The word poetry is derived from a Greek word, poesis, meaning "making" or "creating." Poetry in its simplest form is divided in segments called lines, and often lines are joined to form stanzas in poetry. Stanzas are equitable to paragraphs in prose.(Where the Arts Live n. pag.) The syntax of a line of poetry is a matter which is constantly being recreated. .
The earliest documented English incarnation of poetry was written in the 9th century by unnamed scribes. The poems Judith and Beowulf were incased in three other works of prose but represented the earliest wholly vernacular works in what would establish the English canon. These poems "are composed in the unrhymed, four-beat alliterative style characteristic of Old English poetry."(Where The Arts Live n. pag.) Poets during the English Renaissance of the 14th century began to construct poems referred to as sonnets. These Poets were characterized by their strongly defined rhyme scheme, the use of Iambic pentameter, and the use of a fourteen line structure. Of this group of poetry the poems written as part of William Shakespeare's sonnets are considered to epitomize the height of the English sonnet.(Sherriffs, Poetry Discussion) Similar to the English sonnet, Haiku and the Ghazal were proliferating around the globe. These two styles of poetry are based upon a rigid usage of syllables . A Haiku is composed of seventeen syllables with a pattern of five then seven and finally five syllables. This form of poetry was perfected during the Edo period of Japanese history during the early 19th century. Ghazals predate both the sonnet and Haiku and originated during the 12th century in the middle east. Ghazals are composed in two-line stanzas "bound by a recurrent sound pattern that is part rhyme and part refrain. While there is no prescribed length for Ghazals, they rarely exceeding ten stanza." During the 19th century a movement began that ultimately would change the syntax and them of poetry.