poetry, n.
Forms:
ME poeterye, ME poetre, ME portrye (transmission error), ME potrie (probably transmission error), ME poyetrie, ME–15 poetrye, ME–16 poetrie, ME– poetry, 15 poëtrie, 16 poëtry, 17 poerty (transmission error), 19– portry (Irish English); Scottish pre-17 poetre, pre-17 poetrie, pre-17 poetrye, pre-17 poyetrie, pre-17 17– poetry; U.S. regional 18 pottery, 18– potry, 19– portry. (Show Less)
Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French poetrie; Latin poetria.
Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman poeitrie treatise on the art of poetry (1212 or earlier) and Middle French poetrie, poétrie, poeterie art of poetic expression (1270 in Old French; French †poétrie , in this sense only), works of canonical poets, hence ‘classical mythology’ (1357), poetic style (c1400 as poterie ), the fact of writing in verse (end of the 15th cent.), work of literature in verse (1507), and its etymon (ii) post-classical Latin poetria (see note below) < classical Latin poēta poet n. Compare Catalan poetria imaginative literature (14th cent.), Spanish poetría imaginative literature, book of verse (c1280), art of poetry (1379), Italian †poetria art of poetry (1288).
Post-classical Latin poetria occurs in some 9th-cent. manuscripts of Martianus Capella 8. 809 (e.g. Par. 8669), and in the commentary of Remigius of Auxerre (late 9th cent.); a number of manuscripts of Capella of the same century have potetria , from which J. Willis has suggested in his edition (Teubner, 1983) that the reading in the archetype may have been poeetria . Another very early occurrence is in the Expositiones in hierarchiam caelestem of Johannes Scotus Eriugena (d. 877), who had studied Martianus. The form occurs in 10th-cent. manuscripts of scholia on Horace, Epistles 2. 1. 103 and 111 ( Pseudo-Acronis scholia in Horatium vetustiora, ed. O. Keller (1902-4), 2.286-7); although the latter transmit a 7th-cent. recension of the scholia on Horace, this kind of text is susceptible to accretions and modifications, so the form poetria cannot itself be safely dated to the 7th cent. A 9th-10th cent. manuscript of Horace (Par. 10310) refers to his Ars poetica as liber..de arte poetriae , and it was with allusion to Horace's poem that the influential rhymed treatise on poetry composed c1208–13 by Geoffrey of Vinsauf (Galfridus de Vino Salvo, also called Galfridus Anglicus) was called Poetria nova (compare sense 4); other 13th-cent. texts which use the form poetria to mean ‘art of poetry’ may allude directly to Horace or, perhaps more usually, to Geoffrey's poem. For a direct reference to Geoffrey, compare quot. 1447 at sense 4. Compare poetics n.. The relation of the post-classical Latin word to classical Latin poētria , Hellenistic Greek ποιήτρια poetess (see poetress n.), is not clear; but its suffix cannot be identified with French -erie or -ery suffix, -ry suffix. Some of the earliest English examples are from Chaucer, to whom the Nova Poetria of Geoffrey was well known. He makes the Nun's Priest refer to it in his Tale: The sense development of English poetry is partly shared by French poésie poesy n. With sense 2e in particular compare the lengthy and influential definition of French poésie by d'Alembert (1765, in Encyclopédie XII 837–8).
c1390 G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale 4537
O Gaufred, deere maister souerayn.
†1. Imaginative or creative literature in general; fable, fiction. Cf. poet n. 2. Obsolete.
▸
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron.
(St. John's Cambr.)
(1869)
II. 279 (MED)
Of þe bryngynge forþ of mawmetrie com wel nyh al þe feyninge of poetrie [?a1475 anon. transl. figmentes; L. figmenta].
c1450
(▸c1380)
G. Chaucer House of Fame 1001
When thou redest poetrie, How goddes gonne stellifye Bridd, fissh, best.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope ii. Proem
Fable is as moche to seye in poeterye as wordes in theologye.
1530 W. Tyndale Pract. Prelates sig. Cvijv
They..fayned myracles & gaue themselues onlye unto poetrye: & shutt up the scripture.
a1586 A. Arbuthnot in W. A. Craigie Maitland Folio MS
(1919)
xxx. 12
And hellis pane is comptit poetrie.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 607
Their profession of Poëtry, that is to say, of faining and deuising fables, may in some sort excuse them.
a1387—1601(Hide quotations)
2. The art or work of a poet.
a. Composition in verse or some comparable patterned arrangement of language in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; the art of such a composition.Traditionally associated with explicit formal departure from the patterns of ordinary speech or prose, e.g. in the use of elevated diction, figurative language, and syntactical reordering.
c1395 G. Chaucer Clerk's Tale 33
Fraunceys Petrak..whos rethoryk swete Enlumyned al Ytaille of poetrie [v.rr. Poyetrie, Potrie].
a1425
(▸c1385)
G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde
(1987)
v. 1855
Lo here, the forme of olde clerkis speche In poetrie.
