Most written poems are formatted inverse: a series or stack oflines on a page, which follow the poetic structure. For this reason,verse has also become asynonym (ametonym) for poetry.[note 1]
Some poetry types are unique to particularcultures andgenres and respond to characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. Readers accustomed to identifying poetry withDante,Goethe,Mickiewicz, orRumi may think of it as written inlines based onrhyme and regularmeter. There are, however, traditions, such asBiblical poetry andalliterative verse, that use other means to create rhythm andeuphony. Much modern poetry reflects a critique of poetic tradition,[4] testing the principle of euphony itself or altogether forgoing rhyme or set rhythm.[5][6]
Poetry has a long and variedhistory, evolving differentially across the globe. It dates back at least to prehistoric times with hunting poetry inAfrica and topanegyric andelegiac court poetry of the empires of theNile,Niger, andVolta River valleys.[7] Some of the earliest written poetry in Africa occurs among thePyramid Texts written during the 25th century BCE. The earliest surviving Western Asianepic poem, theEpic of Gilgamesh, was written in theSumerian language.
Ancient Greek attempts to define poetry, such asAristotle'sPoetics, focused on the uses ofspeech inrhetoric,drama,song, andcomedy. Later attempts concentrated on features such asrepetition,verse form, andrhyme, and emphasized aesthetics which distinguish poetry from the format of more objectively-informative, academic, or typical writing, which is known asprose.
Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differentialinterpretations of words, or to evokeemotive responses. The use ofambiguity,symbolism,irony, and otherstylistic elements ofpoetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly, figures of speech such asmetaphor,simile, andmetonymy[8] establish a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between individualverses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm.
Poets – as, from theGreek, "makers" of language – have contributed to the evolution of the linguistic, expressive, and utilitarian qualities of their languages. In an increasinglyglobalized world, poets often adapt forms, styles, and techniques from diverse cultures and languages.
AWestern cultural tradition (extending at least fromHomer toRilke) associates the production of poetry withinspiration – often by aMuse (either classical or contemporary), or through other (often canonised) poets' work which sets some kind of example or challenge.
In first-person poems, the lyrics are spoken by an "I", acharacter who may be termed thespeaker, distinct from thepoet (theauthor). Thus if, for example, a poem asserts, "I killed my enemy in Reno", it is the speaker, not the poet, who is the killer (unless this "confession" is a form ofmetaphor which needs to be considered in closercontext – viaclose reading).
Some scholars believe that the art of poetry may predateliteracy, and developed from folkepics and other oral genres.[9][10]Others, however, suggest that poetry did not necessarily predate writing.[11]
Other forms of poetry, including such ancient collections of religioushymns as the IndianSanskrit-languageRigveda, the AvestanGathas, theHurrian songs, and the HebrewPsalms, possibly developed directly fromfolk songs. The earliest entries in the oldest extant collection ofChinese poetry, theClassic of Poetry (Shijing), were initiallylyrics.[17] The Shijing, with its collection of poems and folk songs, was heavily valued by the philosopherConfucius and is considered to be one of the officialConfucian classics. His remarks on the subject have become an invaluable source inancient music theory.[18]
The efforts of ancient thinkers to determine what makes poetry distinctive as a form, and what distinguishes good poetry from bad, resulted in "poetics"—the study of the aesthetics of poetry.[19] Some ancient societies, such as China's through theShijing, developed canons of poetic works that had ritual as well as aesthetic importance.[20] More recently, thinkers have struggled to find a definition that could encompass formal differences as great as those between Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales andMatsuo Bashō'sOku no Hosomichi, as well as differences in content spanningTanakhreligious poetry, love poetry, andrap.[21]
Until recently, the earliest examples ofstressed poetry had been thought to be works composed byRomanos the Melodist (fl. 6th century CE). However,Tim Whitmarsh writes that an inscribed Greek poem predated Romanos' stressed poetry.[22][23][24]
The oldest known love poem. Sumerianterracotta tablet#2461 from Nippur, Iraq. Ur III period, 2037–2029 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul
Classical thinkers in theWest employed classification as a way to define and assess the quality of poetry. Notably, the existing fragments ofAristotle'sPoetics describe three genres of poetry—the epic, the comic, and the tragic—and develop rules to distinguish the highest-quality poetry in each genre, based on the perceived underlying purposes of the genre.[25] Lateraestheticians identified three major genres: epic poetry,lyric poetry, anddramatic poetry, treatingcomedy andtragedy assubgenres of dramatic poetry.[26]
Aristotle's work was influential throughout the Middle East during theIslamic Golden Age,[27] as well as in Europe during theRenaissance.[28] Later poets and aestheticians often distinguished poetry from, and defined it in opposition toprose, which they generally understood as writing with a proclivity to logical explication and a linear narrative structure.[29]
This does not imply that poetry is illogical or lacks narration, but rather that poetry is an attempt to render the beautiful or sublime without the burden of engaging the logical or narrative thought-process. EnglishRomantic poetJohn Keats termed this escape from logic "negative capability".[30] This "romantic" approach viewsform as a key element of successful poetry because form is abstract and distinct from the underlying notional logic. This approach remained influential into the 20th century.[31]
During the 18th and 19th centuries, there was also substantially more interaction among the various poetic traditions, in part due to the spread of Europeancolonialism and the attendant rise in global trade.[32] In addition to a boom intranslation, during the Romantic period numerous ancient works were rediscovered.[33]
Some 20th-centuryliterary theorists rely less on the ostensible opposition of prose and poetry, instead focusing on the poet as simply one who creates using language, and poetry as what the poet creates.[34] The underlying concept of the poet ascreator is not uncommon, and somemodernist poets essentially do not distinguish between the creation of a poem with words, and creative acts in other media. Other modernists challenge the very attempt to define poetry as misguided.[35]
The rejection of traditional forms and structures for poetry that began in the first half of the 20th century coincided with a questioning of the purpose and meaning of traditional definitions of poetry and of distinctions between poetry and prose, particularly given examples of poetic prose and prosaic poetry. Numerous modernist poets have written in non-traditional forms or in what traditionally would have been considered prose, although their writing was generally infused with poetic diction and often with rhythm andtone established bynon-metrical means. While there was a substantialformalist reaction within the modernist schools to the breakdown of structure, this reaction focused as much on the development of new formal structures and syntheses as on the revival of older forms and structures.[36]
Postmodernism goes beyond modernism's emphasis on the creative role of the poet, to emphasize the role of the reader of a text (hermeneutics), and to highlight the complex cultural web within which a poem is read.[37] Today, throughout the world, poetry often incorporates poetic form and diction from other cultures and from the past, further confounding attempts at definition and classification that once made sense within a tradition such as theWestern canon.[38]
