From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpoempo‧em /ˈpəʊɪm $ ˈpoʊ-/ ●●● S3 W3 noun [countable] ALa piece of writing that expresses emotions, experiences, and ideas, especially in short lines using words that rhyme (=end with the same sound)poem about I decided to write a poem about how I felt.THESAURUSa poempoem a piece of writing that expresses emotions, experiences, and ideas, especially in short lines using words that rhyme ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ is the first line of a famous poem by WIlliam Wordsworth.sonnet a poem with 14 lines which rhyme with each other in a fixed patternShakespeare’s sonnetshaiku a type of Japanese poem with three lines consisting of five, seven, and five syllablesa haiku by Matsuo Basho about a frog jumping into a pond limerick a short humorous poem that has five lines which rhymea limerick by Edward Lear, which began ‘There was a young lady of Norway, Who casually sat in a doorway’. rhyme a short poem or song, especially for children, using words that rhymea collection of traditional rhymes with illustrationsThe children were reciting a rhyme.a nursery rhyme (=a short traditional poem or song for children)poemspoetry poems in general, or the art of writing themHe reads a lot of poetry.She wrote poetry and children’s stories.a poetry bookverse words arranged in the form of poetrya book of comic verseanthology a set of poems by different people collected together in one bookan anthology of Caribbean poetryparts of a poemverse a group of words or sentences that form one part of a poemThe poem has three verses.the final versestanza a group of lines in a repeated pattern, which form part of a poemthe opening stanza of Keats’ poem ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ COLLOCATIONSverbswrite a poemI’ve been writing short stories and poems for years.compose a poem formal (=write a poem)He composed a poem in his head.learn a poem (=learn it so that you can remember it without reading it)Hugh had learned the whole poem by heart as a boy.memorize a poem (=learn it )The children had to memorize a poem and recite it in front of the whole class.recite a poem (=say it without reading it)The little girl was standing up, reciting a poem.phrasesa book/volume/collection of poemsShe has a new collection of poems coming out soon.an anthology of poems (=a book of poems by different people)She gave me an anthology of poems for children.ADJECTIVES/NOUN + poema love poemShakespeare's beautiful love poemsa lyric/narrative/epic etc poem (=a poem in a particular style)the epic Greek poem, The Odyssey
Examples from the Corpus
poem• They should read a selection of material that includes short stories, novels, plays and poems.• Ever since, her wonderful paintings and delightful poems have charmed adults and children the world over.• Indeed, he is hateful throughout the Iliad, poem of war though it is.• I think your work will get overripe unless more poems like this one begin to emerge.• He collaborated with the likes of Jasper Johns and Larry Rivers, scribbling poems to match / mismatch their images.• Wordsworth tells us that the poem refers to his daughter Catherine, who died in 1812.• All time in this poem seems to be a running-down.Origin poem (1400-1500) French poème, from Latin, from Greek poiema, from poiein “to make, create” 