PoetrySoup is a huge international database of over 175,000 poems written by a wide variety of amateur, professional, and famous poets. PoetrySoup coordinates quarterly poetry contests, and other services through its website, while its members promote and manage monthly contests.

Poetrysoup is known for its loyal, strong, and welcoming community of poets. It is also known for featuring amateur poets weekly.

While PoetrySoup's database of famous poets is relatively small, it does feature famous poets including Lord Byron, William Blake, Walt Whitman, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Emily Dickinson, Lewis Carroll, Robert Frost, Geoffrey Chaucer, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and more.

PoetrySoup in not involved in the publishing of anthologies or poetry books; nor is it associated with other poetry websites. PoetrySoup is private and independent website. While it is not a non-profit organization, its means of support comes from poets who make periodic donations to the site. Yahoo and Google advertising also provide support for this free poetry community.

PoetrySoup only accepts poems written by the poets that submits them. All Poems submitted are published as the poet’s original work and under the poet’s copyright. PoetrySoup displays and publishes poems always as the poet’s original work and under the poet’s own copyright.

All poetry by famous poets, not submitted by the poet, is provided for educational research only. The Copyright Law of the United States Of America (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research."