About

Poetry is a form of literature, often using rhythmic styles, in a similar way to music

Origin

Poetry as an art form is thought to have possibly predated literacy. Some forms of poetry has been traced back to around 1200 BC, with the Indian^[1] Vedas^[2] and Zoroaster's^[3] Gathas^[4] around 675 BC, and appears to have been composed in poetic form to aid memorization and oral transmission, in prehistoric and ancient societies. Other forms of poetry developed directly from folk songs with many versions of poetry intended for listening, rather than reading.

Spread

Many Classical thinkers used classification in order to assess the quality of poetry. For example, the existing fragments of Aristotle's^[5] Poetics^[6] shows three genres of poetry--the epic, the comic, and the tragic--and develop rules to distinguish the highest-quality poetry in each genre. Aristotle's work later went on to define the basis for most early poetry. Due to the popularity of poetry as an art form, it eventually developed into one of the most profilic forms of literature.

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