U1 Types of Poetry

U1 Types of Poetry

There are many types of poetry. These are called different poetry forms. These poetry forms follow many different kinds of rules for how they should be written. In this section, you will learn about eight types of poems.

Acrostic

Acrostic poems use the first letter of each line to form a word or message. Sometimes the word is formed by the last letter of each line. The word is usually important to the main idea of the poem. The poems themselves do not need to follow any pattern of rhyming or syllable number. ¹

_{1. Adapted from literary devices.ne/acrostic/}

Canada

By Emily Pauline Johnson

Crown of her, young Vancouver; crest of her, old Quebec;
Atlantic and far Pacific sweeping her, keel to deck.
North of her, ice and arctics; southward a rival's stealth;
Aloft, her Empire's pennant; below, her nation's wealth.
Daughter of men and markets, bearing within her hold,
Appraised at highest value, cargoes of grain and gold.

Exercise 1.12

Acrostic poems are often written about people. The first letters of each line are used to spell the name of the person the poem is about.

Choose a person to write a poem about. Write their name vertically along the left side of the space below. Then write an acrostic poem about that person.

Haiku

A haiku is a Japanese style of poem that is also used in English. It has a syllable pattern: 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the third line¹. There is no rhyming pattern.

Haikus try to express an idea in very few words. You can choose very specific words and phrases that suggest or hint at more details. The reader infers more about your idea based on the clues you give. They create imagery with few words.

"Haikus focus on a brief moment in time"(Voutititas, 2019, para. 4). They show the contrast between two images and create a sudden sense of new knowledge in the reader. (Voutititas, 2019)

_{1. britannica.com/art/haiku}

Example

A World of Dew

by Kobayashi Issa

A world of dew,

And within every dewdrop

A world of struggle.

Exercise 1.13

Often haikus are written about nature. Choose two topics from nature that are different from each other. Then write one haiku in the space below that shows the contrast between those two natural topics.

Nature topic 1: ________________

Nature topic 2: ________________

Haiku:

5 syllables) __________________________________________

7 syllables) __________________________________________

5 syllables) __________________________________________

Sonnet

A sonnet is a poem that has 14 lines with a pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables in each line¹. These poems follow a rhyme scheme.

One of the most famous types of sonnets is the Shakespearean sonnet². William Shakespeare was a great poet and is now famous for his sonnets.

A Shakespearean sonnet has four stanzas. The first three stanzas have four lines each. The last stanza only has two lines. The last two lines of the sonnet are used to give a conclusion to the poem. They can exaggerate the main idea, argue with the main idea, or change the readers' viewpoint of the main idea with a surprise³.

The rhyme pattern for a Shakespearean sonnet is:

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG⁴

The stress pattern for the syllables in each line is:

U S U S U S U S U S

U= unstressed

S = stressed

_{1. https://poets.org/glossary/sonnet}

_{2. https://poets.org/glossary/sonnet}

_{3. https://poets.org/glossary/sonnet}

_{4. https://poets.org/glossary/sonnet}

Example

Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monument

by William Shakespeare

Not marble nor the gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme,
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmeared with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
’Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the Judgement that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.

Exercise 1.14

Annotate the poem below. You can print this page as a pdf or write the poem on a piece of paper in order to annotate it. Box each of the syllables. Write U above the unstressed syllables. Write S above the stressed syllables

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)

by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Exercise 1.15

Practice writing a line with the unstressed stressed syllable pattern.

Exercise 1.16

Write the first stanza of a sonnet using the ABAB rhyme scheme.

Villanelle

Villanelles are a French style of poetry that have six stanzas; the first five stanzas have 3 lines each, and the last stanza has 4 lines. There is no set stress or syllable pattern.

The rhyme pattern for a villanelle is:

ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA

The villanelle also has a pattern for repeating whole lines. A poet writing a villanelle will use the same words from line 1 and line 3 of the first stanza in the other stanzas. Line 1 of stanza 1 is the same as line 3 of stanza 2 and stanza 4. Line 3 of stanza 1 is the same as line 3 of stanza 3 and stanza 4. Line 1 and line 3 of the first stanza are used to finish the poem as line 3 and line 4 in stanza 6.¹

The line pattern for a villanelle is:

abc dea fgc hia jkc lmac

Stanza Number	Line Number	Example Poem	Rhyme Pattern	Line Pattern
1	1	I have a dog.	A	a
	2	My dog is my favorite pet.	B	b
	3	I also have a frog.	A	c
2	1	My dog is not a threat.	A	d
	2	My dog is the nicest dog you've ever met.	B	e
	3	I have a dog.	A	a
3	1	I do have one regret.	A	f
	2	I bought another pet to complete the set.	B	g
	3	I also have a frog.	A	c
4	1	"Your dog is rather lonely," said my vet.	A	h
	2	It made me fret.	B	i
	3	I have a dog.	A	a
5	1	I caught a friend for my dog with a net.	A	j
	2	My feet got wet.	B	k
	3	I also have a frog.	A	c
6	1	"They'll get along great," I bet.	A	l
	2	The frog was the best friend I could get.	B	m
	3	I have a dog.	A	a
	4	I also have a frog.	A	c

This is a purposeful repetition of an idea. It can be a way to powerfully stress your main idea to your reader. It can also create a musical sense to your poem.

