Poem

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpəʊ.ɪm/

Definitions

1. A piece of writing that expresses ideas, emotions, or experiences through rhythmic language, imagery, and often structured verse
2. A literary composition that conveys emotions, thoughts, or stories through aesthetic language, often using meter and rhyme
3. A creative work that illustrates feelings and concepts by employing imaginative language, usually formatted in lines and stanzas

Etymology: The Greek word "poíēma" meant simply "something made" or "a thing created," and it came from "poiéō," the verb "to make." That plain sense of fabrication is the root of the modern meaning, since the Greeks applied the idea of making to crafted verse. The same verb gave Greek its word for a poet, "poiētḗs," which is still the source of the English "poet." The word reached English through Middle French "poème," which took the Latin "poēma" from the Greek. English already had a native word for a verse composition, "leed," a relative of "lay" in the sense of a song. Over the centuries "poem" displaced it so thoroughly that "leed" now survives only in dialect and in historical texts.

Synonyms: verse, composition