The early 21st-century poetic tradition appears to continue to strongly orient itself to earlier precursor poetic traditions such as those initiated byWhitman,Emerson, andWordsworth. The literary criticGeoffrey Hartman (1929–2016) used the phrase "the anxiety of demand" to describe the contemporary response to older poetic traditions as "being fearful that the fact no longer has a form",[39] building on a trope introduced by Emerson. Emerson had maintained that in the debate concerning poetic structure where either "form" or "fact" could predominate, that one need simply "Ask the fact for the form." This has been challenged at various levels by other literary scholars such asHarold Bloom (1930–2019), who has stated: "The generation of poets who stand together now, mature and ready to write the major American verse of the twenty-first century, may yet be seen as what Stevens called 'a great shadow's last embellishment,' the shadow being Emerson's."[40]
In the 2020s, advances inartificial intelligence (AI), particularlylarge language models, enabled the generation of poetry in specific styles and formats.[41] A 2024 study found that AI-generated poems were rated by non-expert readers as more rhythmic, beautiful, and human-like than those written by well-known human authors. This preference may stem from the relative simplicity and accessibility of AI-generated poetry, which some participants found easier to understand.[42]
Prosody is the study of the meter,rhythm, andintonation of a poem. Rhythm and meter are different, although closely related.[43] Meter is the definitive pattern established for a verse (such asiambic pentameter), while rhythm is the actual sound that results from a line of poetry. Prosody also may be used more specifically to refer to thescanning of poetic lines to show meter.[44]
The methods for creating poetic rhythm vary across languages and between poetic traditions. Languages are often described as having timing set primarily byaccents,syllables, ormoras, depending on how rhythm is established, although a language can be influenced by multiple approaches.Japanese is amora-timed language.Latin,Catalan,French,Leonese,Galician andSpanish are called syllable-timed languages. Stress-timed languages includeEnglish,Russian and, generally,German.[45] Varyingintonation also affects how rhythm is perceived. Languages can rely on either pitch or tone. Some languages with a pitch accent are Vedic Sanskrit or Ancient Greek.Tonal languages include Chinese, Vietnamese and mostSubsaharan languages.[46]
Metrical rhythm generally involves precise arrangements of stresses or syllables into repeated patterns calledfeet within a line. In Modern English verse the pattern of stresses primarily differentiate feet, so rhythm based on meter in Modern English is most often founded on the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (alone orelided).[47] In theclassical languages, on the other hand, while themetrical units are similar,vowel length rather than stresses define the meter.[48]Old English poetry used a metrical pattern involving varied numbers of syllables but a fixed number of strong stresses in each line.[49]
The chief device of ancientHebrewBiblical poetry, including many of thepsalms, wasparallelism, a rhetorical structure in which successive lines reflected each other in grammatical structure, sound structure, notional content, or all three. Parallelism lent itself toantiphonal orcall-and-response performance, which could also be reinforced byintonation. Thus, Biblical poetry relies much less on metrical feet to create rhythm, but instead creates rhythm based on much larger sound units of lines, phrases and sentences.[50] Some classical poetry forms, such asVenpa of theTamil language, had rigid grammars (to the point that they could be expressed as acontext-free grammar) which ensured a rhythm.[51]
Classical Chinese poetics, based on thetone system of Middle Chinese, recognized two kinds of tones: the level (平píng) tone and the oblique (仄zè) tones, a category consisting of the rising (上sháng) tone, the departing (去qù) tone and the entering (入rù) tone. Certain forms of poetry placed constraints on which syllables were required to be level and which oblique.
The formal patterns of meter used in Modern English verse to create rhythm no longer dominate contemporary English poetry. In the case offree verse, rhythm is often organized based on looser units ofcadence rather than a regular meter.Robinson Jeffers,Marianne Moore, andWilliam Carlos Williams are three notable poets who reject the idea that regular accentual meter is critical to English poetry.[52] Jeffers experimented withsprung rhythm as an alternative to accentual rhythm.[53]
In the Western poetic tradition, meters are customarily grouped according to a characteristicmetrical foot and the number of feet per line.[55] The number of metrical feet in a line are described using Greek terminology:tetrameter for four feet andhexameter for six feet, for example.[56] Thus, "iambic pentameter" is a meter comprising five feet per line, in which the predominant kind of foot is the "iamb". This metric system originated in ancientGreek poetry, and was used by poets such asPindar andSappho, and by the greattragedians ofAthens. Similarly, "dactylic hexameter", comprises six feet per line, of which the dominant kind of foot is the "dactyl". Dactylic hexameter was the traditional meter of Greekepic poetry, the earliest extant examples of which are the works ofHomer andHesiod.[57] Iambic pentameter and dactylic hexameter were later used by a number of poets, includingWilliam Shakespeare andHenry Wadsworth Longfellow, respectively.[58] The most common metrical feet in English are:[59]
iamb – one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (e.g. des-cribe, in-clude, re-tract)
trochee—one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (e.g.pic-ture,flow-er)
dactyl – one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (e.g.an-no-tate,sim-i-lar)
anapaest—two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (e.g. com-pre-hend)
spondee—two stressed syllables together (e.g.heart-beat,four-teen)
pyrrhic—two unstressed syllables together (rare, usually used to end dactylic hexameter)
There are a wide range of names for other types of feet, right up to achoriamb, a four syllable metric foot with a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables and closing with a stressed syllable. The choriamb is derived from some ancientGreek andLatin poetry.[57] Languages which usevowel length orintonation rather than or in addition to syllabic accents in determining meter, such asOttoman Turkish orVedic, often have concepts similar to the iamb and dactyl to describe common combinations of long and short sounds.[61]
Each of these types of feet has a certain "feel," whether alone or in combination with other feet. The iamb, for example, is the most natural form of rhythm in the English language, and generally produces a subtle but stable verse.[62] Scanning meter can often show the basic or fundamental pattern underlying a verse, but does not show the varying degrees ofstress, as well as the differing pitches andlengths of syllables.[63]
There is debate over how useful a multiplicity of different "feet" is in describing meter. For example,Robert Pinsky has argued that while dactyls are important in classical verse, English dactylic verse uses dactyls very irregularly and can be better described based on patterns of iambs and anapests, feet which he considers natural to the language.[64] Actual rhythm is significantly more complex than the basic scanned meter described above, and many scholars have sought to develop systems that would scan such complexity.Vladimir Nabokov noted that overlaid on top of the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of verse was a separate pattern of accents resulting from the natural pitch of the spoken words, and suggested that the term "scud" be used to distinguish an unaccented stress from an accented stress.[65]
Sanskrit poetry is organized according tochhandas, which are manifold and continue to influence several South Asian languages' poetry.
