Traditional Forms of Poetry
Poetry has been around for centuries, beginning with bards and messengers who used poems to pass along news, songs, and stories. Today, we find poetry in songs, on greeting cards, in reading anthologies, and so on. Here are some other traditional forms of poetry.
Ballad A ballad is a poem that tells a story. Ballads are usually written in four-line stanzas called quatrains. Often, the first and third lines have four accented syllables; the second and fourth have three. (See “Quatrain” on page 203 for possible rhyme schemes.) Here is a quatrain from “The Enchanted Shirt” by John Hay.
The King was sick. His cheek was red
And his eye was clear and bright;
He ate and drank with a kingly zest,
And peacefully snored at night.
Blank Verse Blank verse is unrhymed poetry with meter. The lines in blank verse are 10 syllables in length. Every other syllable, begin- fling with the second syllable, is accented. (Note: Not every line will have exactly 10 syllables.) Consider these first three lines from “Birches” by Robert Frost.
When I see birches bend to Left and right
Across the tines of straighter darker trees,
I Like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
Cinquain Cinquain poems are five lines in length. There are syllable and word cinquain poems.
Syllable Cinquain
Line 1: Title 2 syllables
Line 2: Description of title 4 syllables
Line 3: Action about the title 6 syllables
Line 4: Feeling about the title 8 syllables
Line 5: Synonym for title 2 syllables
Word Cinquain
Line 1: Title 1 word
Line 2: Description of title 2 words
Line 3: Action about the title 3 words
Line 4: Feeling about the title 4 words
Line 5: Synonym for title 1 word
Couplet A couplet is two lines of verse that usually rhyme and state one complete idea.
Elegy An elegy is a poem that states a poet’s sadness about the death of an important person. In the famous elegy “0 Captain, My Captain,” Walt Whitman writes about the death of Abraham Lincoln.
Epic An epic is a long story poem that describes the adventures of a hero. “The Odyssey” by Homer is a famous epic about the Greek hero Odysseus.
Free Verse Free verse is poetry that does not require meter (regular rhythm or a rhyme scheme).
Haiku Haiku is a type of Japanese poetry that presents a picture of nature. A haiku poem is three lines in length. The first line is five syllables; the second, seven; and the third, five.
Like a bad Landscape
with neither depth nor feeling;
the world through one eye
—Derek Lam
Limerick A limerick is a humorous verse of five lines. Lines one, two, and five rhyme, as do lines three and four. Lines one, two, and five have three stressed syllables; lines three and four have two.
There once was a panda named Lu, (a)
Who always ate crunchy bamboo. (a)
He ate all day Long, (b)
TILL he Looked Like King Kong. (b)
Now the zoo doesn’t know what to do. (a)
—Sarah Diot
Lyric A lyric is a short poem that expresses personal feeling.
MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD (first 5 Lines)
My heart Leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky;
So was it when my Life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shalt grow old.
—William Wordsworth
Ode An ode is a long lyric that is deep in feeling and rich in poetic devices and imagery. “Ode to a Grecian Urn” is a famous ode by John Keats.
Sonnet A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem that states a poet’s personal feelings. The Shakespearean sonnet follows the abab/cdcd/efef/gg rhyme scheme. Each line in a sonnet is 10 syllables in length, and every other syllable is stressed, beginning with the second syllable.
Pe ter Pe ter Pump kin eat er.
Onomatopoeia: The use of a word whose sound makes you think of its meaning, as in buzz, gunk, gushy, swish, zigzag, zing or zip.
Quatrain: A four line stanza. Common rhyme schemes in quatrains are aabb, aaba, and abab. The Frost poem “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” is arranged in quatrains.
Repetition: the repeating of a word or phrase to add rhythm or to focus on an idea, as in the following lines from Poe’s “The Raven.”
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—
Stanza: A division in a poem named for the number of lines it contains. Below are some common stanzas.
Couplet: two-line stanza
Tercet: three line stanza
Quatrain: four line stanza
Sestet: six line stanza
Septet: seven-line stanza
Octet: eight-line stanza
Verse: a name for a line of poetry written in meter. Verse is named according to the number of “feet” per line> Here are eight types:
Monometer: one foot
Dimeter: two feet
Example: HALF a league, | HALF a league
HALF a league | Onward
Tennyson, “Charge of the Light Brigade”
Trimeter: three feet
Example: Sir Walter Raleigh, The Lie
Highlighting the accents and feet of the second stanza:
SAY to the | COURT, it | GLOWS
And SHINES | like ROT | ten WOOD;
SAY to the | CHURCH, it | SHOWS
What’s GOOD, | and DOTH | no GOOD:
If CHURCH | and COURT | rePLY,
Then GIVE | them BOTH | the LIE.
Tetrameter: four feet
Example:, William Wordsworth’s poem The Reaper
“Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!”
Highlighting the accents and the feet,
“Behold | her, sin | gle in | the field,
Yon so | lita | ry High | land Lass!”
Pentameter: five feet
Example: these two lines from Shakespeare:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
- Shakespeare, Sonnet 18
Highlighting the stresses and the feet,
Shall I | comPARE | thee TO | a SUM | mer’s DAY?
Thou ART | more LOVE | ly AND | more TEM | peRATE:
Hexometer: six feet
Example: “This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,”
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie
Highlighting the stresses and the feet,
THIS is the | FORest pri | ME val. The | MURmuring | PINES and the | HEMlocks,
BEARded with | MOSS, and in | GARMENTS | GREEN, indi | STINCT in the | TWIlight,
Heptometer: seven feet
Octometer: eight feet.