poema

What does “poema” mean in English?

1. poem — an individual piece of poetry; el poema is masculine despite -a ending; contrasts with la poesía

   poem — an individual piece of poetry; el poema is masculine despite -a ending; contrasts with la poesía (the art form or body of poetry as a genre)

Example sentences

• Leyó un poema de Neruda en voz alta y varios estudiantes se emocionaron al escuchar los versos con tanta intensidad y pasión.

  She read a Neruda poem aloud and several students were moved when they heard the verses with such intensity and passion.

• Para el examen tuvimos que memorizar un poema y recitarlo delante de la clase, lo cual me puso muy nervioso durante semanas.

  For the exam we had to memorise a poem and recite it in front of the class, which made me very nervous for weeks.

• La poesía de Lorca es difícil de entender sin conocer el contexto histórico, pero cuando lees sus poemas con esa clave todo cobra sentido.

  Lorca's poetry is hard to understand without knowing the historical context, but when you read his poems with that key everything makes sense.

How to use it

Poema is a masculine noun (el poema, los poemas) meaning 'poem' — an individual piece of poetry. Note the gender: despite ending in -a, poema is masculine — el poema, los poemas. La poesía refers to the art form, genre, or body of poetry as a whole; el poema refers to a specific piece. The verb is escribir un poema (to write a poem) or recitar un poema (to recite). A collection of poems is un poemario or un libro de poemas. At B1, poetry appears in cultural-discussion contexts, especially when talking about reading habits, cultural heritage (Neruda, Lorca, Machado), and school experiences.