Different traditions and genres of poetry tend to use different meters, ranging from the Shakespeareaniambic pentameter and the Homericdactylic hexameter to theanapestic tetrameter used in many nursery rhymes. However, a number of variations to the established meter are common, both to provide emphasis or attention to a given foot or line and to avoid boring repetition. For example, the stress in a foot may be inverted, acaesura (or pause) may be added (sometimes in place of a foot or stress), or the final foot in a line may be given afeminine ending to soften it or be replaced by aspondee to emphasize it and create a hard stop. Some patterns (such as iambic pentameter) tend to be fairly regular, while other patterns, such as dactylic hexameter, tend to be highly irregular.[66] Regularity can vary between language. In addition, different patterns often develop distinctively in different languages, so that, for example,iambic tetrameter in Russian will generally reflect a regularity in the use of accents to reinforce the meter, which does not occur, or occurs to a much lesser extent, in English.[67]
Rhyme, alliteration, assonance andconsonance are ways of creating repetitive patterns of sound. They may be used as an independent structural element in a poem, to reinforce rhythmic patterns, or as an ornamental element.[73] They can also carry a meaning separate from the repetitive sound patterns created. For example,Chaucer used heavy alliteration to mock Old English verse and to paint a character as archaic.[74]
Rhyme consists of identical ("hard-rhyme") or similar ("soft-rhyme") sounds placed at the ends of lines or at locations within lines ("internal rhyme"). Languages vary in the richness of their rhyming structures; Italian, for example, has a rich rhyming structure permitting maintenance of a limited set of rhymes throughout a lengthy poem. The richness results from word endings that follow regular forms. English, with its irregular word endings adopted from other languages, is less rich in rhyme.[75] The degree of richness of a language's rhyming structures plays a substantial role in determining what poetic forms are commonly used in that language.[76]
Alliteration is the repetition of letters or letter-sounds at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals; or the recurrence of the same letter in accented parts of words. Alliteration and assonance played a key role in structuring early Germanic, Norse and Old English forms of poetry. The alliterative patterns of early Germanic poetry interweave meter and alliteration as a key part of their structure, so that the metrical pattern determines when the listener expects instances of alliteration to occur. This can be compared to an ornamental use of alliteration in most Modern European poetry, where alliterative patterns are not formal or carried through full stanzas. Alliteration is particularly useful in languages with less rich rhyming structures.
Assonance, where the use of similar vowel sounds within a word rather than similar sounds at the beginning or end of a word, was widely used inskaldic poetry but goes back to the Homeric epic.[77] Because verbs carry much of the pitch in the English language, assonance can loosely evoke the tonal elements of Chinese poetry and so is useful in translating Chinese poetry.[78] Consonance occurs where a consonant sound is repeated throughout a sentence without putting the sound only at the front of a word. Consonance provokes a more subtle effect than alliteration and so is less useful as a structural element.[76]
In many languages, including Arabic and modern European languages, poets use rhyme in set patterns as a structural element for specific poetic forms, such asballads,sonnets andrhyming couplets. However, the use of structural rhyme is not universal even within the European tradition. Much modern poetry avoids traditionalrhyme schemes. Classical Greek and Latin poetry did not use rhyme.[79] Rhyme entered European poetry in theHigh Middle Ages, due to the influence of theArabic language inAl Andalus.[80] Arabic language poets used rhyme extensively not only with the development of literary Arabic in thesixth century, but also with the much older oral poetry, as in their long, rhymingqasidas.[81] Some rhyming schemes have become associated with a specific language, culture or period, while other rhyming schemes have achieved use across languages, cultures or time periods. Some forms of poetry carry a consistent and well-defined rhyming scheme, such as thechant royal or therubaiyat, while other poetic forms have variable rhyme schemes.[82]
Most rhyme schemes are described using letters that correspond to sets of rhymes, so if the first, second and fourth lines of a quatrain rhyme with each other and the third line do not rhyme, the quatrain is said to have an AA BArhyme scheme. This rhyme scheme is the one used, for example, in the rubaiyat form.[83] Similarly, an A BB A quatrain (what is known as "enclosed rhyme") is used in such forms as thePetrarchan sonnet.[84] Some types of more complicated rhyming schemes have developed names of their own, separate from the "a-bc" convention, such as theottava rima andterza rima.[85] The types and use of differing rhyming schemes are discussed further in themain article.
Poetic form is more flexible in modernist and post-modernist poetry and continues to be less structured than in previous literary eras. Many modern poets eschew recognizable structures or forms and write infree verse. Free verse is, however, not "formless" but composed of a series of more subtle, more flexible prosodic elements.[86] Thus poetry remains, in all its styles, distinguished from prose by form;[87] some regard for basic formal structures of poetry will be found in all varieties of free verse, however much such structures may appear to have been ignored.[88] Similarly, in the best poetry written in classic styles there will be departures from strict form for emphasis or effect.[89]
Among major structural elements used in poetry are the line, thestanza orverse paragraph, and larger combinations of stanzas or lines such ascantos. Also sometimes used are broader visual presentations of words andcalligraphy. These basic units of poetic form are often combined into larger structures, calledpoetic forms or poetic modes (see the following section), as in thesonnet.
