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Poetry or verse is that form of literature in which a story or sentiment is expressed artistically through a language. The history of poetry and the philosophy of poetry in India is very old. Its origin can be understood from Bharatmuni. Kavita literally means a poetic composition or work of a poet, which is duly tied into a series of verses.
Poetry is that sentence structure in which the mind is filled with some rasa or passion, that is, in which the effect of imagination and passions is exerted by the chosen words.
Interesting Facts About Poetry!
- Metrophobia is the fear of poetry.
- Poet's Day is celebrated every August 21.
- Metromania is the compulsion to write poetry.
- The word "poetry" is from the Greek term poiesis, which means "making."
- Geoffrey Chaucer's name is derived from the French chausseur, meaning "shoemaker."
- Geoffrey Chaucer was the first poet to be buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.
- In 1998, an original printing of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales sold at auction for $7.4 million.
- The epitaph on American poet Emily Dickinson's grave stone consists of two words: "called back."
- The skin of murderer George Cudmore was used to bind an 1852 edition of John Milton's Poetical Works.
- George MacDonald is a poet of two words. Titled The Shortest and Sweetest of Songs, he wrote “Come. Home.”
- French essayist and poet Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907) was the first person to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
- The oldest surviving epic poem is the Epic of Gilgamesh and dates from the 3rd millennium BC in Sumer (now Iraq).
- Because it’s poetry day! UNESCO declared this date to celebrate our wonderful expression of humanity through poems.
- With over 113 publications, Lee Bennett Hopkins (1938–) is considered to be the most prolific poet of the modern era.
- Poetry can be terrifying. It’s called metrophobia, a fear of poetry, that usually originates from academic requirements.
Quick Facts About Poetry!
- Poet George McDonald (1824–1905) wrote a two-word poem called "The Shortest and Sweetest of Songs." It reads "Come Home."
- Poetry is one of the oldest forms of communication, dating back to prehistoric times with hunting poetry in Africa and ancient Egypt.
- The earliest forms of poetry predate written language. They were sung or recited to help people remember genealogy, laws, and oral history.
- According to author Lizzie Doten, the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe provided her with the poems that she published in "Poems from the Inner Life."
- The longest poem in the world is the Mahabharata. An Indian epic poem dating from the 4th century BC or earlier, the poem has about 1.8 million words.
- Edgar Allen Poe writes with his Siamese cat. The famous writer would place his cat on his shoulder before starting on his poetry. Mystery and macabre, indeed.
- German poet Gottlob Burmann so despised the letter "r" that he avoided using it in his poems and suppressed it in his speech during the last 17 years of his life.
- The longest poem ever written is epic. Literally an epic from India, the Mahabharata can be read in an average of 8 hours and 4 minutes with its over 200,000 verses.
- Nicknamed the female Homer, Sappho has become an symbol of homosexual love between women. Her poetry skill was widely known, and Plato even called her the "tenth Muse."
- The word "unfriend" first appeared in a 1275 medieval poem titled "Brut" by Layamon. Coincidentally, this is also the same poem in which the word "muggle" first appears.
- The oldest surviving poem is epic. Entitled the Epic of Gilgamesh, it is a Mesopotamian odyssey written on language tablets that were discovered in the mid-19th Century.
Some Important Facts About Poetry!
- Known as the father of English literature, British author Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) is also considered the father of poetry and the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages.
- The Victorian novelist Samuel Butler speculated that the ancient Greek poet Homer was a woman. Other scholars argue that the Iliad and the Odyssey were the work of many people.
- Sir Walter Scott was a king of multitasking. He wrote his bestselling poem, Marion, while on horseback training as preparation for a threatening invasion of Napoleon’s French forces.
- E. E. Cummings self-published his book of poetry "No Thanks," financed by his mother. In the book, he listed the 13 publishers who rejected his work, which would later become a classic.
- Existing fragments of Aristotle's Poetics described the three genres of poetry: the epic, the comic, and the tragic. It also laid out the rules for developing each genre to its full potential.
- The oldest surviving love poem is on a 4,000-year-old clay tablet simply named "Istanbul #2461." The unknown poet wrote this poem for king Shu-Sin to recite to his bride during a virility ritual.
