THE 20 MOST IMPORTANT POETIC MOVEMENTS - LITERATURE - 2025

Some of the most important poetic movements in history are chivalric poetry, metaphysical poetry, symbolism, and poetry or poets of language. Groups of poets, also known as movements or schools, are associations of authors formed by themselves or defined by critics.

Its characteristic is the unity that is observed in the body of work of different poets and the styles or behaviors common among them. Throughout history there have been many different schools of poetry. Below are some of them in chronological order.

Most outstanding poetic movements in history

XVII century

1- Metaphysical poets

The group known as the metaphysical poets was created to characterize a group of English poets whose work focused on the use of extended metaphors with complex logic. The spoken quality of the verse was also highlighted in relation to the spoken quality of the verse.

2- Chivalry poetry

Known as chivalric poetry is that which arose among English poets who came from classes that supported King Charles I during the English civil war.

The object of this type of poetry was to express joy and simple gratitude on celebratory matters, of a much more cheerful tone than the works of other contemporaries.

3- Danrin School

The Danrin school is a type of Haikai poetry founded by the poet Nishiyama Soin. Its name literally translates as "speaking forest" and its purpose was to connect with ordinary people through everyday themes and languages, in contrast to other traditional Japanese currents.

Century XVIII

Classical poetry

The poetry of this time expressed a marked admiration for the classical world. The poets were in charge of emulating styles and constructions of Roman ideals.

The verses, which imitated those of Greek and Latin, resulted in a composition of verses measured and elegant at the same time.

XIX century

1- Pastoral poetry

The pastoral poetry is considered as one in which the author uses various techniques to transfer complex themes to very simple constructions. It describes rural life in an idealized way generally for an audience within an urban context.

2- Parnasianism

Parnassianism was a French genre that began during the positivist period and whose name derives from Le Parnasse Contemporain, an anthology publication dedicated exclusively to poets. In this movement, a much more precise and technical job was sought where there was an emotional disconnect.

3- Romanticism

The Romanticism movement originated in Europe not only in poetry but in many other areas of knowledge and whose peak was reached during the first half of the century.

It was characterized by an emphasis on emotion and individualism, as well as the glorification of nature and of all bygone ages.

4- Symbolism

The symbolism that occurred at the end of the century is a movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin.

This was born as a reaction against naturalism and a much darker tone was sought in which the ordinary was elevated over the ideal. Common themes were spirituality, imagination, and dreams.

5- Modernist poetry

Modernist poetry refers to poetry produced in Europe and North America within a context of modern literature.

This movement emerged with the breakdown of concepts related to the immediate past to incorporate elements of cultures remote in time and space.

Modernism managed to develop a tradition of lyrical expression that emphasized the personal imagination, culture, emotions, and memories of the author himself.

6- home poets

The group of home poets brought together American authors associated with New England. They became very popular not only with local readers but also with Europeans.

The concurrent themes in his productions were those of a domestic nature and with succinct messages of morality with a conventional poetic formality.

Twentieth century

1- Imagism

Imagismo was an American and English movement that played with clear and precise language in conjunction with imagery. A typical feature was the attempt to isolate a single image in order to reveal its very essence.

2- Objectivism

The Objectivist poets were those of the second generation of American modernists, whose main characteristic was to see the poem itself as an object.

In this way, they were able to enhance their own characteristics such as sincerity and intelligence as a means of visualizing the world.

3- Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was an American movement that sought to represent racial pride through the intellect in art such as poetry.

The aim was to make a transformation through this medium in which progressive or socialist political ideas were promoted.

4- Beat generation

The beat generation was made up of a group of authors after World War II in which there was a rejection of traditional narrative values ​​to show a more crude profile of the human condition through experimentation with drugs and sexual liberation.

5- Confessional poetry

Confessional poetry was an American style that has been described as the poetry of the personal. It focuses on experience and personal complexes such as mental illness, sexuality, and suicide.

6- New York School

The New York school grouped large numbers of artists in various genres in the mid-century who drew inspiration from surrealism and the avant-garde art movements.

7- Black Mountain Poets

The Black Mountain poets are those mid-century authors belonging to post-modernism and who developed at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Her style was based on the individuality of each line in terms of breath and affirmation.

8- Martian poetry

Martian Poetry was a group of British poets of the 1970s and 1980s who sought to relate the mundane as if it were seen through the eyes of a Martian.

9- Poets of language

The poets of the language were a group of avant-garde of the last quarter of the century who preferred to give a more modernist emphasis to the method used.

10- New formalism

The new formalism is a movement of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in which poets want to make a return to metric and rhythmic verses.

References

1. Webexhibits.org. Poetry Communities and Movements. Recovered from webexhibits.org.
2. Online Literature. Literary Periods, Movements, and History. 2017. Recovered from online-literature.com.
3. Soft Schools. Literary Movements Timeline. Recovered from softschools.com.
4. Poetry.org. What is poetry. Recovered from poetry.org.
5. Hess, Gary. Poem of Quotes. History of Poetry. Recovered from poemofquotes.com.