What is a poem?

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O poem is a textual genre written in the form of verses, grouped in stanzas. In the poem, the word can be transformed according to the poet's objective, without the need to respect rules of language.

By not following rules, characterization can be difficult. if you ask yourself what is a poem, check out!

Characteristics of the poem

A poem is multi-significant, that is, it presents different meanings from the common one according to the use of the poet. Also, the verses and stanzas are easy to identify and are characterized as follows:

Verse

• Regular: with meter and rhyme;
• Whites: with meter and without rhyme;
• Free: no meter and no rhyme.

Stanza

• Couplet: two verses;
• Triplet: three verses;
• Quadra or quartet: four verses;
• Quintet or quintilla: five verses;
• Sextet or sextille: six verses;
• Seventh or septil: seven verses;
• Eighth: eight verses;
• Novena or ninth: nine verses;
• Tenth: ten verses.

In addition, the poem may have a rhyme:

• External: similar sounds at the end of different verses;
• Internal: rhymes between the final word of a verse and another within the next verse;
• Rich: between words belonging to different classes grammatical;
• Poor: between words belonging to the same grammatical class;
• Paired: AABB;
• Alternate or crossed: ABAB;
• Interpolated or opposite: ABBA;
• Mixed: another type of combination, such as ABACD;
• Acute: between words oxytones or stressed monosyllables;
• Severe: between paroxytone words;
• Esdruxula: among proparoxytones;
• Perfect, ringing or consonant: complete correspondence of sounds;
• Imperfect, ringing or blowing: no complete sound matching.

Types of poems

Check out the three types of poems:

1 — Epic or narrative poem

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The epic poem tells a story and presents all the characteristics of a narrative genre such as plot, characters and location.

the greed, by Wasil Sacharuk

It's been a lot since the success
Some don't remember anything anymore
And others doubt what happened...

midnight broke the silence
At the cry of the first stroke
Casting the lot on pitch night
I was there when everything happened:

In the middle of the forest, I'm not sure
A secret rite and a strange song
The heat from the fire burned close by

They built a large portal there
Founded on gold columns
Embedded in it the love of metal
Every passion to compose the treasure

[…]

2 — Dramatic poem

The dramatic poem occurs through the characters' speech, unlike the epic that has a narrator.

Retiring explains to the reader who he is and what he is going to, by João Cabral de Melo Neto

— My name is Severino,
I don't have another sink.
As there are many Severinos,
who is a pilgrimage saint,
then they called me
Severinus of Mary;
as there are many Severinos
with mothers named Maria,
I was Maria's
of the late Zechariah.
But that still says little:
there are many in the parish,
because of a colonel
who was called Zechariah
and which was the oldest
lord of this allotment.

[…]

3 — Lyric poem 

The lyrical poem portrays emotions and desires in a central and deep way.

Sentimental Sonnet to the City of São Paulo, by Vinicius de Moraes

O city so lyrical and so cold!
Mercenary, what does it matter – enough! - it matters
That at night, when you lie dead
Slow and cruel an agony wraps you

I don't love you in the placid light of day
I love you when the fog transports you
At that moment, lover, open the door for me
And I have you naked and frigid.

feel how your iris phosphores
Between a poem, a laugh and a beer
And what harm is there if the home where you wait

Brings nostalgia for some Bavaria
If poetry is yours, and on every table
Is there a sinner dying of beauty?

Difference between poem and poetry

The poem is a structure, that is, it is a text written in verse. already the poetryis the content of this text, characterized by the plurality of meanings and ambiguity.

Poetry can be written as poem or prose. Prose, in turn, is a textual genre written in paragraphs.

Read too:

• 10 Poems by Oswald de Andrade: Great name of literary modernism
• 16 Poems by Clarice Lispector
• The Poetic Universe – How to Create a Poem

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