▸
1440 Promptorium Parvulorum
(Harl. 221)
406
Poetrye [?a1475 Winch. Poetry], poetria.
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure
(1845)
2
Nothinge I am experte in poetry, As the monke of Bury, floure of eloquence.
1567 R. Sempill in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation
(1891)
I. vi. 52
Thair plesand flowre of Poyetrie.
1628 O. Felltham Resolves: 2nd Cent. lxxi. sig. V4v
Poetry..is but a Play, which makes Words dance, in the evennesse of a Cadencie.
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words
Poesie, or Poetry, the art of making a Poem, i. any kind of subject consisting of Rythm or Verses.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word)
The Rules of Poetry and Versifying are taught by Art, and acquired by Study.
1780 J. Donaldson Refl. on Harmony Sensibility & Reason ii, in Elem. Beauty 85
Poetry, painting, and music, are sciences peculiarly beholden to genius.
1838 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece
(new ed.)
II. xii. 116
The first period of Greek poetry..is entirely filled by the names of Homer and Hesiod.
1882 Times 26 Sept. 4/2
Another sonnet..deserves quotation, as, perhaps, his masterpiece in this form of poetry.
1907 N.E.D. (at cited word)
Composition in verse or metrical language, or in some equivalent patterned arrangement of language; usually also with choice of elevated words and figurative uses, and option of a syntactical order, differing more or less from those of ordinary speech or prose writing. In this sense, poetry in its simplest or lowest form has been identified with versification or verse.
1916 J. G. Fletcher Goblins & Pagodas p. x
The art to which I have felt myself instinctively akin, the art of poetry.
1975 H. Bloom Map of Misreading i. iv. 68
The grammar of poetry produces the grammar of poetry, since poetry is a discursive and not a linguistic mode.
2005 West Australian
(Perth)
(Nexis)
3 Feb. (Features section) 7
I love songwriting but poetry is a very different discipline.
c1395—2005(Hide quotations)
b. The product of this art as a form of literature; the writings of a poet or poets; poems collectively or generally.
c1475 tr. C. de Pisan Livre du Corps de Policie
(Cambr.)
(1977)
127 (MED)
Ouyde seithe..in his poetrye [Fr. par fiction de poesie] that the god whiche is called Mars helped a knyght for his hardynesse.
a1500
(▸a1460)
Towneley Plays
(1897–1973)
112 (MED)
Virgill in his poetre sayde in his verse Even thus by gramere.
1554 D. Lindsay Dialog Experience & Courteour i. sig. D.iiii
Uirgill in tyll his Poetrye Nor Cicero..War neuer half so Eloquent.
1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus iv. i. 14
Cornelia neuer with more care, Red to her sonnes than she hath red to thee [printed th ee], Sweet Poetrie and Tullies Oratour.
1640 Whole Bk. Psalmes: ‘Bay Psalm Bk.’ Pref. sig. *2
Secondly, if scripture psalmes, whether in their owne words, or in such meter as english poetry is wont to run in?
1690 W. Temple Ess. Poetry 25 in Miscellanea: 2nd Pt.
Among the antient Western Goths..the Runick Poetry seems to have been as old as their letters.
1749 J. Mason Ess. Power of Numbers & Princ. Harmony 75
Speak here..of the several Sorts of English Poetry, as divided into Heroic, Pastoral, Elegy, Satire, Comedy, Tragedy, Epigram and Lyric.
1763 J. Brown Diss. Poetry & Music xiii. 223
If the Poet select and adapt proper Music to his Poem; or the Musician select and adapt proper Poetry to his Music.
1800 W. Wordsworth in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads
(ed. 2)
I. Pref. p. xxvi.
(note)
I here use the word ‘Poetry’ (though against my own judgment) as opposed to the word Prose, and synonymous with metrical composition. But..the only strict antithesis to Prose is Metre.
1846 T. Wright Ess. Middle Ages II. 39
Poetry was the only form of literary composition found in the primeval age.
