Poetry is a form of literature. It is often distinguished from prose which tends to operate in a standard grammatical manner that replicates speech. The text you are reading now is prose. Poems, on the other hand, favour stylistics over straightforward meaning. Therefore, poems will often – although by no means always – use meter, or word rhythm, as well as rhyming, to make more of an overall impact. Like prose, poetry can make use of similes, metaphors and alliteration. It will often use such linguistic methods as well as phonaesthetics, or the beauty of a word – or combination of them – as they are sounded. Though poetry can be read, and some of it is designed to be seen on the page, much of it is written to be read aloud or performed.
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