poetry Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun literature in metrical form
    verse; poesy.
  2. noun any communication resembling poetry in beauty or the evocation of feeling

WordNet

Po"et*ry noun
Etymology
OF. poeterie. See Poet.
Definitions
  1. The art of apprehending and interpreting ideas by the faculty of imagination; the art of idealizing in thought and in expression.
    For poetry is the blossom and the fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human passions, emotions, language. Coleridge.
  2. Imaginative language or composition, whether expressed rhythmically or in prose. Specifically: Metrical composition; verse; rhyme; poems collectively; as, heroic poetry; dramatic poetry; lyric or Pindaric poetry. "The planetlike music of poetry." Sir P. Sidney.
    She taketh most delight In music, instruments, and poetry. Shak.

Webster 1913