Poetry has many sub-genres like epic poetry (The Iliad), narrative poetry ("The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere"), or dramatic poetry (Hamlet).

When people say "poetry," they usually mean "lyric poetry"

"lyric" => "song lyrics"

close connection b/w poems people read or write and songs they hear or sing

songs are part of "oral tradition" or "spoken tradition"--literature that is spoken, sung, remembered

poems are more part of "written tradition"--poetry that is read either silently with one's eyes and mind

but also read aloud or recited in poetry readings, poetry slams, performance poetry (e. g. cowboy poetry)

But when most people say "poetry" or "poem," they mean a lyric poem--examples:

• "My Love is like a Red, Red Rose"
   

• A sonnet by Shakespeare
   

• Most poems by Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Tennyson, just about any poet you'd name
   

• Songs on radio, etc.--whose words are called "lyrics"

“Lyric: The Greeks defined a lyric as a song to be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre (lyra).  The words to a popular song are still known as "the lyrics, but students of literature also use the term loosely to describe a particular kind of poem distinct from narrative or dramatic verse.  A lyric is usually fairly short . . . and it usually expresses the feelings and thoughts of a single speaker (not necessarily the poet himself) in a  personal and subjective fashion. (A Dictionary of Literary Terms)

“Lyric: A brief subjective poem strongly marked by imagination, melody, and emotion, and creating for the reader a single, unified impression. . . .  No longer primarily designed to be sung to an accompaniment, the lyric nevertheless is essentially melodic since the melody may be secured by a variety of rhythm patterns and may be expressed either in rhymed or unrhymed verses.  Subjectivity, too, is an important element of a form which is the personal expression of personal emotion imaginatively phrased.  It partakes, in certain high examples, of the quality of ecstasy.” (A Handbook to Literature)

Poetry a sensory / intellectual / emotional experience

Two senses prevail:

1. sight--"the mind's eye"; imagination / intellect

2. sound--the poem's rhythm, tone, word-sound, phrasing, lyricism / song

Poetry an intensely sensory / intellectual / emotional experience

Highly condensed

(some of the best poetry is praised as redemptive, honest, brave)

Of course none of this is easy, and not supposed to be . . .  

Intensity of experience requires high standards of quality control--can't just shout & emote

Consistency, unity, management of tone, change, shifts

Plenty to criticize because there’s so much to get right, and anything wrong sticks out

Unity of imagery, metaphor

Criticism: not consistent, can't tell how you got from there to here

Images

examples: a flower, a button, the moon, the road

Abstraction (desire) > feel an aspect of desire by comparing with the ocean undertow

Dickinson, "Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?"

relate to song

"lyrics" to song use the same techniques as poetry

only song lyrics can be somewhat rawer or cruder or more obvious, because the power of the music propels them--they don't have to carry themselves

written poems tend to be more complex, subtle