poem

[poh-uhm]

noun

1. a composition in verse, especially one that is characterized by a highly developed artistic form and by the use of heightened language and rhythm to express an intensely imaginative interpretation of the subject.

2. composition that, though not in verse, is characterized by great beauty of language or expression.

   a prose poem from the Scriptures; a symphonic poem.

3. something having qualities that are suggestive of or likened to those of poetry.

   Marcel, that chicken cacciatore was an absolute poem.

poem

/ ˈpəʊɪm /

noun

1. a composition in verse, usually characterized by concentrated and heightened language in which words are chosen for their sound and suggestive power as well as for their sense, and using such techniques as metre, rhyme, and alliteration

2. a literary composition that is not in verse but exhibits the intensity of imagination and language common to it

   a prose poem

3. anything resembling a poem in beauty, effect, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of poem¹

First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin poēma, from Greek poíēma “poem, something made,” from poiē- (variant stem of poieîn “to make”) + -ma, noun suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of poem¹

C16: from Latin poēma, from Greek, variant of poiēma something composed, created, from poiein to make

Example Sentences

That all changed in September after she used an artificial intelligence song generator to transform one of her poems into a tear-jerker called “How Was I Supposed to Know?”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Its opening poem, “Digging,” feels earthbound with its low-pitched vowels: “Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The cantata is based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that tells the tale of an Ojibwe warrior in what is now Michigan.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Mary Oliver, who died in 2019, described her keenly observed poems as “little alleluias” to the natural world that surrounds us.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It’s a reference to “The Man in the Glass” poem — which the real-life Murdaughs had framed in their home — about personal integrity and accountability.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• ballad 
• composition 
• epic 
• lyric 
• poetry 
• rhyme 
• sonnet 
• verse 
• writing