10 Different Types Of Poetry

 

Why only ten different types of poetry when with just a little sleuthing you can find about 50 different types or styles of poetry ? So should you be a poet or even wanting to be a poet - then these different ways of writing poetry will help you to recoqnise, digest and even extrapolate your own words so that you can match your wordsmithing with a given but identifiable style or method - no matter what your personal and particular choice of style is.

But possibly you haven't found your own style yet? So maybe you could write your words in your own inimitable fashion and then somehow massage them to meet one of the more easily (or not so easily!) recoqnised literary styles as outlined below.

Indeed you may have already have written poetry in your own style and don't know quite what type of poetry you write! Read the varying examples and see if you can recoqnise if your style falls somewhere in the list- you may well be very surprised with your efforts.

Imagine saying at your next dinner party "Oh yes, I write "etheree poetry in a truly epic form - using alternate forms of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter!" gulp... could be the re-action of your dining partners. What fun!

A big thank you to the work of shadowpoetry.com where I found all this information and where you can also go to find fine examples of each and every style mentioned. Amazingly interesting!

and so for your edification.......

Acrostic Poetry

Acrostic Poetry is where the first letter of each line spells a word, usually using the same words as in the title.

 

Ballad

A short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain. The story of a ballad can originate from a wide range of subject matter but most frequently deals with folk-lore or popular legends. They are written in straight-forward verse, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Most ballads are suitable for singing and, while sometimes varied in practice, are generally written in ballad meter, i.e., alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with the last words of the second and fourth lines rhyming.

Cinquain

Cinquain is a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines. It was developed by the Imagist poet, Adelaide Crapsey. Another form, sometimes used by school teachers to teach grammar, is as follows:

Line 1: Noun

Line 2: Description of Noun

Line 3: Action

Line 4: Feeling or Effect

Line 5: Synonym of the initial noun.

Clerihew

A Clerihew is a comic verse consisting of two couplets and a specific rhyming scheme, aabb invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956) at the age of 16. The poem is about/deals with a person/character within the first rhyme. In most cases, the first line names a person, and the second line ends with something that rhymes with the name of the person.

Diamante

A Diamante is a seven-lined contrast poem set up in a diamond shape. The first line begins with a noun/subject, and second line contains two adjectives that describe the beginning noun. The third line contains three words ending in -ing relating to the noun/subject. The forth line contains two words that describe the noun/subject and two that describe the closing synonym/antonym. If using an antonym for the ending, this is where the shift should occur. In the fifth line are three more -ing words describing the ending antonym/synonym, and the sixth are two more adjectives describing the ending antonym/synonym. The last line ends with the first noun's antonym or synonym.To make it a bit simpler, here is a diagram.

Line 1: Noun or subject

Line 2: Two Adjectives describing the first noun/subect

Line 3: Three -ing words describing the first noun/subect

Line 4: Four words: two about the first noun/subect, two about the antonym/synonym

Line 5: Three -ing words about the antonym/synonym

Line 6: Two adjectives describing the antonym/synonym

Line 7: Antonym/synonym for the subject

Didactic Poetry

Didactic Poetry is a form of poetry intended for instruction such as for knowledge or to teach.

Epic

An Epic is a long narrative poem celebrating the adventures and achievements of a hero...epics deal with the traditions, mythical or historical, of a nation.examples: Beowulf, The Iliad and the Odyssey, and Aeneid

Epitaph

An epitaph is a brief poem inscribed on a tombstone praising a deceased person, usually with rhyming lines.

Epigram

Epigrams are short satirical poems ending with either a humorous retort or a stinging punchline. Used mainly as expressions of social criticism or political satire, the most common forms are written as a couplet: a pair of rhymed lines in the same meter.

Practioners of this poetic expression include John Dunne, Ben Jonson, William Blake and Robert Frost.

Epitaph

An epitaph is a brief poem inscribed on a tombstone praising a deceased person, usually with rhyming lines.

Etheree

The poetry form, Etheree, consists of 10 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 syllables. Etheree can also be reversed and written 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Get creative and write an Etheree with more than one verse, but follow suit with an inverted syllable count.