1905 L. Woolf Let. 4 June
(1990)
92
He is a timid egoistic maniac who writes poetry all day long or reads in a vague voracious way.
1995 Guardian 17 July ii. 13/4
Some publishers seem set to confront the vexed issue of over-production by..reducing their commitment to first novels, experimental fiction, poetry and monographs.
c1475—1995(Hide quotations)
c. With capital initial. Chiefly poetic. The poetic art personified (as a female being).
1580 G. Harvey Three Proper Lett. 37
I am lately become a maruellous great straunger at myne olde Mistresse Poetries.
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 477
Poetry..is a most musicall Modulator of all Intelligibles by her inventive Variations.
a1711 T. Ken Urania in Wks.
(1721)
IV. 475
Sweet Poetry has suffer'd most, By Bards..Who in her beauteous Visage spit The Putrefaction of their Wit.
1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. iii. 104
Poetry is the interpretress of the natural world, and she is the interpretress of the moral world.
1986 B. Dijkstra Idols of Perversity ix. 285
His ‘Poetry’,..notwithstanding her modest downward glance, was clearly more a Dionysiac than an Apollonian muse.
1580—1986(Hide quotations)
d. The expression or embodiment of thought or feeling in a manner regarded as characteristic of a poem; (also) the products of this expression. Frequently opposed to verse, prose, etc.Traditionally referring to metrical form (as in sense 2a), but sometimes extended to include comparable expression in non-metrical language; cf. prose poetry n. at prose n. and adj. Compounds 2.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie
(1595)
sig. C4
Verse being but an ornament and no cause to Poetry: sith there haue beene many most excellent Poets, that neuer versified.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. ii. 156
I will proue those Verses to be very vnlearned, neither sauouring of Poetrie, wit, nor inuention.
1622 H. Peacham Compl. Gentleman x. 80
Poetrie..can..turne hatred to loue, cowardise into valour.
1690 W. Temple Ess. Poetry 28 in Miscellanea: 2nd Pt.
Nor is it any great Wonder, that such Force should be found in Poetry, since in it are assembled all the Powers of Eloquence, of Musick, and of Picture, which are all allowed to make so strong Impressions upon humane Minds.
1734 M. Barber Poems 280
Call it not Poetry, she says; No—Call it Rhyming, if you please: Her Numbers might adorn a Ring.
1779 S. Johnson Waller in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets I. 110
The essence of poetry is invention; such invention as, by producing something unexpected, surprises and delights... Poetry pleases by exhibiting an idea more grateful to the mind than things themselves afford.
1800 W. Wordsworth in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads
(ed. 2)
I. Pref. p. xxxiii
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origins from emotion recollected in tranquillity.
a1854 H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets
(1857)
vi. 220
A strain of prose which is poetry in all but poetry's metrical music.
1906 W. B. Yeats Poems Pref.
Poetry..is in the last analysis an endeavour to condense as out of the flying vapours of the world an image of human perfection, and for its own and not for the art's sake.
1931 V. Woolf Waves 287
We need not whip this prose into poetry. The little language is enough.
1990 D. Shekerjian Uncommon Genius i. Introd. p. xvii
Identification of creative talent—the sifting of the greeting-card verse from the poetry.
a1586—1990(Hide quotations)
†e. In extended use: creative or imaginative art in general. Cf. poet n. 3b. Obsolete.
1815 D. Stewart in Encycl. Brit., Suppl. I. 5
(note)
The latitude given by D'Alembert to the meaning of the word Poetry is a real and very important improvement on Bacon, who restricts it to fictitious History or Fables... D'Alembert, on the other hand, employs it in its natural signification, as synonymous with invention or creation.
1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters III. 13
Painting is properly to be opposed to speaking or writing, but not to poetry. Both painting and speaking are methods of expression. Poetry is the employment of either for the noblest purposes.
1815—1856(Hide quotations)
3. As a count noun.
a. In plural. Pieces of poetry; poems collectively. Now chiefly in South and South-East Asian use.
▸
c1395 G. Chaucer Squire's Tale 206
They..maden skiles after hir fantasies, Rehersynge of thise olde poetries.
c1450
(▸c1380)
G. Chaucer House of Fame 1478
Oon seyde that Omer made lyes, Feynynge in hys poetries.
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. xxiv. 425
What shall wee say then to the Poetries [of our Scriptures], specially of Dauid, considering that he was afore all the Poetries of the Heathen?
1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso 284
Desired that she might see both their Poetries; which after she had perused several times, and duly considered them, she..chose Mauro's Fava.
