What are the differences and similarites between a poem, short story and drama?

All of these literary forms are used to tell a story of
some kind, but all three use different structural forms in order to do
so.

Poetry is usually written
in verse and structured by separate lines (and often stanzas) rather than in tradtional
prose/paragraph form. It is often written for aesthetic purposes to arouse the emotions,
and poetry utilizes literary devices such as meter and rhythm often not found in other
forms. Other literary devices such as assonance, metaphors and alliteration are commonly
found. Poems can be of a rhyming or non-rhyming
nature.

Short stories are
fictional pieces, usually written in a narrative format of 30 pages or less (as compared
to the longer novella and novel), and written in prose, with sentences and paragraphs.
They generally describe a much shorter event than the longer prose
forms.

Drama can occur in
poems, short stories, novellas and novels, but it is generally regarded as (or confused
with) the Play--the type of distinctive structural form
used in theatre. It always includes some form of action and conflict. Plays have their
own specific structure, written in scenes and/or acts, with dialogue representing the
predominant narrative. The dialogue of plays are written for individual characters, and
are noted as such within the script. Stage directions and other non-dialogue
instructions can also be included.