Tabula Plena

Unlike prose, which focuses upon the unambiguous denotations of words so as to communicate with exact clarity, poetry exploits the full lexical potential of words. The poet makes use of unusual aspects of the semantic range of a word, chooses terms with emotive connotations, and employs sounds that help to convey the message. In addition, poetry makes extensive use of imagery–word pictures that evoke sensory impressions through verbal associations. Because poems are characteristically brief, they are highly condensed and concentrated forms of utterance in which each detail is consciously selected.

- David Estes, Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalms