Poetry: Stylistic Aspects

This article investigates the stylistic description of poetic language and traces the kinds of linguistic techniques that are typical of this genre. While poetry shares many stylistic features with other genres, it has some identifying characteristics, such as its form, its breaking of rules, its tendency to use patterned repetitions of language, and its iconic use of grammar. These and other features of poetic language are discussed with examples, mainly from contemporary poetry and the article also traces the development from more traditional approaches to poetic language toward a linguistic approach.