What Is A Poet?

          A poet is someone who expresses their thoughts and feelings through poetry. There are many famous poets whose work is extremely influential.

          Poets may focus on one particular type of poem or they may cover a variety of genres. William Shakespeare produced a number of sonnets which all had similar themes such as love and he also produced a number of other poems.

          Poetry is usually written in an expressive manner. This particular type of poetry is known as lyric poetry and the American poet Emily Dickinson was well known for her lyric poetry, which was written during the American Civil War.

          Poets produce poetry for various reasons. Some may write lyric poetry which is more personal and others may write to entertain others and include humour (a number of Shakespeare's sonnets parodied particular themes such as love and beauty).

The Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey is a famous place where many dead poets lie (Geoffrey Chaucer was the first poet to be buried there).

This is not an easy question to answer. Apparently, it seems to have a simple answer that poet is the one who writes poems. But if you talk about the philosophical aspects of the word, you will probably drown into the ocean of literature but won't be able to find a final, definite answer for the question. If you were to ask this question from Plato, he would tell you that a poet is the most insignificant part of a society and hence he could not find any place for him in "Polis". But if this question was put in front of Aristotle, he would say that poet is the one who imitates nature in written from by decorating it with different ornaments of writing. And yet for Wordsworth, a poet would be the one who can have spontaneity of expression. For Keats, he would be a man who would be seeking a constant refuge from the bitter and harsh realities of life. For Seamus Heaney, he is a man who renders hope to humanity and maintains the equilibrium in society by adding weight to the lighter scale. And yet for an ordinary man, he is the one who is always lost in deep thoughts and has no concerns with practical implication of his thoughts.