Horses' gums recede with age, leading to longer teeth. A common way to inspect a horse's worth is to check it's mouth, hence the phrase. Receiving a horse as a gift and immediately inspecting its value was considered offensive, much like inquiring about the worth of a present today is rude.
Poetry is the first major literary genre. All types of poetry share specific characteristics. In fact, poetry is a form of text that follows a meter and rhythm with each lines and syllables. It is further subdivided into different genres such an epic poem, narrative, romantic, dramatic, and lyric.
Definition of genre. 1  1 : a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content a classic of the gothic novel genre. 2  2 : kind, sort. 3  3 : painting that depicts scenes or events from everyday life usually realistically.