Reversed Etheree: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Double Etheree: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 9, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

...Triple Etheree, Quadruple Etheree, and so on!

 

Free Verse

Free Verse is an irregular form of poetry in which the content free of traditional rules of versification, (freedom from fixed meter or rhyme).In moving from line to line, the poet's main consideration is where to insert line breaks. Some ways of doing this include breaking the line where there is a natural pause or at a point of suspense for the reader. Following the direction of Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound and T.S.Eliot, many modern day poets use this particular form of expression.

Ghazal

A Ghazal is a poem that is made up like an odd numbered chain of couplets, where each couplet is an independent poem. It should be natural to put a comma at the end of the first line. The Ghazal has a refrain of one to three words that repeat, and an inline rhyme that preceedes the refrain.

Lines 1 and 2, then every second line, has this refrain and inline rhyme, and the last couplet should refer to the authors pen-name... The rhyming scheme is AA bA cA dA eA etc.

Haiku

Most popular definition, but there is more to haiku than meets the eye:

Haiku (also called nature or seasonal haiku) is an unrhymed Japanese verse consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables (5, 7, 5) or 17 syllables in all. Haiku is usually written in the present tense and focuses on nature (seasons). The 5/7/5 rule was made up for school children to understand and learn this type of poetry.

For an in depth description of Haiku, please visit the Shadow Poetry

Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka

section. There is much more to haiku than the made up 5/7/5 version.

Kyrielle

A Kyrielle is a French form of rhyming poetry written in quatrains (a stanza consisting of 4 lines), and each quatrain contains a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the poem consists of only eight syllables. There is no limit to the amount of stanzas a Kyrielle may have, but three is considered the accepted minimum.

Some popular rhyming schemes for a Kyrielle are: aabB, ccbB, ddbB, with B being the repeated line, or abaB, cbcB, dbdB.Mixing up the rhyme scheme is possible for an unusual pattern of: axaZ, bxbZ, cxcZ, dxdZ, etc. with Z being the repeated line.

The rhyme pattern is completely up to the poet.

Kyrielle Sonnet

A Kyrielle Sonnet consists of 14 lines (three rhyming quatrain stanzas and a non-rhyming couplet). Just like the traditional Kyrielle poem, the Kyrielle Sonnet also has a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the Kyrielle Sonnet consists of only eight syllables. French poetry forms have a tendency to link back to the beginning of the poem, so common practice is to use the first and last line of the first quatrain as the ending couplet. This would also re-enforce the refrain within the poem. Therefore, a good rhyming scheme for a Kyrielle Sonnet would be: AabB, ccbB, ddbB, AB-or- AbaB, cbcB, dbdB, AB.

Lanturne

The Lanturne is a five-line verse shaped like a Japanese lantern with a syllabic pattern of one,

two, three, four, one.

Limerick

A Limerick is a rhymed humorous or nonsense poem of five lines which originated in Limerick, Ireland.

The Limerick has a set rhyme scheme of : a-a-b-b-a with a syllable structure of: 9-9-6-6-9.

The rhythm of the poem should go as follows:

Lines 1, 2, 5: weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak

Lines 3, 4: weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak

Minute Poetry

The Minute Poem is rhyming verse form consisting of 12 lines of 60 syllables written in strict iambic meter. The poem is formatted into 3 stanzas of 8,4,4,4; 8,4,4,4; 8,4,4,4 syllables.

The rhyme scheme is as follows: aabb, ccdd, eeff

Mirrored Refrain

The Mirrored Refrain is rhyming verse form constructed by

Stephanie Repnyek.

Monody

A monody is a poem in which one person laments another's death.

(Also see Dirge, Elegy, Epitaph)

Monorhyme

A Monorhyme is a poem in which all the lines have the same end rhyme.

Naani

Naani is one of Indian's most popular Telugu poems. Naani means an expression of one and all. It consists of 4 lines, the total lines consists of 20 to 25 syllables. The poem is not bounded to a particular subject. Generally it depends upon human relations and current statements. This poetry was introduced by one of the renowned Telugu poets Dr. N.Gopi, presently working as vice-chancellor to Telugu University, Andhra Pradesh.

