Definition Essay Defining Poetry

Poetry?
We may think, rather feel, we know something, but may have troubles defining it. This is as true for poetry, as say love or electricity. There are as many definitions of poetry as there are poets. Wordsworth defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings;" Emily Dickinson said, "If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry;" Dylan Thomas defined poetry this way: "Poetry is what make me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing." Leonard Cohen believed “Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” One poet called a poem "a thought, caught in the act of dawning."

For example “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost (Frost 536). A traveler comes to folk in the road and needs to decide which way to go to continue his journey. After much mental debate, the traveler picks the road “less traveled by.” the figurative meaning is not too hidden either. The idea the poem tries to tell, rather the idea it conveys, are the tough choices people make when traveling the road of life. Although the fact that Frost had not directly given advice to the readers (because he talks about “the road [he had] not taken” because it was “less traveled by” he doesn't say “When you come to a fork in the road, study the footprints and take the road less traveled by”) it still counts as a very important message

Ozymandias by P.B.Shelley. (Shelley 487) for example. Ozymandias was a mighty and famous king of Egypt. He even got his own statue built to show forth his presence to his people (talk about how his face looked) . The poem came to know through a traveler that Ozymandias’ statue was seen by him in a broken condition “whose frown,/and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, tell that its sculptor well those passions read” meaning the kings was also seen as a very mean, and controlling man which was how the “Sculptor” depicted him in his artwork. Under the statute are ascribed “my name is Ozymandias, king of kings.” thus in this poem the poet brings out the vanity of human pomp and power. Everything in this world is subjected to decay. The name and fame of mighty and powerful human being is short lived. Time may be a greater healer, but it is also a merciless destroyer. Time waits for no one rather; it will forever pass on, and all we mere humans can do is either waste our time, or make the best of it like our king Ozymandias had done. Although the fact time had taken away his power as king it still kept his name in the mouths of people through the help of the statue, and through the help of the traveler who discovered the statue thus the creation of the poem Ozymandias. Time was merciful enough to preserve his name, but not his power, and not his fame, not the material things the king had clung to. How does this