Poetry Facts for Kids

Poetry is a type of art form and a type of literature.

Poetry uses the qualities of words, in different ways, to be artistic.

Poetry can be as short as a few words, or as long as a book. A poem as short as one line is called a monostich. A poem that is as long as a book is an epic.

There are many "poetic forms" (forms of poetry). Some of forms are: Sonnet, Haiku, Ballad, Stev, Prose poem, Ode, Free verse, Blank verse, thematic, limerick and nursery rhymes.

Poetry can be used to describe (comparing, talking about, or expressing emotion) many things. It can make sense or be nonsense, it can rhyme or not. It can have many shapes and sizes; it can be serious or funny.

"To say something poetically" means to give information in an artistic way.

Digital Poetry
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Digital Poetry

A more modern approach is digital poetry. Computers and webtechnology is used to express poetry and make it interactive. So called interdisciplinary poetry (wich means combination of different forms of poetry) are made possible by linking the poetic texts with audio, video or web-animation (e.g. with CSS) or among themselves via hyperlinks. Modern artists use digital poetry to not only express artistic intention, but also to design a layout around their texts. An example for this use of interdisciplinary art, which combines abstract text and abstract visuals is the German project "Schwarzer Flamingo". It uses digital poetry to collect pieces of written art but also to give different artists a plattform. So some projects of digital art can be described as a form of an artwork as well as an exhibition.