by 
hijklmno
ANSWERS: 6
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Thoughts translated into images through the use of words.
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I would say that the basics are images and thoughts, the border between those two can be blurred at times. The words are part of the craft needed to give form to the vision consisting of thoughts and images.
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A poet's basic building blocks are emotions. Everything else comes second.
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Personally I think it's words. I've always consider poetry to be closer to music than it is to prose writing - in that the way the words sound and fit together is what "forms" the poem. I'm not a big writer of poetry but I've always felt that it's virtually impossible to choose to write a poem "about" a set subject - the poem starts with a phrase or a few words that fit together in a certain way, and grows from there. The images and thoughts are concious processes that come along afterwards - but the drive is in the words.
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A poet's basic tools are their words. Imagery in the poem can be more of an advanced tool, it helps a poem if it conveys a vivid, powerful image of some sort, but that's something to aim for with more speciality. It's far from basic. It's the basic flow of the words, and the emotion carried in them (as opposed to their literal meaning), that give poetry a lot of its artistic power and value. Words couldn't be considered the true "Content" of a poem any more than lines and shapes and colours could be considered the "Substance" of a painting or photo, but they are the most essential tools any poet has at their disposal. As for thoughts, those are not so much a poet's tool as they are a poem's product. Conveying one's thoughts clearly and exactly in well-done poetry is next to impossible, and beside the point anyway. If anything, an excess of thoughts is one of poetry's most devastating natural foils. In most good poetry, thoughts only come into the equation when someone reads or hears the poem, and even then it often ruins the art for conscious thought to be involved.
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Throw in "feelings"and you've answered you own question! All! ;-)
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