Nonet

A nonet has nine lines. The first line has nine syllables, the second line eight syllables, the third line seven syllables, etc... until line nine that finishes withone syllable. It can be on any subject and rhyming is optional.

line 1 - 9 syllables

line 2 - 8 syllables

line 3 - 7 syllables

line 4 - 6 syllables

line 5 - 5 syllables

line 6 - 4 syllables

line 7 - 3 syllables

line 8 - 2 syllables

line 9 - 1 syllable

Ode

An Ode is a poem praising and glorifying a person, place or thing.

Ottava Rima

A Ottava Rima is a poem written in 8-line octives. Each line is of a 10 or 11 syllable count in the following rhyme:

one octive poem. abababcc

two octive poem. abababcc, dededeff

three octive poem. abababcc, dededeff, ghghghii

...so on and so on

Palindrome Poetry

Also Known as Mirrored Poetry

A palindrome, by definition, is a word, phrase, verse, sentence, or even poem that reads the same

forward or backward. It stems from the Greek word palindromos: palin, meaning again, and dromos , meaning a running. Combining the two together, the Greek meaning gives us, running back again

Pantoum

The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA. The design is simple:

Line 1

Line 2

Line 3

Line 4

Line 5 (repeat of line 2)

Line 6

Line 7 (repeat of line 4)

Line 8

 

Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanzathen repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first line of the poem is also the last.

Last stanza:

Line 2 of previous stanza

Line 3 of first stanza

Line 4 of previous stanza

Line 1 of first stanza

Quatern

A Quatern is a sixteen line French form composed of four quatrains. It is similar to the Kyrielle and the Retourne. It has a refrain that is in a different place in each quatrain. The first line of stanza one is the second line of stanza two, third line of stanza three, and fourth line of stanza four. A quatern has eight syllables per line. It does not have to be iambic or follow a set rhyme scheme.

line 1

line 2

line 3

line 4

line 5

line 6 (line 1)

line 7

line 8

line 9

line 10

line 11 (line 1)

line 12

line 13

line 14

line 15

line 16 (line 1)

 

- Sent in by Crystal Rose.

Quatrain

A Quatrain is a poem consisting of four lines of verse with a specific rhyming scheme.A few examples of a quatrain rhyming scheme are as follows:

#1) abab

#2) abba -- envelope rhyme

#3) aabb

#4) aaba, bbcb, ccdc, dddd -- chain rhyme

Quinzaine

The English word quinzaine come from the French word qunize, meaning fifteen. A quinzaine is an unrhymed verse of fifteen syllables.

These syllables are distributed among three lines so that there are seven syllables in the first line, five in the second line and three in the third line (7/5/3). The first line makes a statement. The next two lines ask a question relating to that statement.

Rispetto

A Rispetto, an Italian form of poetry, is a complete poem of two rhyme quatrains with strict meter. The meter is usually iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of abab ccdd. A Heroic Rispetto is written in Iambic pentameter, usually featuring the same rhyme scheme.

Rondeau

A Rondeau is a French form, 15 lines long, consisting of three stanzas: a quintet, a quatrain, and a sestet with a rhyme scheme as follows: aabba aabR aabbaR. Lines 9 and 15 are short - a refrain (R) consisting of a phrase taken from line one. The other lines are longer (but all of the same metrical length).

Rondel

A French form consisting of 13 lines: two quatrains and a quintet, rhyming as follows: ABba abAB abbaA. The capital letters are the refrains, or repeats.

Rondelet

The Rondelet is a French form consisting of a single septet with two rhymes and one refrain:

AbAabbA

. The capital letters are the refrains, or repeats. The refrain is written in tetra-syllabic or dimeter and the other lines are twice as long - octasyllabic or tetrameter.

Sedoka

The Sedoka is an unrhymed poem made up of two three-line katauta with the following syllable counts: 5/7/7, 5/7/7. A Sedoka, pair of katauta as a single poem, may address the same subject from differing perspectives.

Katauta

is an unrhymed three-line poem the following syllable counts: 5/7/7.

