The Definition of Poetry by Great Writers

Throughout human history, the definition of poetry has been eloquently explicated by great writers. It is not a fixed concept but a living, breathing art that shifts with time, emotion, and perspective. Yet, some of the greatest minds in literature have attempted to grasp its essence in the following ways:

1. William Wordsworth

For Wordsworth, poetry sprang from the heart. He described it as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. It takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility."
In his view, poetry begins in the heat of emotion but takes shape in the calm that follows—when the soul reflects and finds clarity. His poetry was grounded in nature and human experience, where even the ordinary could become extraordinary through quiet contemplation.

2. Percy Bysshe Shelley

Shelley viewed poetry as a force of revelation. He wrote that "poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar."
To Shelley, poetry was a kind of awakening—it removed the dull film that routine casts over life and reintroduced us to the wonder of existence. It reframes what we take for granted and allows us to see the extraordinary within the everyday.

3. John Keats

Keats believed poetry should elevate, surprise, and feel intimately personal. He wrote, "Poetry should surprise by a fine excess, and not by singularity—it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance."
His vision of poetry was rooted in beauty and truth. For Keats, a poem didn’t need to be clever or novel; it needed to feel like a forgotten part of the reader’s own soul, rediscovered.

4. T.S. Eliot

In contrast to the Romantic poets, Eliot argued that "Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality."
For Eliot, poetry was not a confession, but a discipline—a refining of thought and feeling through craftsmanship. True poetry, he believed, transcended the poet and reached into something more universal and enduring.

5. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Coleridge offered perhaps the most succinct and elegant definition when he called poetry “the best words in the best order.”
With this, he captured the heart of poetic artistry. Poetry is not merely what is said, but how it is said. It is the music of meaning, the precision of language molded to evoke both thought and feeling.

6. Robert Frost

Frost brought it full circle, beautifully articulating the transformation that poetry enables: "Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words."
This elegant line speaks to poetry’s power to translate the inarticulate—to give shape to the ineffable and provide clarity where once there was only feeling.