Traditional poetry is more strict in its form.

The sonnet, ode, blank verse, ballad,

dramatic monologue each have formal elements that poets follow.
What is Contemporary Poetry?
Contemporary poetry is difficult to define as it is a plane that is being built while in
flight, but there are some fundamental characteristics of contemporary poetry
that distinguish it from traditional poetry:
Contemporary poetry is most often written in free verse (unrhymed lines). The
lines follow the natural rhythms of the language and not the strict five stresses
per line in iambic pentameter.
Contemporary poetry is written in language that is accessible to the common
reader.
Contemporary poetry suggests ideas rather than overtly stating ideas.
Contemporary poetry is brief in comparison to traditional poetry.
Contemporary poetry is grounded in the image.
Contemporary poetry invites the reader to complete statements, offer
conclusions, and extract meaning. The meaning of the contemporary poem
exists more in the mind of the reader than in accessing the mind of the poet.
Below is a contemporary poem that is brief, unrhymed, suggestive, grounded in
imagery, and written in common, accessible language:

Traditional poetry is also generally written with a formal meter like iambic pentameter and a
strict rhyme scheme. Though there are certainly poets working today that impose formal
constraints on their work, the form most commonly associated with modern poetry is that of
free verse .

Also, what is modern poetry What are the characteristics of modern poetry?

The main feature of modern poetry is freedom. Modern and Post-modern

poets exercise the freedom to write in any structure they choose—rhymed verse, blank
verse, free verse—and they have the freedom to experiment with new hybrid structures.

Likewise, what is a traditional poet? A traditional poem is a poem that adheres to a

definite verse structure or set of characteristics. By contrast, the metrical and rhyme
patterns associated with traditional poems are typically absent from
contemporary poetry.
 CONTEMPORARY
POETRY\
Contemporary poetry is usually defined as poetry written
after the start of the 1920s (some extend it until the
1950s).
The problem is that within the category of contemporary
poetry we find many differences. But it is still a style of
poetry that follows a specific series of traits and literary
tools:
 inconsistent meter 
 variations upon standard rhyme 
 abandonment of a classical ―musical‖ style 
 variations on the conventions of poetic lines
 an otherwise inconsistent regard for standard poetic
structure
also known as FREE VERSE. It gave a sense of freedom
to the poets, which they enjoyed. But as skilled poets, they
take advantage of the poetic devices.
Poetic Devices
 imagery
 metaphor
 simile
 internal rhyme
 alliteration
 consonance and assonance
 onomatopoeia 
 enjambment
Five characteristics of Contemporary Poetry:
1. Contemporary poetry is often written in free verse (unrhymed and with no specific metrical rhythm).

2. Readers know and can associate with the language.

3. It is brief.

4. The poet laces the poem with images using all the reader’s senses.

5. It invites the reader to interpret the poem without yelling from the rooftops the true meaning of the poem.

By definition of its namesake, contemporary poetry is considered poetry written

within our lifetime, and includes poems written approximately from the mid-20th
century to the present day. The various types of contemporary poetry do not differ
so much from each other as they do from poetry of past eras, such as traditional
poetry. Contemporary poems often share similar themes and writing styles. Still,
contemporary poetry has gone in different directions, to an extent.

Perhaps the biggest differences lie not between the various kinds of contemporary
poems, but between contemporary poetry and traditional poetry. Older, traditional
poems, such as those by William Shakespeare, Alexander Pope, and John Donne,
followed much stricter structure rules than do contemporary poems. For example,
many kinds of contemporary poems are written in free verse and do not focus as
much on rhyme as do traditional types of poetry. Most traditional poems adhered
to the strict formats of sonnets, ballads, and odes. Also, contemporary poems
usually are shorter than traditional poems, and use language that is more familiar to
today’s readers.

Regardless of style, some of the most common themes of contemporary poems are
those of love, family, and death. Still, much of contemporary poetry focuses more
on suggesting an idea or image than on outright stating it. By doing this, the
contemporary poem lives up to its characteristic of allowing the meaning to reside
within the reader’s mind rather than within, and accessible from, the poet’s mind.
In other words, a contemporary poet often leaves the reader to draw his own
conclusions and meanings. For some, readers and poets alike, this level of
suggestion and mystery is part of the appeal of contemporary poetry.
The main feature of modern poetry is freedom. Modern and Post-modern
poets exercise the freedom to write in any structure they choose—rhymed verse, blank
verse, free verse—and they have the freedom to experiment with new hybrid structures.

Contemporary poetry is usually defined as poetry written after the start of the 1920s
(some extend it until the 1950s). But it is still a style of poetry that follows a specific
series of traits and literary tools: inconsistent meter. variations upon standard rhyme.

20th Century (Modern) Poetry characteristics

 Diverse Variety of Themes.

