ABSTRACT
In general, the essence of poetry as an art is not so much that it is rhythmical (which all elevated language is), or that it is metrical (which not all poetry is, except by a considerable extension of the meaning of the word), as that it is patterned language. This is its specific quality as a ‘fine art’. Style is not confined to poetry, but except in metaphorical extensions of the word it is confined to literature. And even when applied metaphorically – as to a stylish stroke in tennis or to a stylish batsman in cricket – the word is restricted to the almost aesthetic excellence of an economy of means to ends, a maximum effect from an apparently minimal expenditure of energy. Being single words in sentences that are otherwise ‘correct’ they call attention to their difference from the words surrounding them.
