po·et·ry (p-tr) n. 1. The art or work of a poet. 2. a. Poems regarded as forming a division of literature. b. The poetic works of a given author, group, nation, or kind. 3. A piece of literature written in meter; verse. 4. Prose that resembles a poem in some respect, as in form or sound. 5. The essence or characteristic quality of a poem. 6. A quality that suggests poetry, as in grace, beauty, or harmony: the poetry of the dancer's movements.
[Middle English poetrie, from Old French, from Medieval Latin potria, from Latin pota, poet; see poet.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words AntonymsNoun 1. poetry - literature in metrical form
poesy, verse
hush, stillness, still - (poetic) tranquil silence; "the still of the night"
epos - a body of poetry that conveys the traditions of a society by treating some epic theme
literary genre, writing style, genre - a style of expressing yourself in writing
epic poetry, heroic poetry - poetry celebrating the deeds of some hero
dolor, dolour - (poetry) painful grief
lyric - write lyrics for (a song)
relyric - write new lyrics for (a song)
rhyme, rime - compose rhymes
tag - supply (blank verse or prose) with rhymes
alliterate - use alliteration as a form of poetry
poetise, poetize, verse, versify - compose verses or put into verse; "He versified the ancient saga"
metrify - compose in poetic meter; "The bard metrified his poems very precisely"
spondaise, spondaize - make spondaic; "spondaize verses"
elegise, elegize - compose an elegy
sonnet - compose a sonnet
sonnet - praise in a sonnet
scan - conform to a metrical pattern
lyric - of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses emotion (often in a songlike way); "lyric poetry"
sweet, sweetly - in an affectionate or loving manner (`sweet' is sometimes a poetic or informal variant of `sweetly'); "Susan Hayward plays the wife sharply and sweetly"; "how sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank"- Shakespeare; "talking sweet to each other"
2. poetry - any communication resembling poetry in beauty or the evocation of feeling
expressive style, style - a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period; "all the reporters were expected to adopt the style of the newspaper"