: Re: How short can a poem be until it can no longer be a poem? I am on a small journey to help me understand what the definition of a poem is to different people, what poems mean to them.

Here's the dictionary.com definition of poem:

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.

The problem, which everyone is indicating with their answers is the portion that states:

highly developed artistic form

That's so open to interpretation that poem is hardly defined any more. Instead of being a specific form it seems to be defined only by consensus. The difficulty with consensus is that if you are not on the inside then your work simply will not be considered.

I think the definition helps to put some boundaries on what a poem might be.

Particularly this part of the definition shows you what to aim for:

use of heightened language
and rhythm to express an intensely imaginative interpretation of the
subject

With that, I do not know how a single letter or word could really achieve that.

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: Re: How short can a poem be until it can no longer be a poem? I am on a small journey to help me understand what the definition of a poem is to different people, what poems mean to them.

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: A very good read which is informative and entertaining is, How To Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster. Another very good book is Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory

: What are some tricks for managing debilitating writing anxiety/phobia? For the past 4 years, I've developed a severe problem with writing anxiety. It's become so bad, that I had to drop out

: What are the initial classes called in university and how do they work? So for first year students what would they call the initial courses (prerequisites) they have to take to take to courses

: How do I explain a lack of sufficient data in my essay? In the essay that I'm writing, I claim that women are more likely to be victims of abduction than are men. As evidence, I cite a

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