_{1. https://poets.org/glossary/villanelle}

Example

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Exercise 1.17

Part A

Annotate the poem below. You can print this page as a pdf or write the poem on a piece of paper in order to annotate it. Underline line 1 and line 3 in the first stanza. Draw arrows from the lines in the first stanza to where they are repeated in the other stanzas.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

by Dylan Thomas

Part B

What do you think the main idea of this poem is?

Limerick

A limerick is a one-stanza poem with five lines. The first two lines and last line are longer, and the middle lines are shorter.¹ It is usually about a funny topic.²

The rhyme pattern is AABBA. There is not a syllable pattern. There is often a stress pattern with the stress being placed on alternate words.³

Example

Dining

by Unknown

There was a young lady of Cork,

Whose Pa made a fortune in pork;

He bought for his daughter

A tutor who taught her

To balance green peas on her fork.

Exercise 1.18

You can print this page as a pdf or write the poem on a piece of paper in order to annotate it. Circle the words that rhyme. Label the rhyme scheme using A and B.

Book of Nonsense Limerick 10

By Edward Lear

There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a bee;
When they said “Does it buzz?”
He replied, “Yes, it does!”
It’s a regular brute of a bee!”

Exercise 1.19

Part A

Brainstorm about a funny situation you experienced or heard about. Write a short summary of the story below. This is a regular prose paragraph, not poetry.

Part B

Now revise the short story and try to turn your summary into a poem with the AABBA rhyme pattern. You can change your summary a lot if you need to.

Ode

An ode is a poem about something you admire and want to celebrate¹. There is no specific rhyme scheme or syllable pattern for these poems. However, there is a stanza pattern.

Odes are usually written with four lines in each stanza². Often the 3rd or 4th line of each stanza is shorter than the others³.

_{1. https://examples.yourdictionary.com/poetry-examples-of-odes.html}

_{2.https://examples.yourdictionary.com/poetry-examples-of-odes.html}

_{3.https://examples.yourdictionary.com/poetry-examples-of-odes.html}

Example

Odes of Anacreon

by Thomas Moore

    One day the Muses twined the hands
    Of infant Love with flowery bands;
    And to celestial Beauty gave
    The captive infant for her slave.

    His mother comes, with many a toy,
    To ransom her beloved boy;
    His mother sues, but all in vain,--
    He ne'er will leave his chains again.

    Even should they take his chains away,
    The little captive still would stay.
    "If this," he cries, "a bondage be,
    Oh, who could wish for liberty?"

Exercise 1.20

Part A

Brainstorm about an event you celebrated. This could be a birthday, national holiday, family occasion, or a famous event from history.

Events:

______________
______________
______________
______________
______________
______________

Which event was the most interesting? Pick one event from your list. Write your favorite event on the line below.

______________

Brainstorm details of that event using Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How questions.

For example, Who came to the event? Who was the event about?

Write your answers on the lines below.

Part B

Write an ode about the event you chose. Use the event name is the title of your poem. Use some of the details you brainstormed as details for your stanzas. Write at least two stanzas about your event.

Ballad

A ballad is a poem that tells a story. It is sometimes put into music¹. Usually, a ballad will use stanzas that have four lines². You can use any rhyme scheme with a ballad³. There is not a set rule for stress patterns or syllable counts.

_{1.https://literaryterms.net/ballad/}

_{2.https://literaryterms.net/ballad/}

_{3.https://literaryterms.net/ballad/}

Example

O Danny Boy

by Frederick E. Weatherly

Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling,
It's you, It's you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow,
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow,
It's I'll be there in sunshine or in shadow,—
Oh, Danny boy, Oh Danny boy, I love you so!

But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
Ye'll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say an Avé there for me.
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me

Exercise 1.21

Use the internet to search for songs that you like. Compare them to the rules listed above. Are any of your favorite songs ballads?

Free Verse

Free Verse poems do not need to follow any patterns of rhyming, stress, syllable numbers, or stanza line numbers.

Example

Fog

by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

Exercise 1.22

Part A

Brainstorm a list of ideas using a mind map. Start with the word "change" in the center of the mind map. Write as many words as you can on the branches moving away from the center.

Example: This example is for a poem about "time".

a web graph that connects various ideas about time

Image: Ana Barraza. 2023

Your "Change" Mind Map:

Part B

Use the details you brainstormed to write a free verse poem about change. Your poem should be at least two lines long. You can use any rhyme scheme or syllable pattern.

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