Poetry is often separated into lines on a page, in a process known aslineation. These lines may be based on the number of metrical feet or may emphasize a rhyming pattern at the ends of lines. Lines may serve other functions, particularly where the poem is not written in a formal metrical pattern. Lines can separate, compare or contrast thoughts expressed in different units, or can highlight a change in tone.[90] See the article online breaks for information about the division between lines.
Lines of poems are often organized intostanzas, which are denominated by the number of lines included. Thus a collection of two lines is acouplet (ordistich), three lines atriplet (ortercet), four lines aquatrain, and so on. These lines may or may not relate to each other by rhyme or rhythm. For example, a couplet may be two lines with identical meters which rhyme or two lines held together by a common meter alone.[91]
Blok'sRussian poem, "Noch, ulitsa, fonar, apteka" ("Night, street, lamp, drugstore"), on a wall inLeiden
Other poems may be organized intoverse paragraphs, in which regular rhymes with established rhythms are not used, but the poetic tone is instead established by a collection of rhythms, alliterations, and rhymes established in paragraph form.[92] Many medieval poems were written in verse paragraphs, even where regular rhymes and rhythms were used.[93]
In many forms of poetry, stanzas are interlocking, so that the rhyming scheme or other structural elements of one stanza determine those of succeeding stanzas. Examples of such interlocking stanzas include, for example, theghazal and thevillanelle, where a refrain (or, in the case of the villanelle, refrains) is established in the first stanza which then repeats in subsequent stanzas. Related to the use of interlocking stanzas is their use to separate thematic parts of a poem. For example, thestrophe,antistrophe andepode of the ode form are often separated into one or more stanzas.[94]
In some cases, particularly lengthier formal poetry such as some forms of epic poetry, stanzas themselves are constructed according to strict rules and then combined. Inskaldic poetry, thedróttkvætt stanza had eight lines, each having three "lifts" produced with alliteration or assonance. In addition to two or three alliterations, the odd-numbered lines had partial rhyme of consonants with dissimilar vowels, not necessarily at the beginning of the word; the even lines contained internal rhyme in set syllables (not necessarily at the end of the word). Each half-line had exactly six syllables, and each line ended in a trochee. The arrangement of dróttkvætts followed far less rigid rules than the construction of the individual dróttkvætts.[95]
Poetry is often written down in verse, writing structures that echo the poetic structure. This poem byUma no Naishi is written inchirashigaki (scattered writing). The characters are deliberately written out of order. The first part of the poem is written in the third column from the right, while the second column from the right comes later in the poem.[96] Chirashigaki may also retain the order, but divide and space the characters unconventionally, with a column break partway through a poetic line or a word. This slows and delinearizes the reading process, changing the read rhythm.[97] It was also a convenient way of using expensive letter paper efficiently.[96]
Even before the advent of printing, the visual appearance of poetry often added meaning or depth.Acrostic poems conveyed meanings in the initial letters of lines or in letters at other specific places in a poem.[98] InArabic,Hebrew andChinese poetry, the visual presentation of finelycalligraphed poems has played an important part in the overall effect of many poems.[99]
With the advent ofprinting, poets gained greater control over the mass-produced visual presentations of their work. Visual elements have become an important part of the poet's toolbox, and many poets have sought to use visual presentation for a wide range of purposes. SomeModernist poets have made the placement of individual lines or groups of lines on the page an integral part of the poem's composition. At times, this complements the poem'srhythm through visualcaesuras of various lengths, or createsjuxtapositions so as to accentuate meaning,ambiguity orirony, or simply to create an aesthetically pleasing form. In its most extreme form, this can lead toconcrete poetry orasemic writing.[100][101]
Poetic diction treats the manner in which language is used, and refers not only to the sound but also to the underlying meaning and its interaction with sound and form.[102] Many languages and poetic forms have very specific poetic dictions, to the point where distinctgrammars anddialects are used specifically for poetry.[103][104]Registers in poetry can range from strict employment of ordinary speech patterns, as favoured in much late-20th-centuryprosody,[105] through to highly ornate uses of language, as in medieval and Renaissance poetry.[106]
Poetic diction can includerhetorical devices such assimile andmetaphor, as well as tones of voice, such asirony.Aristotle wrote in thePoetics that "the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor."[107] Since the rise ofModernism, some poets have opted for a poetic diction that de-emphasizes rhetorical devices, attempting instead the direct presentation of things and experiences and the exploration oftone.[108] On the other hand,Surrealists have pushed rhetorical devices to their limits, making frequent use ofcatachresis.[109]
Allegorical stories are central to the poetic diction of many cultures, and were prominent in the West during classical times, thelate Middle Ages and theRenaissance.Aesop's Fables, repeatedly rendered in both verse and prose since first being recorded about 500 BCE, are perhaps the richest single source of allegorical poetry through the ages.[110] Other notables examples include theRoman de la Rose, a 13th-century French poem,William Langland'sPiers Ploughman in the 14th century, andJean de la Fontaine'sFables (influenced by Aesop's) in the 17th century. Rather than being fully allegorical, however, a poem may containsymbols orallusions that deepen the meaning or effect of its words without constructing a full allegory.[111]
Another element of poetic diction can be the use of vividimagery for effect. The juxtaposition of unexpected or impossible images is, for example, a particularly strong element in surrealist poetry andhaiku.[112] Vivid images are often endowed with symbolism or metaphor. Many poetic dictions use repetitive phrases for effect, either a short phrase (such as Homer's "rosy-fingered dawn" or "the wine-dark sea") or a longerrefrain. Such repetition can add a somber tone to a poem, or can be laced with irony as the context of the words changes.[113]
Statue of runic singer Petri Shemeikka at Kolmikulmanpuisto Park inSortavala,Karelia
Specific poetic forms have been developed by many cultures. In more developed, closed or "received" poetic forms, the rhyming scheme, meter and other elements of a poem are based on sets of rules, ranging from the relatively loose rules that govern the construction of anelegy to the highly formalized structure of theghazal orvillanelle.[114] Described below are some common forms of poetry widely used across a number of languages. Additional forms of poetry may be found in the discussions of the poetry of particular cultures or periods and in theglossary.
