Today is Great Poetry Reading Day, so here are 10 things you might not know about poetry.
The word "poetry" comes from the Greek term poiesis, which means "making”. “Poem” comes from the Greek poíēma, meaning a “thing made.” Incidentally, Prose comes from the Latin “prosa oratio,” meaning “straightforward.”
Metrophobia is the fear of poetry. Metromania is the compulsion to write poetry.
Some say poetry has been around for longer than the written word. Poems were used as a way to remember genealogy, laws, and oral history; they would also have been used in religious rituals or for casting spells.
The oldest surviving epic poem is the Epic of Gilgamesh which dates from the 3rd millennium BC in Sumer, now part of Iraq.
The longest poem in the world is the Mahabharata, an Indian epic poem dating from around the 4th century BC. It has about 1.8 million words.
The oldest surviving love poem is written by an unknown author on a clay tablet about 4,000 years ago. It was written for king Shu-Sin to recite to his bride during a virility ritual.
The poet considered to be the father of poetry is a bit more recent. It’s Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400), also dubbed the father of English literature, and the first poet to be buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.
The first poet laureate of England was Ben Johnson in 1616. However, it didn't become an official royal office until 1668 when John Dryden was appointed. A poet laureate’s job is writing poems for national occasions.
The seemingly modern words “unfriend” and “muggle” first appeared in a poem written in 1275. It was called Brut and the poet’s name was Layamon.
There has been a study which found that studying poetry can improve a person’s prose writing, because it means learning about rhythmic structure, vocabulary, formal words vs. colloquial words, visual imagery and sense of sound.
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