po ‧ et ‧ ry W3 /ˈpəʊətri, ˈpəʊɪtri $ ˈpoʊ-/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ poem , ↑ poet , ↑ poetry ; adverb : ↑ poetically ; adjective : ↑ poetic ]
1 . poems in general, or the art of writing them ⇨ poem , poet :
He reads a lot of poetry.
a poetry magazine
modern/lyric/love etc poetry
a selection of religious poetry
2 . a quality of beauty, gracefulness, and deep feeling
pure/sheer poetry
The way she moves on the court is sheer poetry.
His golf swing is poetry in motion.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ write poetry
I didn't know you wrote poetry.
▪ learn poetry
He made us learn a lot of poetry by heart.
▪ recite poetry (=say it to people from memory)
Occasionally, my father would recite the poetry of Baudelaire.
■ phrases
▪ a piece of poetry
We had to memorize a piece of poetry.
▪ a line of poetry
She often quoted lines of poetry.
▪ a book/volume/collection of poetry
He had two books of poetry published.
■ poetry + NOUN
▪ a poetry reading (=when poems are read to people, usually by the writer)
I used to like giving poetry readings.
▪ a poetry book
He has just brought out another poetry book.
▪ a poetry anthology (=a book of poems by different people)
a poetry anthology containing work by modern Liverpool poets
■ adjectives
▪ English/French/Greek etc poetry
He was a student of English poetry.
▪ modern/contemporary poetry
She finds modern poetry difficult.
• • •
THESAURUS
■ poems
▪ poetry poems in general, or the art of writing them:
He reads a lot of poetry.
|
She wrote poetry and children’s stories.
|
a poetry book
▪ verse words arranged in the form of poetry:
a book of comic verse
▪ anthology a set of poems by different people collected together in one book:
an anthology of Caribbean poetry