Part II: Poetry and Language

Many people equate English poetry with rhyme and meter. While craft often separates literary language from ordinary language, it is not the only feature of poetry. Some distinguish between verse and poetry, where verse means meter and rhyme while poetry means more than craft. Language often provides the necessary weight for poetry, even without meter and rhyme.

In this section, we shall explore how language generates meaning. Many words correspond to their dictionary meaning, but language can also diverge from this literal sense in typical ways. The audience must recognize this divergence to grasp the meaning of the poem. We make these shifts in our ordinary conversations, and we do it without thinking. Here we want to bring all of that to a conscious level.