Characteristics of Poetry

Poetry is the oldest of all literary genres. 'Beowulf' is the final English literature with 3000 lines in it. It is a heroic poetry, a typical example of epic poetry.

Characteristic features of Poetry are as follow:

1. Connotation: In poetry, the ideas, feelings, thoughts of the speaker are not directly conveyed through the use of images, symbols, and figure of speech.
2. Meditation: Reading and understanding poetry makes everyone think seriously.
3. Metrics: Not modern poetry, but old poetry may use metrical composition, such as meter, rhythm, and foot.
4. Music: Poetry has the musical quality.
5. Aesthetic and dyadic: Poetry provides an entertainment and gives an instruction to the readers.
6. Imagination and Feelings: It is said that poetry is the expression of imagination. Hence, imagination and feelings are profoundly predominant in poetry.
7. Visible shape: Poetry has its own physical structure.
8. Stanza form: Poetry is written in stanzas such as couplets, triplets, and quotation.
9. Playfully pleasant: Poetry can please the heart of the reader.