Among the most common forms of poetry, popular from theLate Middle Ages on, is the sonnet, which by the 13th century had become standardized as fourteen lines following a set rhyme scheme and logical structure. By the 14th century and theItalian Renaissance, the form had further crystallized under the pen ofPetrarch, whose sonnets were translated in the 16th century bySir Thomas Wyatt, who is credited with introducing the sonnet form into English literature.[115] A traditional Italian orPetrarchan sonnet follows the rhyme schemeABBA, ABBA, CDECDE, though some variation, perhaps the most common being CDCDCD, especially within the final six lines (orsestet), is common.[116] TheEnglish (or Shakespearean) sonnet follows the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, introducing a thirdquatrain (grouping of four lines), a finalcouplet, and a greater amount of variety in rhyme than is usually found in its Italian predecessors. By convention, sonnets in English typically useiambic pentameter, while in theRomance languages, thehendecasyllable andAlexandrine are the most widely used meters.
Sonnets of all types often make use of avolta, or "turn," a point in the poem at which an idea is turned on its head, a question is answered (or introduced), or the subject matter is further complicated. Thisvolta can often take the form of a "but" statement contradicting or complicating the content of the earlier lines. In the Petrarchan sonnet, the turn tends to fall around the division between the first two quatrains and the sestet, while English sonnets usually place it at or near the beginning of the closing couplet.
Sonnets are particularly associated with high poetic diction, vivid imagery, and romantic love, largely due to the influence of Petrarch as well as of early English practitioners such asEdmund Spenser (who gave his name to theSpenserian sonnet),Michael Drayton, and Shakespeare, whosesonnets are among the most famous in English poetry, with twenty being included in theOxford Book of English Verse.[117] However, the twists and turns associated with thevolta allow for a logical flexibility applicable to many subjects.[118] Poets from the earliest centuries of the sonnet to the present have used the form to address topics related to politics (John Milton,Percy Bysshe Shelley,Claude McKay), theology (John Donne,Gerard Manley Hopkins), war (Wilfred Owen,E. E. Cummings), and gender and sexuality (Carol Ann Duffy). Further, postmodern authors such asTed Berrigan andJohn Berryman have challenged the traditional definitions of the sonnet form, rendering entire sequences of "sonnets" that often lack rhyme, a clear logical progression, or even a consistent count of fourteen lines.
Shi (simplified Chinese:诗;traditional Chinese:詩;pinyin:shī;Wade–Giles:shih) Is the main type ofClassical Chinese poetry.[119] Within this form of poetry the most important variations are "folk song" styled verse (yuefu), "old style" verse (gushi), "modern style" verse (jintishi). In all cases, rhyming is obligatory. The Yuefu is a folk ballad or a poem written in the folk ballad style, and the number of lines and the length of the lines could be irregular. For the other variations ofshi poetry, generally either a four line (quatrain, orjueju) or else an eight-line poem is normal; either way with the even numbered lines rhyming. The line length is scanned by an according number of characters (according to the convention that one character equals one syllable), and are predominantly either five or seven characters long, with acaesura before the final three syllables. The lines are generally end-stopped, considered as a series of couplets, and exhibit verbal parallelism as a key poetic device.[120] The "old style" verse (Gushi) is less formally strict than thejintishi, or regulated verse, which, despite the name "new style" verse actually had its theoretical basis laid as far back asShen Yue (441–513 CE), although not considered to have reached its full development until the time ofChen Zi'ang (661–702 CE).[121] A good example of a poet known for hisGushi poems isLi Bai (701–762 CE). Among its other rules, the jintishi rules regulate the tonal variations within a poem, including the use of set patterns of thefour tones ofMiddle Chinese. The basic form of jintishi (sushi) has eight lines in four couplets, with parallelism between the lines in the second and third couplets. The couplets with parallel lines contain contrasting content but an identical grammatical relationship between words. Jintishi often have a rich poetic diction, full ofallusion, and can have a wide range of subject, including history and politics.[122][123] One of the masters of the form wasDu Fu (712–770 CE), who wrote during the Tang Dynasty (8th century).[124]
The villanelle is a nineteen-line poem made up of five triplets with a closing quatrain; the poem is characterized by having two refrains, initially used in the first and third lines of the first stanza, and then alternately used at the close of each subsequent stanza until the final quatrain, which is concluded by the two refrains. The remaining lines of the poem have an AB alternating rhyme.[125] The villanelle has been used regularly in the English language since the late 19th century by such poets asDylan Thomas,[126]W. H. Auden,[127] andElizabeth Bishop.[128]
A limerick is a poem that consists of five lines and is often humorous. Rhythm is very important in limericks for the first, second and fifth lines must have seven to ten syllables. However, the third and fourth lines only need five to seven. Lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme with each other, and lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other. Practitioners of the limerick includedEdward Lear,Lord Alfred Tennyson,Rudyard Kipling,Robert Louis Stevenson.[129]
Tanka is a form of unrhymedJapanese poetry, with five sections totalling 31on (phonological units identical tomorae), structured in a 5–7–5–7–7 pattern.[130] There is generally a shift in tone and subject matter between the upper 5–7–5 phrase and the lower 7–7 phrase. Tanka were written as early as theAsuka period by such poets asKakinomoto no Hitomaro (fl. late 7th century), at a time when Japan was emerging from a period where much of its poetry followed Chinese form.[131] Tanka was originally the shorter form of Japanese formal poetry (which was generally referred to as "waka"), and was used more heavily to explore personal rather than public themes. By the tenth century, tanka had become the dominant form of Japanese poetry, to the point where the originally general termwaka ("Japanese poetry") came to be used exclusively for tanka. Tanka are still widely written today.[132]
Haiku is a popular form of unrhymed Japanese poetry, which evolved in the 17th century from thehokku, or opening verse of arenku.[133] Generally written in a single vertical line, the haiku contains three sections totalling 17on (morae), structured in a 5–7–5 pattern. Traditionally, haiku contain akireji, or cutting word, usually placed at the end of one of the poem's three sections, and akigo, or season-word.[134] The most famous exponent of the haiku wasMatsuo Bashō (1644–1694). An example of his writing:[135]
Thekhlong (โคลง,[kʰlōːŋ]) is among the oldest Thai poetic forms. This is reflected in its requirements on the tone markings of certain syllables, which must be marked withmai ek (ไม้เอก,Thai pronunciation:[májèːk],◌่) ormai tho (ไม้โท,[májtʰōː],◌้). This was likely derived from when the Thai language had three tones (as opposed to today's five, a split which occurred during theAyutthaya Kingdom period), two of which corresponded directly to the aforementioned marks. It is usually regarded as an advanced and sophisticated poetic form.[136]
Inkhlong, a stanza (bot,บท,Thai pronunciation:[bòt]) has a number of lines (bat,บาท,Thai pronunciation:[bàːt], fromPali andSanskritpāda), depending on the type. Thebat are subdivided into twowak (วรรค,Thai pronunciation:[wák], from Sanskritvarga).[note 2] The firstwak has five syllables, the second has a variable number, also depending on the type, and may be optional. The type ofkhlong is named by the number ofbat in a stanza; it may also be divided into two main types:khlong suphap (โคลงสุภาพ,[kʰlōːŋsù.pʰâːp]) andkhlong dan (โคลงดั้น,[kʰlōːŋdân]). The two differ in the number of syllables in the secondwak of the finalbat and inter-stanza rhyming rules.[136]
Thekhlong si suphap (โคลงสี่สุภาพ,[kʰlōːŋsìːsù.pʰâːp]) is the most common form still currently employed. It has fourbat per stanza (si translates asfour). The firstwak of eachbat has five syllables. The secondwak has two or four syllables in the first and thirdbat, two syllables in the second, and four syllables in the fourth.Mai ek is required for seven syllables andMai tho is required for four, as shown below. "Dead word" syllables are allowed in place of syllables which requiremai ek, and changing the spelling of words to satisfy the criteria is usually acceptable.
