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It sounds like стихотворение has something to do with творческий, so I'd guess it's more like epic poetry, but I was taught поэм/поэзия is used for epic poems. Is стихи just short for стихотворение?

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  • 1
    стихотворение is a SHORT poem. Long, epic poem is поэма.
    – Anixx
    Commented Jul 14, 2015 at 13:31

3 Answers 3

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Стихи (in its main meaning) is a mass noun ("poetry"), стихотворения is a count noun ("poems").

Compare:

Да, стихи… Ему — тридцать два года! В самом деле, что же дальше? — И дальше он будет сочинять по нескольку стихотворений в год. — До старости? // М. А. Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита

Yes, his poetry… He was thirty-two! And what were his prospects? To go on writing a few poems every year. How long — until he was an old man? // Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

Note that стихотворения can be used to translate "poetry" as well, just like English "poems" can mean "poetry".

The word стих also has several secondary meanings, most of them corresponding to English "verse" (as in the Bible, or a part of a poem). In those meanings, стихи simply mean "verses". Стих can also mean "mood", like in на него нашёл грустный стих "he's feeling blue". Стихотворения can be used in neither of those meanings.

Finally, стих is a colloquial synonym for стихотворение:

Прочли ему за услуги два или три стиха. // Василий Аксенов. Таинственная страсть (2007)

, but it's not recommended to use it as a countable noun except in colloquial speech.

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Стих = stanza

Стихи = verse

Стихотворение = short poem

Поэма = long poem

Yet the word "стих" can also be used as shortened form of "стихотворение" i.e. short poem. However it's a bad habit to mention plural "стихи" when you mean just a single poem (alas, it's a common mistake as almost every poem consists of several stanzas).

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  • No, стих is not a stanza, it is a line in a poem, stanza is строфа, строфа состоит из стихов. Стих – строка стихотворного текста, организованная по определённому ритмическому образцу («Мой дядя самых честных правил»).
    – Yellow Sky
    Commented Jul 14, 2015 at 15:13
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Sure, стихи is just short стихотворения (about 4 strings).

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  • It's a synonym (in some meanings), but I don't think it's a short version
    – Aleks G
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 18:55
  • no, it's a short version
    – dimon4ezzz
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 19:25
  • Словарь русских синонимов: Стих - см. стихотворение. По-моему, синонимы.
    – Aleks G
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 19:57
  • Синонимы, но «стихи» — так и так уменьшенная версия слова понятия «стихотворение».
    – dimon4ezzz
    Commented Jul 14, 2015 at 17:44

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