Senryu

Most popular definition, but there is more to senryu than meets the eye:

Senryu (also called human haiku) is an unrhymed Japanese verse consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables (5, 7, 5) or 17 syllables in all. Senryu is usually written in the present tense and only references to some aspect of human nature or emotions. They possess no references to the natural world and thus stand out from nature/seasonal haiku.

Septolet

The Septolet is a poem consisting of seven lines containing fourteen words with a break in between the two parts. Both parts deal with the same thought and create a picture.

Sestina

The sestina is a strict ordered form of poetry, dating back to twelfth century French troubadours. It consists of six six-line (sestets) stanzas followed by a three-line envoy. Rather than use a rhyme scheme, the six ending words of the first stanza are repeated as the ending words of the other five stanzas in a set pattern. The envoy uses two of the ending words per line, again in a set pattern.

First stanza, ..1 ..2 ..3 ..4 ..5 ..6

Second stanza, ..6 ..1 ..5 .. 2 ..4 ..3

Third stanza, ..3 ..6 ..4 ..1 ..2 ..5

Fourth stanza, ..5 ..3 ..2 ..6 ..1 ..4

Fifth stanza, ..4 ..5 ..1 ..3 ..6 ..2

Sixth stanza, ..2 ..4 ..6 ..5 ..3 ..1

Concluding tercet:

middle of first line ..2, end of first line ..5

middle of second line ..4, end of second line..3

middle if third line ..6, end of third line ..1

Shape Poetry

-Shape Poetry is also associated with Concrete Poetry-

Shape is one of the main things that separate prose and poetry. Poetry can take on many formats,

but one of the most inventive forms is for the poem to take on the shape of its subject. Therefore,

if the subject of your poem were of a flower, then the poem would be shaped like a flower. If it

were of a fish, then the poem would take on the shape of a fish. ><<<*>

Shape and Concrete Poetry go hand-in-hand; however, Concrete or Visual Poetry don’t have to

take on the particular shape of the poem’s subject, but rather the wording in the poem can enhance

the effect of the words such as in this line:

an angel tumbling

d

o

w

n

to earth . . .

Designing your own shape poem can be simple and fun, but try not to pick anything that would be

too difficult. We suggest mapping out or drawing your shape first, and then importing the text of

your poem into your shape.

Song

A Song is an expression of a poet's personal emotions, meant to be sung. Lyrics in a song contain verses (lines that make up a song; sung poem) and a chorus (a repeating verse in a song (refrain).

Sonnet

A Sonnet is a poem consisting of 14 lines (iambic pentameter) with a particular rhyming scheme:

Examples of a rhyming scheme:

#1) abab cdcd efef gg

#2) abba cddc effe gg

#3) abba abba cdcd cd

A Shakespearean (English) sonnet has three quatrains and a couplet, and rhymes abab cdcd efef gg. An Italian sonnet is composed of an octave, rhyming abbaabba, and a sestet, rhyming cdecde or cdcdcd , or in some variant pattern, but with no closing couplet. Usually, English and Italian Sonnets have 10 syllables per line, but Italian Sonnets can also have 11 syllables per line.French sonnets follow in this same pattern, but normally have 12 syllables per line.

Tanka

Tanka is a classic form of Japanese poetry related to the haiku with five unrhymed lines of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables. (5, 7, 5, 7, 7)

The 5/7/5/7/7 rule is rumored to have been made up for school children to understand and learn this type of poetry. For an in depth description of Haiku, please visit the Shadow Poetry Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka section.

Terza Rima

A Terza Rima is a poem with an eleven syllable count in each line and a rhyming scheme of aba, bcb, cdc, dd. For even more of a challenge, try the Terza Rima Sonnet. This form of poem has an eleven syllable count in each line and a rhyming scheme of aba, bcb, cdc, ded, ee.

Terzanelle

The Terzanelle is a poetry type which is a combination of the villanelle and the terza rima forms. It is a 19-line poem consisting of five interlocking triplets/tercets plus a concluding quatrain in which the first and third lines of the first triplet appear as refrains. The middle line of each triplet is repeated, reappearing as the last line of the succeeding triplet with the exception of the center line of the next-to-the-last stanza which appears in the quatrain. The rhyme and refrain scheme for the triplets is as follows:

1. A

2. B

3. A

4. b

5. C

6. B

7. c

8. D

9. C

10. d

11. E

12. D

13. e

14. F

15. E

Ending Type 1:

16. f

17. A

18. F

19. A

Ending Type 2:

16. f

17. F

18. A

19. A

Each line of the poem should be the same metrical length.