- William Shakespeare is the best-selling poet of all time. With over 4 billion book sales globally, his surviving works include approximately 40 plays, 150 sonnets, 2 long-story poems, and a few eulogies.
- Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a Persian poet and Sufi master born in 1207, is the best-selling poet in the United States. A compelling figure in poetry, Rumi's poems articulate what it feels like to be alive.
- G.K. Chesterton titled his poem with a keyboard smash. There’s no clear reason why Plakkopytrixophylisperambulantiobatrix is titled this way. Nor is there a meaning for the word. But it’s definitely interesting.
- Singapore invented poems you read in different directions. In 2010, twin cinema poetry was created where verses are divided into two columns, yet can be read vertically downward and horizontally. And still, make sense.
- Before the haiku, there was renga. Renga, meaning “linked poem”, is the bigger version of the famous Japanese haiku. This time poets collaborate by working on 17-syllable stanzas (haikus) then combining them to form renga.
Information Facts About Poetry!
- Dante Alighieri finds his father in poetry. While Dante enjoyed poems as a child, it’s only after discovering the Bolognese poet Guido Guinizelli that he entered the art. In Purgatorio, he refers to Guinizelli as “father”.
- The world's shortest poem is a one-letter poem by Aram Saroyan. It is simply a four-legged version of the letter "m." The meaning of the poem is uncertain, though some scholars describe it as a "closeup of a letter being born."
- Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" is considered to be an iconic expression of the 1950s Beat Generation. Its frank portrayal of sex, suicide, and drugs was so scandalous that the publisher was imprisoned for distributing obscene material.
- Norse gods rap battle. Before we knew “spoken word”, it was called “flyting” in the 5th Century where insults in verse were the jam. Norse literature told stories of gods participating in their own battles. Loki was a strong contender.
- E.E. Cummings invented calling people out. In the dedication for his collection, No Thanks, American writer E.E. Cummings listed the names of the 14 publishers that rejected his proposal. Best of all, he wrote it in the shape of an urn.
- Ben Jonson was named the first poet laureate of England in 1616. However, the title didn't become an official royal office until 1668 when John Dryden was appointed. A poet laureate is responsible for writing poems for national occasions.
- April 27 is a Feast Day for a poet. The Anglican Church honored Christina Rossetti with her own Feast Day and intercession prayer. Her works are largely religious and devotional, some even Christmas carols, that talk about human hardship.
- Edward Lear duplicated a house for his cat. His poem The Owl and the Pussycat was inspired by Lear’s own feline, Foss. When the Englishman had to move, he had a replica built of his house so that beloved Foss would find it easier to adjust.
- Shakespeare has a mystery man. The identity of the “beautiful young man” the Bard mentions in his sonnets remains unknown. But the third Earl of Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, is the strongest candidate whom Shakespeare dedicated his poems to.
- Anne Bradstreet was the first woman to be recognized as an accomplished poet in the British American colonies. After she died, her husband collected her poems and published them as a book, making her the first woman to have a published book in America.
Historical Facts About Poetry!
- One letter can be a poem. The 1960s of pop art and conceptual art welcomed a single word or letter as poetry, known as minimalist poems. Adam Saroyan produced a four-legged “m” and lighght, among many that influenced a new and interesting outlook on language.
- Lang Leav’s inspiration came from war. Fleeing from the Khmer Rouge regime to a Thailand refugee camp, and settling in a cross-culture town near Sydney, the critically-acclaimed author grew up around melancholy. It’s a primary influence in her work that has touched millions.
- Robert Frost saved face in a public speech. For John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, Frost had written something for his speech. But the sun was blinding his view that he couldn’t read his notes. Instead, he recited by memory his poem The Gift Outright and nobody noticed the slip.
- Oxford was nicknamed by a poet. In Thyrsis, English writer and social critic Matthew Arnold described Oxford with “dreaming spires” because of its stunning architecture. Quoted and requoted, the phrase “the city with the dreaming spires” came to be Oxford’s very own nickname.
- Emily Dickinson wrote poetry on her deathbed. One of America’s greatest, Emily Dickinson, fell ill in the spring of 1884. Bedridden, she wrote her last poem, So give me back to Death. Her note to her cousins, “Called Back”, eventually became the epitaph on her gravestone. How poetic, right?
