TYPES OF POEMS

TYPES OF POEMS

 There are many different types of poems.

ABC

A poem that has five lines that create a mood, picture, or feeling. Lines 1 through 4 are made up of words, phrases or clauses while the first word of each line is in alphabetical order. Line 5 is one sentence long and begins with any letter.

Acrostic

Poetry that contain letters, usually the first in each line form a word or message when read in a sequence.

Ballad

A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tail or legend which often has a repeated refrain.

Blank verse

A poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter and is often unobtrusive. The iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of speech.

Bio

A poem written about one self's life, personality traits, and ambitions.

Burlesque

Poetry that treats a serious subject as humor.

Canzone

Medieval Italian lyric style poetry with five or six stanzas and a shorter ending stanza.

Cinquain

Poetry with five lines. Line 1 has one word (the title). Line 2 has two words that describe the title. Line 3 has three words that tell the action. Line 4 has four words that express the feeling, and line 5 has one word which recalls the title.

Classicism

Poetry which holds the principles and ideals of beauty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and literature.

Couplet

A couplet has rhyming stanzas made up of two lines.

Dramatic monologue type of poem which is spoken to a listener. The speaker addresses a specific topic while the listener unwittingly reveals details about him/herself.

Elegy

A sad and thoughtful poem about the death of an individual.

Epic

An extensive, serious poem that tells the story about a heroic figure.

Epigram

A very short, ironic and witty poem usually written as a brief couplet or quatrain. The term is derived from the Greek epigramma meaning inscription.

Epitaph

A commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written to praise the deceased.

Epithalamium (Epithalamion)

A poem written in honour of the bride and groom.

Free verse

Poetry written in either rhyme or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern.

Haiku

A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five more, usually containing a season word.

Iambic pentameter

One short syllable followed by one long one five sets in a row. Example: la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH

Italian sonnet

A sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba followed by six lines with a rhyme pattern of cdecde or cdcdcd.

Limerick

A short sometimes vulgar, humorous poem consisting of five anapestic lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have seven to ten syllables, rhyme and have the same verbal rhythm. The 3rd and 4th lines have five to seven syllables, rhyme and have the same rhythm.

List

A poem that is made up of a list of items or events. It can be any length and rhymed or unrhymed.

Lyric

A poem that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet.

Memoriam stanza

A quatrain in iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of abba -- named after the pattern used by Lord Tennyson.

Name

            Poetry that tells about the word. It uses the letters of the word for the first letter of each line.

Narrative

A poem that tells a story.

Ode

A poem written in praise of someone or something

Pastoral

A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, romanticized way.

Petrarch an

A 14-line sonnet consisting of an octave rhyming abbaabba followed by a sestet of cddcee or cdecde

Rhyme

A rhyming poem has the repetition of the same or similar sounds of two or more words, often at the end of the line.

Rhyme royal

A type of poetry consisting of stanzas having seven lines in iambic pentameter.

Romanticism

A poem about nature and love while having emphasis on the personal experience.

Rondeau

A lyrical poem of French origin having 10 or 13 lines with two rhymes and with the opening phrase repeated twice as the refrain.

Senryu

A short Japanese style poem, similar to haiku in structure that treats human beings rather than nature: Often in a humorous or satiric way.

Sestina

A poem consisting of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy. The end words of the first stanza are repeated in varied order as end words in the other stanzas and also recur in the envoy.

Shakespearean

A 14-line sonnet consisting of three quatrains of abab cdcd efef followed by a couplet, gg. Shakespearean sonnets generally use iambic pentameter.

Shape

Poetry written in the shape or form of an object.

Sonnet

A lyric poem that consists of 14 lines which usually have one or more conventional rhyme schemes.

Tanka

A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the other seven.

Definition of a Stanza

          A Stanza consists of two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme and are used like paragraphs in a story. Some different types of stanzas are as follows:

Couplets - Couplets are stanzas of only two lines which usually rhyme

Tercets - Tercets are stanzas of three lines. The three lines may or may not have the same end rhyme. If all three lines rhyme, this type of tercet is called a triplet.

Quatrains - Quatrains are stanzas of four lines which can be written in any rhyme scheme