Odes were first developed by poets writing in ancient Greek, such asPindar, and Latin, such asHorace. Forms of odes appear in many of the cultures that were influenced by the Greeks and Latins.[137] The ode generally has three parts: astrophe, anantistrophe, and anepode. The strophe and the antistrophe of the ode possess similar metrical structures and, depending on the tradition, similar rhyme structures. In contrast, the epode is written with a different scheme and structure. Odes have a formal poetic diction and generally deal with a serious subject. The strophe and antistrophe look at the subject from different, often conflicting, perspectives, with the epode moving to a higher level to either view or resolve the underlying issues. Odes are often intended to be recited or sung by two choruses (or individuals), with the first reciting the strophe, the second the antistrophe, and both together the epode.[138] Over time, differing forms for odes have developed with considerable variations in form and structure, but generally showing the original influence of the Pindaric or Horatian ode. One non-Western form which resembles the ode is theqasida inArabic poetry.[139]
Theghazal (alsoghazel,gazel,gazal, orgozol) is a form of poetry common inArabic,Bengali,Persian andUrdu. In classic form, theghazal has from five to fifteen rhyming couplets that share arefrain at the end of the second line. This refrain may be of one or several syllables and is preceded by a rhyme. Each line has an identical meter and is of the same length.[140] The ghazal often reflects on a theme of unattainable love or divinity.[141]
As with other forms with a long history in many languages, many variations have been developed, including forms with a quasi-musical poetic diction inUrdu.[142] Ghazals have a classical affinity withSufism, and a number of major Sufi religious works are written in ghazal form. The relatively steady meter and the use of the refrain produce an incantatory effect, which complements Sufi mystical themes well.[143] Among the masters of the form areRumi, the celebrated 13th-centuryPersian poet,[144]Attar, 12th century Iranian Sufi mystic poet who Rumi considered his master,[145] and their equally famous near-contemporaryHafez. Hafez uses the ghazal to expose hypocrisy and the pitfalls of worldliness, but also expertly exploits the form to express the divine depths and secular subtleties of love; creating translations that meaningfully capture such complexities of content and form is immensely challenging, but lauded attempts to do so in English includeGertrude Bell'sPoems from the Divan of Hafiz[146] andBeloved: 81 poems from Hafez (Bloodaxe Books) whose Preface addresses in detail the problematic nature of translating ghazals and whose versions (according toFatemeh Keshavarz, Roshan Institute forPersian Studies) preserve "that audacious and multilayered richness one finds in the originals".[147] Indeed, Hafez's ghazals have been the subject of much analysis, commentary and interpretation, influencing post-fourteenth century Persian writing more than any other author.[148][149] TheWest-östlicher Diwan ofJohann Wolfgang von Goethe, a collection of lyrical poems, is inspired by the Persian poet Hafez.[150][151][152]
In addition to specific forms of poems, poetry is often thought of in terms of differentgenres and subgenres. A poetic genre is generally a tradition or classification of poetry based on the subject matter, style, or other broader literary characteristics.[153] Some commentators view genres as natural forms of literature. Others view the study of genres as the study of how different works relate and refer to other works.[154]
Narrative poetry is a genre of poetry that tells astory. Broadly it subsumesepic poetry, but the term "narrative poetry" is often reserved for smaller works, generally with more appeal tohuman interest. Narrative poetry may be the oldest type of poetry. Many scholars ofHomer have concluded that hisIliad andOdyssey were composed of compilations of shorter narrative poems that related individual episodes.
Epic poetry is a genre of poetry, and a major form ofnarrative literature. This genre is often defined as lengthy poems concerning events of a heroic or important nature to the culture of the time. It recounts, in a continuous narrative, the life and works of aheroic ormythological person or group of persons.[157]
Poetry can be a powerful vehicle forsatire. TheRomans had a strong tradition of satirical poetry, often written forpolitical purposes. A notable example is the Roman poetJuvenal'ssatires.[159]
An elegy is a mournful, melancholy or plaintive poem, especially alament for the dead or afuneral song. The term "elegy," which originally denoted a type of poetic meter (elegiac meter), commonly describes a poem ofmourning. An elegy may also reflect something that seems to the author to be strange or mysterious. The elegy, as a reflection on a death, on a sorrow more generally, or on something mysterious, may be classified as a form of lyric poetry.[161][162]
Speculative poetry, also known as fantastic poetry (of which weird or macabre poetry is a major sub-classification), is a poetic genre which deals thematically with subjects which are "beyond reality", whether viaextrapolation as inscience fiction or via weird and horrific themes as inhorror fiction. Such poetry appears regularly in modern science fiction and horror fiction magazines.
