Purpose: to entertain, communicate deep meaning or create a new perspective on a subject

Organization: a variety of forms with specific structures (e.g. ballad, Haiku, Cinquain, sonnet, diamantes) as well as free verse which has no set structure or conventions

Special Features

• title communicates the meaning of the poem

• lines of text usually short and concise

• words evoke strong images, moods, and/or emotions

• poetic devices (e.g., repetition, refrain, rhyme, rhythm, sensory images)

• literary devices are used (e.g. alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia,

• symbolism, personification, rhetorical question)

• the line breaks and white space on the page can have meaning