1767 G. Colman Eng. Merchant i. 3
Where could you get all this money, I wonder! Not by your poetries, I believe.
1817 W. Scott Rob Roy II. x. 210
And this young birkie here,..will his stage-plays and his poetries help him here, d'ye think..?—Will Tityre tu patule, as they ca' it, tell him where Rashleigh Osbaldistone is?
1886 M. F. Tupper My Life as Author 222
If some few have appeared among other poetries in print, they shall not be repeated here.
1958 A. Ginsberg Lion for Real in Kaddish & Other Poems
(1961)
53
He looked at me interested and read me his spontaneous ignu high poetries.
2005 Hindustan Times
(Nexis)
31 Mar.
Today I can fully comprehend Ghalib and his love poetries.
c1395—2005(Hide quotations)
b. A style or genre of poetry; a poetic tradition.
1692 Ess. upon Criticks in J. Dunton Young-students-libr. 297/2
The Ethiopians have also a Rhiming Poetry; but which resembles much more the ancient Poesie of the Arabians than the new one.
1852 E. S. Dallas Poetics Introd. 7
We have to determine that state or mood of the mind called poetic. The definition..must open its arms to all poetries alike, dramatic, epic, lyrical.
1871 W. Whitman Democratic Vistas 58
America demands a Poetry that is bold, modern, and all-surrounding and kosmical, as she is herself.
1982 M. Seymour-Smith Robert Graves vii. 86
He was..largely insensitive to non-English poetries, and chose to ignore the influence they have exercised on English poetry.
1692—1982(Hide quotations)
†4. A treatise on the art of poetry; = poetics n. 1a. Obsolete.
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints
(1938)
88 (MED)
Galfryd of ynglond in his newe werk Entytlyd thus..Galfridus anglicus, in hys newe poetrye, Enbelshyd wyth colours of rethoryk.
a1530
(▸c1425)
Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl.
(Royal)
ix. Prol. 5
‘Poetry Nowel’ quha wil red, Thare may thai fynd quhow to procede [etc.].
1447—a1530(Hide quotations)
5. Usually with capital initial. In certain English Roman Catholic schools, seminaries, or colleges: the name given to the sixth class immediately above Syntax and below Rhetoric.Formerly used in English schools located both in England and abroad. Now only in certain Jesuit schools.
1629 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime iii. 13
Father Lacy, the Reader of Poetry, and Master of the Syntax. Father Henry Bentley and Father Iohn Compton of Grammer.
1679 Tryals & Condemnation Jesuits 56
I saw him when I was in my Syntax, and now I am in Poetry.
1773 in Mem. Stonyhurst Coll.
(1881)
22
The former Master of Poetry, the latter of Grammar, at Bruges.
1838 C. Waterton Ess. Nat. Hist. p. xxiv
One day, when I was in the class of poetry..about two years before I left the college.., he called me up to his room.
1887 Stonyhurst Mag. Nov. 34/1
Poetry..were granted a most unexpected but none the less welcome holiday on Thursday October 20th.
1946 D. Gwynn Bishop Challoner iii. 39
By the summer of 1708 he had passed through the two higher classes of Poetry and Rhetoric.
c1990 Stonyhurst Coll. Prospectus 3
As he progresses through the College he moves to Grammar, Syntax, Poetry and Rhetoric... In Poetry he either shares or has a single room.
1629—c1990(Hide quotations)
6.
a. figurative. Something comparable to poetry in its beauty or emotional impact; a poetic quality of beauty and intensity of emotion; the poetic quality of something. In early use, chiefly in poetry of motion (also †the foot) : dancing.
1654 Mercurius Aulicus 27 Mar.–3 Apr. 18
Let flaming Loves in flaming fires be seen, Tellus her self be mantled all in green, The Poetrie of Bells be added.
1664 J. Dryden Rival Ladies iii. i. 32
The Poetry of the Foot takes most of late.
a1745 J. Richardson Morning Thoughts
(1776)
346
Dancing is the poetry of motion; and therefore a most agreeable and a rational diversion.
1806 Lady Morgan Wild Irish Girl II. xix. 197
‘I seldom dance,’ said I—‘Ill health has for some time back coincided with my inclination, which seldom led me to try my skill at the Poetry of Motion.’
1817 J. Keats Poems 93
The poetry of earth is never dead:..a voice will run..about the new-mown mead; That is the Grasshopper's.
