modern poetry

Modern poetry refers to poetry written from roughly the late 19th century onward that breaks from traditional forms, meter, and conventions.

The term encompasses movements like imagism, symbolism, and free verse, emphasizing experimentation, fragmented imagery, and subjective experience over formal structure: T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound are central figures in modern poetry.

In casual use, modern poetry sometimes just means contemporary verse, whatever's being written now.