 Realism.
 Love.
 Pessimism.
 Romantic Elements.
 Nature.
 Humanitarian and Democratic Note.
 Religion and Mysticism.

The contemporary poetry is that created in the last decades of history. Some experts
put their start about 100 years ago, while most put as starting point the end of World
War II, more or less from 1950.

Pablo Neruda, one of the representatives of contemporary poetry

Poetry is a part of literature, with an origin that goes back to the use of music and the
word to tell stories. It is characterized by using a series of literary resources to give a
much more aesthetic treatment to what is narrated.

Metrics, rhythm or rhyme are part of the elements that endow this artistic manifestation
with a musicality that prose literature lacks.

The avant-garde and much of the contemporary poets, often break the stylistic rules of
poetry, this break being a fundamental part of their creations.

Index

 1 History of contemporary poetry

o 1.1 Background
o 1.2 origins
o 1.3 1960s
o 1.4 Newest and stylistic break
 2 Main characteristics
o 2.1 Structure
o 2.2 Metrics
o 2.3 Rhymes
 o 2.4 Fixation by other formats
 3 Featured authors and their works
o 3.1 Octavio Paz
o 3.2 Pablo Neruda
o 3.3 Jorge Luis Borges
o 3.4 Gabriel Zaid
o 3.5 Dámaso Alonso
 4 References

History of contemporary poetry

Background
Before the so-called contemporary poetry appeared, there were several avant-garde
movements that broke with the writing that had been done until the time.

This renewal, both in the stylistic form and in the contents, had a great influence on
contemporary authors.

Among these currents are Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism, each with its
particularities, but united in the search for a new artistic language

origins
Although there are regional differences, the second half of the 20th century appears as
the period in which this poetry begins.

The years after the Second World War they are marked by the tragic consequences of
it, and art also responds to this context.

Thus, poetry in these early years acquires an existential theme, giving priority to a
feeling of emptiness and thinking that life is absurd.

As for the authors, many scholars consider that it is the modernist Rubén Darío who
acts as a frontier towards contemporary poetry, given the changes he introduced with
respect to what was done in the 19th century.

Similarly, the Chilean Vicente Huidobro is another reference to indicate the arrival of the
contemporary age of this art.

1960s
After the 50s the theme of contemporary poetry is changing with the emergence of new
authors and the remoteness of the global conflict.
A part of the authors begins to write a socially committed poetry. Among them, Gabriel
Celaya and Blas de Otero stand out.

Meanwhile there is another current that tries to write about the human being, about their
concerns and values, but without any kind of relationship with politics.

Newest and stylistic break

Already in a third stage, close to the new century, appears a group of writers who are
called"new."

These authors are quite close to Surrealism and, although its theme is very focused on
the human being, the forms are totally disruptive, with the abandonment of the norms
that had characterized poetry for centuries.

Main characteristics
As for the theme, contemporary poetry is quite eclectic, since it touches all possible
issues.

Obviously, there are quite a few differences depending on the authors, but usually
certain changes that define this literature are marked.

Structure
One of the aspects in which this type of poetry changes is in its stylistic structure. As in
the rest of the aspects, the absolute freedom of the artist is imposed.

While traditionally a very rational internal structure was respected, contemporaries

begin to experiment.

In this way, the times mix freely, and it is not obligatory to maintain a chronological order
of what is related.

Everything is left to the imagination of the author, although it is true that this causes the
reader greater difficulty in understanding the text.

That freedom does not mean that contemporary poetry does not attach importance to
form; On the contrary, this apparent lack of coherence is sought to achieve an effect on
the reader.

Metrics
Another aspect in which classicism is abandoned is in the metric. Traditional poetry
maintained codes that marked the meter of each verse. It was even one of the ways to
distinguish between one type of poem or another.
The contemporary abandons all rule in this aspect. The verses do not maintain any
rigidity in their length, nor the number of syllables.

It is each author who decides how each verse will be, losing the old division between,
for example, alexandrines or hendecasyllables, which helped to identify what kind of
poem the reader was in.

Rhymes
With the rhymes exactly the same happens with the structure and the metric. Despite
having been for centuries one of the distinctive elements of poetry, contemporary
authors no longer feel compelled to appear.

In this way, in many cases the resulting verses do not have any type of rhyme and,
when they do, they do not respect the old rules about them.

Fixation by other formats

Born already in an era in which there were several media and different artistic supports,
the poets of this current show a great interest in them.

There are differences depending on the time, but this is something that they maintain as
a characteristic in common.

From comics or television to new information technologies, they are part of their
themes, or even used as platforms to create new multimedia works.

I think the major difference is that contemporary poetry is more flexible. Poets can and do
continue to employ traditional forms, meter and rhyme. But they are free to do different
things in different poems, and even to switch back and forth within a poem, as Eliot did
from time to time.