I. Explanation
Poetry is a literary style to express feelings. It expresses the author's thoughts and feelings and reflects social life by creating artistic conception. The feelings expressed in poetry should be true and natural, flowing naturally like spring water, without affectation.
In addition, the expression of poetry is different from other literary styles. Concise and to the point, musical language, harmonious phonology and distinct rhythm are the basic characteristics that distinguish poetry from other styles. It conveys the poet's thoughts and feelings through refined language and rich images, and causes readers to sing.
Second, the introduction of poetry
In ancient Han Dynasty, unhappy people were called poems and happy people were called songs. In modern times, they are generally called poems. It expresses social life and people's spiritual world according to certain syllables and rhythms. The origin of poetry can be traced back to ancient times. The Book of Songs is China's first collection of poems, which is said to have been compiled by Confucius. There is still debate on this issue in academic circles.
New classification of poetry
1, narrative poem:
There are relatively complete story lines and characters in poetry, which are usually expressed by the poet's passionate singing style. Epic, story poem and poetic novel all belong to this category. Ancient Greek Homer's epics such as Heriat and Odyssey; Story poems are China's Return to Rainbow and Li Xiangxiang.
2, metrical poems:
It is a poem written in a certain format and rules. It has strict rules on the number of lines, the number of words (or syllables), the tone and rhyme, the antithesis of words and the arrangement of sentence patterns. Such as the metrical poems, quatrains and songs in China's ancient poems and the European sonnets.
3. Free verse:
It is a newly developed poetic style in modern Europe and America. It is not limited by metrical rules, has no fixed format, pays attention to natural and internal rhythm, and uses rhymes roughly similar or without rhymes. The number of words, lines, sentence patterns and tones are relatively free, and the language is relatively popular.
Whitman, an American poet, is the founder of free verse in Europe and America, and Leaves of Grass is his main collection of poems. This poetic style has also become popular in China since the May 4th Movement.