Tetractys

Tetractys, a poetic form invented by Ray Stebbing, consists of at least 5 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 syllables (total of 20). Tetractys can be written with more than one verse, but must follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Tetractys can also bereversed and written 10, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Double Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1

Triple Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10

and so on.

"Euclid, the mathematician of classical times, considered the number series 1, 2, 3, 4 to have mystical significance because its sum is 10, so he dignified it with a name of its own - Tetractys. The tetractys

could be Britain's answer to the haiku. Its challenge is to express a complete thought, profound or comic, witty or wise, within the narrow compass of twenty syllables." - Ray Stebbing

Tongue Twister Poem

A Tongue Twister poem is made up of lines/verses that are hard to say when read aloud by using similar consonant sounds in succession (use of alliteration). In other words, the poem ties your tongue into knots. This form does not require end or internal rhyme.

Triolet

A Triolet is a poetic form consisting of only 8 lines. Within a Triolet, the 1st, 4th, and 7th lines repeat, and the 2nd and 8th lines do as well. The rhyme scheme is simple: ABaAabAB, capital letters representing the repeated lines.

Make writing a Triolet more challenging! Make each line 8 syllables in length (4 metrical feet), written in iambic tetrameter (the more common way), or try it in pentameter (English version) where each line only has 10 syllables(5 metrical feet).

Tyburn

A six line poem consisting of 2, 2, 2, 2, 9, 9 syllables.

The first four lines rhyme and are all descriptive words. The last two lines rhyme and incorporate the first, second, third, and fourth lines as the 5th through 8th syllables.

Tyburn

A six line poem consisting of 2, 2, 2, 2, 9, 9 syllables.

The first four lines rhyme and are all descriptive words. The last two lines rhyme and incorporate the first, second, third, and fourth lines as the 5th through 8th syllables.

Villanelle

A Villanelle is a nineteen-line poem consisting of a very specific rhyming scheme:

aba aba aba aba aba abaa

.The first and the third lines in the first stanza are repeated in alternating order throughout the poem, and appear together in the last couplet (last two lines).

 

**Don't forget to go to the website shadowpoetry.com to check out all the written examples of the above poetry styles. Especially the more obtuse poetic styles such as Terza Rima!

 

http://hubpages.com/hub/HubMob-Weekly-Topic-A-Revolutionary-Christmas-In-Rhythm--Rhyme

http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Natural-Justice

http://hubpages.com/hub/An-Australian-Poem--Sun-Darts

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Messenger

http://hubpages.com/hub/Dispossession

http://hubpages.com/hub/On-Persian-Rugs---A-Tribal-Song

http://hubpages.com/hub/Fruits-De-Mer

http://hubpages.com/hub/PortCampbellSand

http://hubpages.com/hub/TheColourPink

 

There is a Random Poetry Challenge going on at a hub written by Lita SorensonIt - The following poems are my contributions to this Random Poetry Challenge . So if you would like to take part in, and it is fun..The details are to be found at:

http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Random-Poetry-Challenge

 

The Poems number 30 in all and as I post mine i will also add each poetry link to this hub/page....

Day 1 The Love of Broken Things

http://hubpages.com/hub/Random-Poetry-Challenge-Gippsland

 

Day 5 That Thing About Time

http://hubpages.com/hub/Randon-Poetry-Challenge-Day--Time-Honoured

Day 11 Colours in Joy

http://hubpages.com/hub/Random-Poetry-Challenge-Day-11-Dead-Fox

 

Day 12 Promise of a white page or white canvas.

http://hubpages.com/hub/NearDeath

 

Day 13 Dust

http://hubpages.com/hub/Random-Poetry-Challenge-Dust-I-Hear-You

 

Day 14: Makeovers.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Random-Poetry-Challenge-Day-14-Grandpa-Stories