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
