9 characteristics of a POEM

We know as a poem that literary expression that is written in verse and belongs to its own literary genre: the poetry. Surely you have seen and read many poems and you will have realized that they have some common characteristics.

For this reason, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR, we want to explain to you what are the characteristics of a poem, so that you can recognize them, when you find yourself in front of a poem.

Before knowing the characteristics of a poem, it is necessary to know what is the poem. This is a text belonging to lyricand, as we have mentioned before, and is usually brief. Although it is true that there are really long poems, but they are not the majority. The topics they deal with are usually subjective, that is, they are exposed from the author's point of view.

They talk about the feelings and emotions deepest of the writer and It is usually written in verse. There are some poems written in prose and they may or may not abide by the strict rules of traditional meter and rhyme. The language they use is metaphorical and they make a great

use of figures of speech. We can easily compare it to a song, since it is much more like this genre than narrative.

poetry is the oldest text typethat exists. Before it was accompanied by instruments and it was recited and today we choose to recite it without music and in a much more introspective way.

The poem is a type of writing that has been used since ancient times and therefore has very marked characteristics, difficult to find in any other literary genre. Although, over time, some of the most daring authors have decided to continue writing poems, but breaking all the rules established so far. These are the main characteristics of a poem.

the rhyme

the rhyme It consists of the imitation of the same sound at the end of each of the verses. Each verse ends with the same letters or the same vowels as the previous ones. Not all verses must rhyme, but there are different structures: AAAA, ABAB, AABB, etc.

The verse

The verse is another characteristic of a poem. We are facing a set of words that are grouped together and that have a very marked structure of rhythm and meter. Verses can be free, major or minor, depending on the number of syllables they are composed of.

the stanza

A certain set of verses forms a stanza. Each poem is made up of several stanzas and each of them develops a small part of the ideas that the author wants to express. That is, we could say that a stanza is a unit that has a beginning and an end of meaning.

Rhythm

Rhythm is created when there are repetitions of shapes in the text. That is, when the tonics coincide in the same place, the reader will have a different feeling than when the tonics are at a different point in the word each time.

The metric

The metric it is the way we can organize words into verses. Each verse has its own metric and this will be discovered by counting the syllables it is made up of. We call minor art verses those that are composed of 8 or fewer syllables. If the number is higher, we will be facing verses of major art.

they are brief

As usual, the poems are short, as we mentioned in the previous section, but the extension can be variable. There are great epic poems, such as those of Homer, which have a very wide extension, but there are also many short poems, which express the feelings of the author at a specific moment.

They use literary devices

Another characteristic of a poem is that literary devices are used. The literary resources they are tools that help to emphasize words and make the text more enjoyable to read. Some of these resources are metaphor, symbolism, hyperbaton, parables, analogy, etc.

They speak subjectively

subjectivity It is the personal interpretation that the author has on a specific topic. In this way, the writer never shows clear facts, but perceptions that he has of life, allowing the reader to make their own interpretation of each verse.

It can be written in prose

prose poetry It is NOT a story, but follows the same characteristics that we have mentioned of the poem, only that it ignores the meter and rhyme. That is to say, each one of his verses is free and can have the syllables that the author decides and end with the sound that he wants. This type of poetry is very free and is based on expressing the feelings and emotions of the author with total freedom and no rules.

Now that you know the characteristics of a poem, Do you launch to write your first work?. If you need more help, we recommend that you consult our writing section lessons, which can help and guide you in this process.