- Nakahara Chuuya was the ultimate fanboy. The Japanese writer took great inspiration from French experimental works, particularly of Arthur Rimbaud, whose poems he even translated to Japanese. This influence showed in Nakahara’s works and lifestyle that he was dubbed, “The Japanese Rimbaud”.
- Dorothy Parker spent the afterlife in a filing cabinet. After her cremation, an attorney collected her ashes and left them in his filing cabinet for nearly 20 years because Parker had failed to mention her final resting place. Only after a request to visit Parker’s grave did anybody realize.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge changed how we view fiction. In his essays, the English writer declared that a “willingness to suspend belief” means being faithful to the work you’re reading. Sounds familiar? Today, the idea of “suspension of belief” has become an important and effective tool in storytelling.
- Girolamo Fracastoro created syphilis. We meant the term for the STD was coined from the work of the Italian physician and writer. His poem Syphilis sive morbus gallicus, or “Syphilis or the French Disease” tells the tale of Syphilis who became the first victim of plague after he had angered the sun god of Haiti.
Unbelievable Facts About Poetry!
- A small city was renamed after Robert Browning’s poetry. The Browning Society were groups of enthusiasts that regularly discuss the works of English writer Robert Browning. In order of the Society’s donation, the city, located in Kentucky, USA, is renamed as “Pippa Passes” after Browning’s verse drama of the same name.
- Pablo Neruda wrote in green. The Pulitzer-Prize winner Chilean writer filled his favorite fountain pen with green ink and wrote by hand. He is believed to consider the color as a symbol of hope and abundance that ultimately helps his creative process. As a tribute, a book about Neruda’s childhood is printed in green ink.
- Gottlob Burmann hated the letter “r”. The German romantic writer had a great despise for the letter “r”. For some strong reason. Burmann wrote 130 poems with a total of 20,000 words that omitted the affronting letter. He even removed “r” from his daily speech for the last 17 years of his life and refused to say his last name.
- Walt Whitman’s metaphor stands for someone else. Written by Whitman, the line “O’ Captain! My Captain!” joined pop culture in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society where young boys stood on their desks in support of their teacher, played by Robin Williams. As a salute, the hashtag #ocaptainmycaptain trended on Twitter after the actor’s death.
- John Milton’s collection wore a murderer’s skin. Binding books with human skin, known as anthropodermic bibliopegy, was a common practice in history. An 1852 edition of Poetical Works by John Milton was bound using the skin of a murderer, George Cudmore. Surely, this fits the intensity of Milton’s famous epic poems that the book contains.
- Sappho waved the lesbian pride flag first. In the 6th Century, Sappho hails from Lesbos, Greece. Today, she is a symbol of female sexuality. Her works were about women’s daily lives and relationships, and feminine beauty and youth when the world was full of male voices. Even Plato was impressed by Sappho that he had called her the “Tenth Muse”.
- A poem helped Cambridge’s tourism. Chinese romantic writer Xu Zhimo created Zaibie Kangqiao that translates to “On Leaving Cambridge” when he visited the university. It grew popular and influential in China that many locals traveled to Cambridge to visit. In 2008, the university displayed the poem engraved in white Beijing marble to commemorate Xu.
- Francis Thompson is suspected to be Jack the Ripper. Theorists consider his poems as hints to a confession as the famous and mysterious serial killer of Whitechapel, London in 1888. The Englishman was also near the locations of the murders, was known to carry the same weapon as Ripper, and had grievances with prostitutes who were Ripper’s pool of victims.
- Poetry saved lives during the Holocaust. French surrealist poet Robert Desnos began reading palms of his fellow prisoners in a concentration camp. They were heading to the gas chambers but Desnos only declared longevity, more children, and joy in his readings. Everybody became entranced, even the guards, that they were driven back to the barracks and spared.
- Lord Byron’s best friends were a dog and a bear. Best friends since childhood, English nobleman Lord Byron has gotten into a lot of fun adventures with his Newfoundland dog, Boatswain. He died from rabies when Byron was only 20. In mourning, Byron built a monument and engraved a heartfelt poem just for Boatswain. Later, at Trinity College in Cambridge, Byron learns the “no pet dogs” rule. Annoyed, he obtains a bear instead, whom he would walk around campus. Maybe even sit him for a fellowship.
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