कविता हा साहित्यातील एक महत्त्वाचा प्रकार आहे. कविता (मुख्यतः) छंदोबद्ध व रसबद्ध असतात. कवितेतून जीवन कळते, समजते व उमगते. कविता, ओव्या, अभंग किंवा श्लोक हे साहित्याचे माध्यम आहे. त्यामध्ये मनाच्या भावना, वस्तुस्थिती किंवा मनःस्थिती व्यक्त करता येते. भारतात कवितांचा इतिहास आणि कवितांचे तत्त्वज्ञान फार जुने आहे. कविता शब्दांनी खूप समृद्ध असतात.

Poetry is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, literal or surface-level meanings. Any particular instance of poetry is called a poem and is written by a poet. Poets use a variety of techniques called poetic devices, such as assonance, alliteration, euphony and cacophony, onomatopoeia, rhythm, and sound symbolism, to produce musical or incantatory effects. Most poems are formatted in verse: a series or stack of lines on a page, which follow a rhythmic or other deliberate pattern. For this reason, verse has also become a synonym for poetry.