poem

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po·em

(pō′əm)

1. A verbal composition designed to convey experiences, ideas, or emotions in a vivid and imaginative way, characterized by the use of language chosen for its sound and suggestive power and by the use of literary techniques such as meter, metaphor, and rhyme.

2. A composition in verse rather than in prose: wrote both prose and poems.

3. A literary composition written with an intensity or beauty of language more characteristic of poetry than of prose.

[French poème, from Old French, from Latin poēma, from Greek poiēma, from poiein, to create; see k^wei- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

poem

(ˈpəʊɪm)

1. (Poetry) a composition in verse, usually characterized by concentrated and heightened language in which words are chosen for their sound and suggestive power as well as for their sense, and using such techniques as metre, rhyme, and alliteration

2. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) a literary composition that is not in verse but exhibits the intensity of imagination and language common to it: a prose poem.

3. anything resembling a poem in beauty, effect, etc

[C16: from Latin poēma, from Greek, variant of poiēma something composed, created, from poiein to make]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

po•em

(ˈpoʊ əm)

n.

1. a composition in verse, esp. one characterized by a highly developed form and the use of heightened language and rhythm to express an imaginative interpretation of the subject.

2. something having qualities that are suggestive of or likened to those of poetry.

[1540–50; < Latin poēma < Greek poíēma poem, something made =poiē-, variant s. of poieîn to make + -ma resultative n. suffix]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

poem - a composition written in metrical feet forming rhythmical lines

verse form

line of poetry, line of verse - a single line of words in a poem

literary composition, literary work - imaginative or creative writing

abecedarius - a poem having lines beginning with letters of the alphabet in regular order

Alcaic, Alcaic verse - verse in the meter used in Greek and Latin poetry consisting of strophes of 4 tetrametric lines; reputedly invented by Alcaeus

ballad, lay - a narrative poem of popular origin

ballade - a poem consisting of 3 stanzas and an envoy

blank verse - unrhymed verse (usually in iambic pentameter)

elegy, lament - a mournful poem; a lament for the dead

epic, epic poem, heroic poem, epos - a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds

free verse, vers libre - unrhymed verse without a consistent metrical pattern

haiku - an epigrammatic Japanese verse form of three short lines

lyric poem, lyric - a short poem of songlike quality

rondel, rondeau - a French verse form of 10 or 13 lines running on two rhymes; the opening phrase is repeated as the refrain of the second and third stanzas

sonnet - a verse form consisting of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme

tanka - a form of Japanese poetry; the 1st and 3rd lines have five syllables and the 2nd, 4th, and 5th have seven syllables

terza rima - a verse form with a rhyme scheme: aba bcb cdc, etc.

rhyme, verse - a piece of poetry

canto - a major division of a long poem

verse line, verse - a line of metrical text

versicle - a short verse said or sung by a priest or minister in public worship and followed by a response from the congregation

stanza - a fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem

poetic rhythm, rhythmic pattern, prosody - (prosody) a system of versification

rhyme, rime - correspondence in the sounds of two or more lines (especially final sounds)

poem

noun verse, song, lyric, rhyme, sonnet, ode, verse composition a tender autobiographical poem set to music

Quotations
"A poem should not mean"
"but be" [Archibald McLeish Ars Poetica]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

poem

noun

1. A poetic work or poetic works:

poesy, poetry, rhyme, verse.

2. Something likened to poetry, as in form or style:

lyricism, poetry.

Translations

قَصِّيدَةقَصيدَه

báseň

digt

Gedicht Lyrik Poesie Dichtung

ποίημα

poema poesía oda

runo

poème

pjesmapoema

költeményvers

puisi

ljóðljóî

poesia poeta poetico poema

詩詩歌詩的表現

시

eilėraštispoema

dzejolispoēma

поэма стих стихотворение

báseň

pesempoezija

diktpoem

บทกวี

şiirkoşukmanzume nazım

bài thơ

诗

poem

[ˈpəʊɪm] N (short) → poesía f; (long, narrative) → poema m
Lorca's poems → las poesías de Lorca, la obra poética de Lorca

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

poem

[ˈpəʊɪm] n → poème m

poem

n → Gedicht nt; epic poem → Epos nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

poem

[ˈpəʊɪm] n → poesia

poem

(ˈpouim) noun

a piece of writing arranged in lines which usually have a regular rhythm and often rhyme.

poem

→ قَصِّيدَة báseň digt Gedicht ποίημα poema runo poème pjesma poesia 詩 시 gedicht dikt wiersz poema поэма dikt บทกวี şiir bài thơ 诗

References in classic literature ?

I need scarcely observe that a poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul.

If, at any time, any very long poem were popular in reality, which I doubt, it is at least clear that no very long poem will ever be popular again.

View in context

"The Works and Days": The poem consists of four main sections.

It is from the second and fourth sections that the poem takes its name.

View in context

But in the Epic poem the absurdity passes unnoticed.

But in Epic poetry, owing to the narrative form, many events simultaneously transacted can be presented; and these, if relevant to the subject, add mass and dignity to the poem. The Epic has here an advantage, and one that conduces to grandeur of effect, to diverting the mind of the hearer, and relieving the story with varying episodes.

View in context

And the price was splendid, even though it was for the poem of a century.

The one critic in the United States had pronounced favorably on the poem, while his own contention that good stuff could find its way into the magazines had proved correct.

View in context

What the plan of the poem is Spenser explains in a prefatory letter to Sir Walter Ralegh.

For a single illustration, the description of the House of Alma in Book II, Canto Nine, is a tediously literal medieval allegory of the Soul and Body; and occasional realistic details here and there in the poem at large are merely repellent to more modern taste.

View in context

There were certain outline illustrations in it, which were very good in the cold Flaxman manner, and helped largely to heighten the fascination of the poems for me.

View in context

But as Ossian, if he ever lived, lived in the third century, as it is not probable that his poems were written down at the time, and as the oldest books that we have containing any of his poetry were written in the twelfth century, it is very difficult to be sure that he really made the poems called by his name.