Edgar Allan Poe is sometimes seen as the "father of speculative poetry".[169] Poe's most remarkable achievement in the genre was his anticipation, by three-quarters of a century, of theBig Bang theory of theuniverse's origin, in his then much-derided 1848essay (which, due to its very speculative nature, he termed a "prose poem"),Eureka: A Prose Poem.[170][171]
Independently of the European poetic tradition, Sanskrit prose-poetry (gadyakāvya) has existed from around the seventh century, with notable works includingKadambari.[173]
Since the late 1980s especially, prose poetry has gained increasing popularity, with entire journals, such asThe Prose Poem: An International Journal,[174]Contemporary Haibun Online,[175] andHaibun Today[176] devoted to that genre and its hybrids.Latin American poets of the 20th century who wrote prose poems includeOctavio Paz andAlejandra Pizarnik.
Light poetry, orlight verse, is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Poems considered "light" are usually brief, and can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often featureword play, includingpuns, adventurous rhyme and heavyalliteration. Although a few free verse poets have excelled at light verse outside the formal verse tradition, light verse in English usually obeys at least some formal conventions. Common forms include thelimerick, theclerihew, and thedouble dactyl.
Slam poetry as a genre originated in 1986 inChicago,Illinois, whenMarc Kelly Smith organized the first slam.[177][178] Slam performers comment emotively, aloud before an audience, on personal, social, or other matters. Slam focuses on the aesthetics of word play, intonation, and voice inflection. Slam poetry is often competitive, at dedicated "poetry slam" contests.[179]
Performance poetry, similar to slam in that it occurs before an audience, is a genre of poetry that may fuse a variety of disciplines in a performance of a text, such asdance,music, and other aspects ofperformance art.[180][181]
The termhappening was popularized by theavant-garde movements in the 1950s and regard spontaneous, site-specific performances.[182]Language happenings, termed from thepoetics collectiveOBJECT:PARADISE in 2018, are events which focus less on poetry as a prescriptiveliterary genre, but more as a descriptivelinguistic act and performance, often incorporating broader forms ofperformance art while poetry is read or created in that moment.[183][184]
^The word "verse" functions here as asynecdoche which takes the poetic element of verse as representative of the entire art form. The word "verse" is often so used when contrasting the format of poetry with the format typical of most other writings:prose.
^In literary studies,line in western poetry is translated asbat. However, in some forms, the unit is more equivalent towak. To avoid confusion, this article will refer towak andbat instead ofline, which may refer to either.
^"Poetry".Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. 2013. Archived fromthe original on 18 June 2013.poetry [...] Literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.
^"Poetry".Merriam-Webster. 2013.poetry [...] 2 : writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm
^"Poetry".Dictionary.com. 2013.poetry [...] 1 the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
^Eliot, T. S. (1999) [1923]. "The Function of Criticism".Selected Essays. Faber & Faber. pp. 13–34.ISBN978-0-15-180387-3.
^Ruth Finnegan,Oral Literature in Africa, Open Book Publishers, 2012.
^Strachan, John R.; Terry, Richard G. (2000).Poetry: an introduction. Edinburgh University Press. p. 119.ISBN978-0-8147-9797-6.
^Höivik, Susan; Luger, Kurt (3 June 2009). "Folk Media for Biodiversity Conservation: A Pilot Project from the Himalaya-Hindu Kush".International Communication Gazette.71 (4):321–346.doi:10.1177/1748048509102184.ISSN1748-0485.S2CID143947520.
^Goody, Jack (1987).The Interface Between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge University Press. p. 78.ISBN978-0-521-33794-6.[...] poetry, tales, recitations of various kinds existed long before writing was introduced and these oral forms continued in modified 'oral' forms, even after the establishment of a written literature.
^The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated bySanders, N. K. (Revised ed.). Penguin Books. 1972. pp. 7–8.
^Mark, Joshua J. (13 August 2014)."The World's Oldest Love Poem".'[...] What I held in my hand was one of the oldest love songs written down by the hand of man [...].'
^Arsu, Şebnem (14 February 2006)."Oldest Line in the World".The New York Times. Retrieved1 May 2015.A small tablet in a special display this month in the Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient is thought to be the oldest love poem ever found, the words of a lover from more than 4,000 years ago.
^Abondolo, Daniel (2001).A poetics handbook: verbal art in the European tradition. Curzon. pp. 52–53.ISBN978-0-7007-1223-6.
^Gentz, Joachim (2008). "Ritual Meaning of Textual Form: Evidence from Early Commentaries of the Historiographic and Ritual Traditions". In Kern, Martin (ed.).Text and Ritual in Early China. University of Washington Press. pp. 124–148.ISBN978-0-295-98787-3.
^Boggess, William F. (1968). "'Hermannus Alemannus' Latin Anthology of Arabic Poetry".Journal of the American Oriental Society.88 (4):657–670.doi:10.2307/598112.JSTOR598112.Burnett, Charles (2001). "Learned Knowledge of Arabic Poetry, Rhymed Prose, and Didactic Verse from Petrus Alfonsi to Petrarch".Poetry and Philosophy in the Middle Ages: A Festschrift for Peter Dronke. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 29–62.ISBN978-90-04-11964-2.
^Grendler, Paul F. (2004).The Universities of the Italian Renaissance. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 239.ISBN978-0-8018-8055-1.
^Kant, Immanuel (1914).Critique of Judgment. Translated by Bernard, J. H. Macmillan. p. 131. Kant argues that the nature of poetry as a self-consciously abstract and beautiful form raises it to the highest level among the verbal arts, with tone or music following it, and only after that the more logical and narrative prose.
^Highet, Gilbert (1985).The classical tradition: Greek and Roman influences on western literature (Reissued ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 355, 360, 479.ISBN978-0-19-500206-5.
^Wimsatt, William K. Jr.; Brooks, Cleanth (1957).Literary Criticism: A Short History. Vintage Books. p. 374.
