesson through sugar-coated language.

Types of Poem
Haiku - A type of Japanese poem that consists of three lines not rhyming, usually with five, seven, and five syllables on each line.
Free verse - Consists of non-rhyming lines without metric pattern but following a natural rhythm.
Epic - A form of long poem, often written in empty verse, in which the poet depicts a protag onist in action of historical significance or a great myth.
Ballad - a type of narrative poem, in who a story often speaks of folk or legendary stories. It can take the form of a moral lesson or a song.
Sonnet - It is a form of a lyric poem of fourteen lines, with iambic pentameter and tone or mood changes after the eighth line.
Elegy - A melancholy poem in which the poet laments this Death of a subject despite giving consolation towards the end.
Epitaph - A small poem used as an inscription on a tombstone.
Hymn - This type of poem praises spirituality or God's splendor.
Limerick - This is a type of humorous poem with five anapestic Lines in which the first, second and fifth lines are three feet and the third and fourth lines are two feet, with a strict rhyme scheme of aabba.
Villanelle - A nineteen-line French-style poem consisting of a three-line stanza, with five tercets and a final quatrain. It uses chorus in the first and third lines of each stanza.
Examples of poetry in literature
Example 1: While you refuse to cry (By Ō no Yasumaro)
Haiku Poem

“While you refuse to cry,
hi gh on the mountain slope
a a single stem from Feather grass withers. “

(loose translation by Michael R. Burch)

This poem has three lines, which is the typical structure of a haiku poem. It does not follow a formal rhyme scheme or proper rhythmic pattern.

Example 2: The Song of Hiawatha (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
Epic Poem

“By the shore of Gitchie Gumee,
By the shining Big Sea water,
On the door of his wigwam,
On the door of his wigwam pleasant summer morning
Hiawatha stood and waited… “

These are a few lines from The Song of Hiawatha, a classic epic poem that presents an Indian legend of a loving, courageous, patriotic and stoic hero, but which is similar to the Greek myths of Homer. In this long poem Longfellow tells in detail about the worries and successes of the Indian tribes. Hence this is a fine example of a modern epic, although other epics include Paradise Lost by John Milton and Iliad by Homer.

Example 3: After the Ship (by Walt Whitman)
Free Verse Poem

“After the Ship - After the whistling winds;
After the white-gray sails, taut on their spars and ropes,
Below, a multitude of waves that hurry up, raise their necks,
Tend in the incessant flow towards the ship's trail:
Waves of the ocean, bubbling and gurgling, lively and curious ... ”

This one Poem has no lines of rhyme, nor does it adhere to any particular metric scheme. Hence it is free from artificial expression. It has rhythm and a variety of rhetorical devices used for sounds, such as assonance and consonance.

Example 4: La Belle Dame without Merci (From John Keats)
Ballad

“O what can you, knight with weapons,
Alone and pale loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds are singing ...

And that's why I stay here
Lonely and pale loitering,
Although the sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds are singing.

This poem is a perfect example of a ballad - a folk style poem that typically tells a love story. The language of this poem is simple. It contains twelve stanzas with four quatrains and a rhyme scheme of abcb.

Function of poem
The main thing The function of a poem is to convey an idea or emotion in a beautiful language. It paints a picture of what the poet feels about a thing, person, idea, concept, or even an object. Poets grab the audience's attention through the use of vivid imagery, emotional shading, imagery, and other rhetorical means. However, the highest function of a poem is to convert images and words into verse form to touch the hearts and minds of readers. You can easily stir the feelings of your readers through versification. In addition, poets evoke imaginative awareness of things using a particular diction, sound, and rhythm.

Explication Play