I. Definition of Poetry 

  1. Poetry is the  best words in the best order.

                                     ---Samuel T. Coleridge

  2. Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.

                                    ---William Wordsworth

  3. Poetry is the expression of imagination.

                                    ---P. P. Shelley

 4. Poetry is the concrete and artistic expression of human thoughts and feelings in rhythmical and emotional language.

  5. 文学的一大样式。运用有一定节奏韵律的语言，反映生活、抒发作者思想感情的文学体裁。感情充沛，想像丰富，语言凝练而富形象性。一般分行排列。按内容性质，可分为叙事诗和抒情诗; 按语言组合有无格律，可分为格律诗和自由诗; 按押韵与否, 又可分为有韵诗和无韵诗。

  6. 诗是由诗人对外界所引起的感觉，注入了思想与情感，而凝结了形象，终于表现出来的一种“完成”的艺术。   ----艾青

7. 诗是一种最集中地反映社会生活的文学样式，它饱和着丰富的想象和感情，常常以直接抒情的方式来表现，而且在精练与和谐的程度上，特别是在节奏的鲜明上，它的语言有别于散文的语言。   ----何其芳

Poetry is characterized by the following elements: a musical effect created by rhythm and sounds, a precise and fresh imagery, and multiple levels of interpretation suggested by the connotation of the closer words and by allusions.

   Poetic Devices: Simile, Metaphor, Conceit, Personification , Symbol, Paradox, Ambiguity, Onomatopoeia