^Johnson, Jeannine (2007).Why write poetry?: modern poets defending their art. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 148.ISBN978-0-8386-4105-7.
^Jenkins, Lee M.; Davis, Alex, eds. (2007).The Cambridge companion to modernist poetry. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–7, 38, 156.ISBN978-0-521-61815-1.
^Connor, Steven (1997).Postmodernist culture: an introduction to theories of the contemporary (2nd ed.). Blackwell. pp. 123–28.ISBN978-0-631-20052-9.
^Preminger, Alex (1975).Princeton Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics (enlarged ed.). London and Basingstoke: Macmillan Press. p. 919.ISBN978-1349156177.
^Bloom, Harold (2010) [1986]. "Introduction". InBloom, Harold (ed.).Contemporary Poets. Bloom's modern critical views (revised ed.). New York: Infobase Publishing. p. 7.ISBN978-1604135886. Retrieved7 May 2019.The generation of poets who stand together now, mature and ready to write the major American verse of the twenty-first century, may yet be seen as what Stevens called 'a great shadow's last embellishment,' the shadow being Emerson's.
^Jorgens, Elise Bickford (1982).The well-tun'd word : musical interpretations of English poetry, 1597–1651. University of Minnesota Press. p. 23.ISBN978-0-8166-1029-7.
^Walker-Jones, Arthur (2003).Hebrew for biblical interpretation. Society of Biblical Literature. pp. 211–213.ISBN978-1-58983-086-8.
^Bala Sundara Raman, L.; Ishwar, S.; Kumar Ravindranath, Sanjeeth (2003). "Context Free Grammar for Natural Language Constructs: An implementation for Venpa Class of Tamil Poetry".Tamil Internet:128–136.CiteSeerX10.1.1.3.7738.
^Hartman, Charles O. (1980).Free Verse An Essay on Prosody. Northwestern University Press. pp. 24, 44, 47.ISBN978-0-8101-1316-9.
^Osberg, Richard H. (2001). "'I kan nat geeste': Chaucer's Artful Alliteration". In Gaylord, Alan T. (ed.).Essays on the art of Chaucer's Verse. Routledge. pp. 195–228.ISBN978-0-8153-2951-0.
^Barfield, Owen (1987).Poetic diction: a study in meaning (2nd ed.). Wesleyan University Press. p. 41.ISBN978-0-8195-6026-1.
^Sheets, George A. (Spring 1981). "The Dialect Gloss, Hellenistic Poetics and Livius Andronicus".American Journal of Philology.102 (1):58–78.doi:10.2307/294154.JSTOR294154.
^Blank, Paula (1996).Broken English: dialects and the politics of language in Renaissance writings. Routledge. pp. 29–31.ISBN978-0-415-13779-9.
^Davis, Alex; Jenkins, Lee M., eds. (2007).The Cambridge companion to modernist poetry. Cambridge University Press. pp. 90–96.ISBN978-0-521-61815-1.
^San Juan, E. Jr. (2004).Working through the contradictions from cultural theory to critical practice. Bucknell University Press. pp. 124–125.ISBN978-0-8387-5570-9.
^Treip, Mindele Anne (1994).Allegorical poetics and the epic: the Renaissance tradition to Paradise Lost. University Press of Kentucky. p. 14.ISBN978-0-8131-1831-4.
^Watson, Burton (1971).Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century. (New York: Columbia University Press).ISBN0-231-03464-4, 1
^Watson, Burton (1971).Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century. (New York: Columbia University Press).ISBN0-231-03464-4, 1–2 and 15–18
^Watson, Burton (1971).Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century. (New York: Columbia University Press).ISBN0-231-03464-4, 111 and 115
^"Villanelle", inAuden, W. H. (1945).Collected Poems. Random House.
^"One Art", inBishop, Elizabeth (1976).Geography III. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
^Poets, Academy of American."Limerick | Academy of American Poets".poets.org. Retrieved10 October 2020.Limericks can be found in the work of Lord Alfred Tennyson, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson
^Brower, Robert H.; Miner, Earl (1988).Japanese court poetry. Stanford University Press. pp. 86–92.ISBN978-0-8047-1524-9.
^McCllintock, Michael; Ness, Pamela Miller; Kacian, Jim, eds. (2003).The tanka anthology: tanka in English from around the world. Red Moon Press. pp. xxx–xlviii.ISBN978-1-893959-40-8.
^ab"โคลง Khloong".Thai Language Audio Resource Center. Thammasat University. Retrieved6 March 2012. Reproduced formHudak, Thomas John (1990).The indigenization of Pali meters in Thai poetry. Monographs in International Studies, Southeast Asia Series. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Center for International Studies.ISBN978-0-89680-159-2.
^Gray, Thomas (2000).English lyrics from Dryden to Burns. Elibron. pp. 155–56.ISBN978-1-4021-0064-2.
^Gayley, Charles Mills; Young, Clement C. (2005).English Poetry (Reprint ed.). Kessinger Publishing. p. lxxxv.ISBN978-1-4179-0086-2.
^Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt (Autumn 1990). "Musical Gesture and Extra-Musical Meaning: Words and Music in the Urdu Ghazal".Journal of the American Musicological Society.43 (3):457–497.doi:10.1525/jams.1990.43.3.03a00040.
^Schafer, Jorgen; Gendolla, Peter, eds. (2010).Beyond the screen: transformations of literary structures, interfaces and genres. Verlag. pp. 16,391–402.ISBN978-3-8376-1258-5.
^Kirk, G. S. (2010).Homer and the Oral Tradition (reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 22–45.ISBN978-0-521-13671-6.
^Giordano, Mathew (2004).Dramatic Poetics and American Poetic Culture, 1865–1904, Doctoral Dissertation. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State.Dramatic poetry: Pound's 'Sestina: Altaforte' or Eliot's 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Proufrock'.
^Eliot, T. S. (1951)."Poetry and Drama".tseliot.com. Retrieved9 October 2020.
^Monte, Steven (2000).Invisible fences: prose poetry as a genre in French and American literature. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 4–9.ISBN978-0-8032-3211-2.
^ Dezso, C. (2012). The story of the irascible yakṣa and the king who nearly beheaded himself in dhanapāla's tilakamañjarī. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 22(1), 73-91.https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186311000848
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