Defining poetry is difficult because it takes on different meanings for everyone. It's an expressive art that communicates through meanings, rhythms, and sounds in hopes of sparking an emotional connection with the reader. It feels like a big accomplishment when you write something that creates a reaction in the reader.

Your mind craves to be exercised and challenged just like your body does. Since poetry helps your mind expand, it's perfect for just that. Consider how much reading and writing poetry can stretch your imagination. This can allow your personal creations to dazzle. You can do something as simple as tell a story, or even write something that will have images dancing in your reader's head.

I'm sure we all have heard someone say, show, don't tell. In poetry it's very important to present your readers with images so they can gain a mental picture of your presentation. If people can gain a visual perspective or something you write appeals to their senses, then they will want to continue reading. Which version appeals more to your visual senses:

It's raining outside. Tears fell from the sky, melting winter's dance.

While you can visualize the rain outside, it simply means only what it reads. However, the second sentence states much more. I could mean exactly what it says, or I could be using metaphors to represent emotions. I could mean I reached my breaking point after years of holding back the tears. Winter's dance could imply the life I've lived all alone. If you analyze the second line, there's a lot of different things it could mean. In my mind, I gain more of a mental image from the second sentence rather than the first sentence.

Here are a few devices you can use to entice your readers:

Metaphors- Comparing between two or more unrelated subjects: My heart wears a crown of thorns. Obviously, my heart isn't really wearing a crown of thorns. I'm using this image to show hurt, anguish, heartbreak, and any other emotions that might apply.

Personification- Giving human traits and qualities to inanimate objects or abstractions: The sun smiled upon her face. The sun can't really smile, but this phrase gives a human characteristic to the sun. It's a way to add flavor, rather than simply saying, the sun shone on her face.

Onomatopoeia- Using words that sound like what they mean: Bees buzzed through the air. Bees make a sound which resemble the sound of the word buzz.

Similes- Comparing the subject to another subject when usually using "like" or "as": Her hands are as soft as cotton clouds or Her hands are like cotton clouds. Basically, it's a metaphor using like or as. If you were to remove those words it becomes a metaphor: Her hands are cotton clouds.

Metonymy- A figure of speech that uses one word or phrase when substituted for another and is closely associated: God save the crown. The crown is being used as a symbol for the king and queen.

Symbolism- Representing something by using symbols or giving symbolic meanings to objects, events, or relationships: Shattered glass could be used to symbolize a broken relationship, whereas a dove could be used to symbolize peace. Keep in mind that many metaphors also use symbolism. They are very similar to one another.

It's true that people will perceive your poems differently from time to time. However, I think what's really important is what kind of impact your words left on your readers. Hopefully, they will take something away with them when they are finished reading your poem.

Since poetry is pretty personal, it can be unnerving to hear when someone doesn't understand the point behind your poem. It's possible for a writer to create a poem without the writer fully understanding it, or realizing what kind of potential it has to affect others. Keep in mind, that doesn't mean that you have necessarily failed. As I said before, your words will strike your readers in various ways.

A poem should speak out to someone. It's not a code that needs to be deciphered. If one of your readers doesn't understand your poem, it simply means that it just didn't work for that one person. That's one of the reasons I adore poetry so much. When I read a poem, I can interpret it in my own way. I may see something there that the writer never intended, and that's alright to do. It doesn't mean that the writer or the reader is wrong.

I always take the time to read a poem a few times before I draw opinions about them. Sometimes, I discover something new that I didn't quite catch the first time around. There's beauty in that!