1846 C. Mackay Poems, Railways 1
‘No poetry in railways!’ foolish thought Of a dull brain, to no fine music wrought.
1874 J. S. Blackie On Self-culture 70
To live poetry, indeed, is always better than to write it.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 535
The poetry of motion, art of callisthenics... Watch me! My terpsichorean abilities.
1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 61
O leave me clean..From all the mental poetry of deliberate love-making.
1975 Times 6 Mar. 13/5
There is a moment of poetry in a sequence where the dancers simply walk about carrying umbrellas.
1992 B. D'Amato Beauty i. iv. 24
Regular plastic surgeons just can't do the things I do. They don't have a sense of detail. And they don't have the poetry.
1654—1992(Hide quotations)
b. poetry in motion n. (the movements of) a person or thing regarded as beautiful or excellent.
1886 Massillon
(Ohio)
Independent 5 Feb. 2/5
She was at a reception..and danced with such grace that a reporter described her not only as ‘the poetry of motion, but poetry in motion’.
1913 W. T. Hornaday Our Vanishing Wild Life xxi. 204
A live squirrel in a tree is poetry in motion.
1973 K. Wagenheim Clemente! xii. 253
Never again will I see him perform miracles before my eyes; those hits, those running catches, and those throws. Poetry in motion.
2005 Calgary
(Alberta)
Herald
(Nexis)
12 June c9
Then there are your Grand Cru Burgundies—racy, sexy wines that..are like poetry in motion, the ultimate expression of skill and build.
1886—2005(Hide quotations)
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.
poetry-book n.
1772 T. Bridges Burlesque Transl. Homer
(rev. ed.)
Ded. p. ii
Your book's a poetry book, is not it?
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair
(1848)
xii. 103
She wrote whole pages out of poetry-books without the least pity.
2000 San Diego Union-Trib.
(Nexis)
18 Apr. (Computer Link section) 18
Bruce Lansky's books are among America's best-selling children's poetrybooks.
1772—2000(Hide quotations)
† poetry-fit n. Obsolete
?1798 ‘P. Pindar’ Tales of Hoy 43
He scrawls the chairs and tables over, and walls whenever the poetry-fit is upon him.
?1798—?1798(Hide quotations)
poetry professor n.
1714 T. Allett Oxf. Act 3
Mr. Trap, Poetry Professor.
1841 Times 1 Dec. 3/4
I am anxious to ascertain which of the two presents the strongest claims to fill the office of Poetry Professor.
1989 T. Bodett End of Road iii. xviii. 185
Tamara had fallen in with this ‘literary’ crowd mostly under the guidance of a progressive poetry professor at their local community college.
1714—1989(Hide quotations)
poetry professorship n.
1735 Oxf. Act 47
There is every fifth Year an Election for the Poetry Professorship.
1841 Times 13 Dec. 5/3
The University of Oxford is unable to produce more than two men who shall be judged worthy to fill the chair of the poetry professorship.
2002 Indianapolis Star
(Nexis)
17 Apr. 19 a
[She] established a poetry professorship at Indiana University.
1735—2002(Hide quotations)
poetry school n.
1922 Charleston
(W. Va.)
Daily Mail 28 May 6/3
We do not need a poetry school. What we do need most is an asylum for those who think they can write poetry, but can't.
1999 R. E. Goss in D. R. Williams & C. S. Queen Amer. Buddhism xii. 227
In 1974, Trungpa asked Anne Waldman and Allen Ginsberg to start a poetry school.
1922—1999(Hide quotations)
poetry workshop n.
1932 N.Y. Times 6 July 17/2
James Rorty..comes down to New York each Wednesday to conduct his ‘poetry workshop’ over station WEVD at 10 P.M.
1976 Times 1 Mar. 3/1
Mr Lovibond and his supporters..operate a poetry school and workshop.
2004 Irish Times
(Nexis)
4 May 12
This year's poetry workshop will be led by distinguished American poet Jorie Graham.
1932—2004(Hide quotations)
b. Objective and instrumental.
(a)
poetry lover n.
1868 Spectator 25 July 880/1
There are few poetry lovers who will not find in this volume some sweets hitherto untasted.
1991 Index on Censorship Jan. 16/3
It is safe to predict that the constituency of poetry lovers, while not disappearing, will be reduced.
1868—1991(Hide quotations)
poetry-making n.
1885 Daily Gaz.
(Fort Wayne, Indiana)
8 Mar. 8/2
It is said that Ben Jonson did the work of poetry-making while Daniel drew his salary.
