A world in a poem

'Art lies in selection,
White of Titanium glaze.
Aqua tints on a damask sheet,
The sheen upon this day'.

Poetry has been called 'emotion recollected in tranquillity'. Poetry is often quoted when we want to convey our higher feelings, such as at a wedding, christening or a funeral. This is because poetry is a condensation of feeling, revealing a truth neatly and economically.

A poem is  memorable in a way prose isn't. When I was in school, in the forties and fifties, most children  learnt poems by heart. I was once asked if rote learning spoilt the enjoyment of the poem.
Memorising poems makes them accessible at all the times. If we don't memorise them, we might forget about their existence.

Nursery rhymes like 'Humpty Dumpty', 'See Saw, Marjorie Daw' remain with us throughout our lives, enriching us.

Is poetry a matter of  line endings rhyming? Yes and no. Some poems rhyme but others, written in blank verse, don't. (Shakespeare often did this in his plays).

Poetry is meant to be read aloud, the sound of the words being important but it is also good to read a poem silently, allowing the layers of meaning to sink into our subconscious minds.