poetry app

"A person can see orange, feel warm, or hear a cat. Poets use concrete words help the reader get a “picture” of what the poem is talking about. When the reader has a “picture” of what the poem is talking about, he/she can better understand what the poet is talking about. Abstract words refer to concepts or feelings. liberty happy love “Liberty” is a concept, “happy” is a feeling, and no one can agree on whether “love” is a feeling, a concept or an action. A person can’t see, touch, or taste any of these things. As a result, when used in poetry, these words might simply fly over the reader’s head, without triggering any sensory response. Further, “liberty,” “happy,” and “love” can mean different things to different people. Therefore, if the poet uses such a word, the reader may take a different meaning from it than the poet intended. Change Abstract Words Into Concrete Words To avoid problems caused by using abstract words, use concrete words. Example: “She felt happy.” This line uses the abstract word “happy.” To improve this line, change the abstract word to a concrete image. One way to achieve this is to think of an object or a scene that evokes feelings of happiness to represent the happy feeling. Improvement: “Her smile spread like red tint on ripening tomatoes.” This line uses two concrete images: a smile and a ripening tomato. Describing the smile shows the reader something about happiness, rather than simply coming right out and naming the emotion. Also, the symbolism of the tomato further reinforces the happy feelings. Red is frequently associated with love; ripening is a positive natrual process; food is further associated with being satisfied."