2004 N.Y. Times
(Nexis)
10 Dec. 39
His poems laid bare the machinery of poetry-making itself.
1885—2004(Hide quotations)
(b)
poetry-loving adj.
1830 T. Flint Shoshonee Valley I. ii. 36
He grew up a musing, poetry-loving, sensitive, capricious, irritable and jealous being.
2005 Express
(Nexis)
20 Apr. 66
He was regarded as a sensitive, poetry-loving young man.
1830—2005(Hide quotations)
poetry-stricken adj.
1846 W. M. Thackeray in Fraser's Mag. Mar. 339/1
The young fellow..poetry-stricken, writing dramatic sketches.
1996 Irish Times
(Nexis)
9 Nov. (Weekend section) 9
A rather silly holiday flirtation between the author and a poetry stricken Romanian youth.
1846—1996(Hide quotations)
C2.
poetry reader n. (a) an anthology of poems, esp. one for use as a school textbook (cf. reader n. 6); (b) a person who reads poetry, esp. one who recites poetry for an audience.
1895 Davenport
(Iowa)
Daily Republican 29 Dec. 4/3
A poetry reader for children compiled by Mary L. Lovejoy.
1930 Chicago Tribune 10 May 9/4
(headline)
Mrs. Greenberg wins success as a poetry reader.
1975 ‘G. Black’ Big Wind for Summer ii. 32
The voice of the British Broadcasting Corporation's top poetry reader.
2005 Kansas City
(Missouri)
Star
(Nexis)
19 Feb. 1
I'm not a poetry reader; I would never pick up this book.
1895—2005(Hide quotations)
poetry reading adj. and n. (a) adj. that reads poetry; (b) n. the reading of poetry, esp. to an audience; a poetry recital.
1881 Times 15 Feb. 12/1
We have confidence in recommending this collection to the attention of our poetry reading friends.
1917 A. Huxley Let. 11 Dec.
(1969)
140
After that to Eliot, whom I found as haggard..as usual; we held a council of war about a poetry reading, in which both of us are supposed to be performing.
2003 ‘S. Pax’ Weblog Diary 13 Mar. in Baghdad Blog 116
From the scary—groups of people hitting themselves with whips on their backs for not being there to help al-Hussein in his tragedy—to the poetry-reading groups of students, to the solemn lawyers.
2004 Guardian
(Nexis)
8 Sept. 16
Paul McCartney once dropped in unannounced to give a poetry reading.
1881—2004(Hide quotations)
poetry recital n. a public performance of poetry.
[1909 Times 14 July 13/5
The Poetry Recital Society: General meeting, Lady Margaret Sackville presiding.]
1915 Times 27 May 1/6
Adelaide Rind (Soprano) Song and Poetry Recital.
1966 J. Betjeman High & Low 73
A poetry recital we are giving to the troops.
2005 Derby Evening Tel.
(Nexis)
22 Feb. 8
Each year Derbyshire marks Holocaust Memorial Day..with a series of events including services, talks, readings,..poetry recitals and films.
1915—2005(Hide quotations)
poetry slam n. originally U.S. a live poetry competition in which participants recite their work and are judged by members of the audience (cf. slam n.2 Additions).
1986 Chicago Tribune
(Nexis)
29 Aug. 5
Uptown Poetry Slam 7–10 p.m. Sundays at this former speakeasy. $1 cover.
1997 Touch May 46/1
The Bristol Poetry Slam has even introduced the novel attraction of an Opportunity Knocks-style clapometer to measure audience response at its events.
1986—1997(Hide quotations)
poetry voice n. a pompous or mannered style of writing poetry or reading it aloud.
1945 L. A. G. Strong Tongue in Your Head 47
The ‘poetry voice’ removes it from the sphere of art..to the arty-crafty sphere.
2005 Independent
(Nexis)
8 Mar.
The poetry voice? It's sing-songy without being musical. It's incantatory without being hypnotic.
1945—2005(Hide quotations)
Derivatives
ˈpoetryless adj. lacking or devoid of poetry; prosaic.
1854 H. Strickland Trav. Thoughts 28
A soulless, poetryless, utilitarian, money-making Englishman is bad enough.
1965 Mod. Philol. 62 275/2
Arnold's attempt to make poetry out of the poetryless, un-Wordsworthian modern world.
2001 Evening Post
(Wellington, N.Z.)
(Nexis)
26 May 2
They started mucking round with the King James Bible and shoving in all that rotten modern, poetryless cant.
1854—2001(Hide quotations)