Forms of Poetry Overview

Forms of Poetry

• Haiku: Three lines with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern, often about nature, typically does not rhyme
• Limerick: Five lines, lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme, usually have 8 syllables, lines 3 and 4 rhyme, usually have 6 syllables
• Concrete Poem: Words arranged to create a picture or pattern, contributing to meaning. May be shaped like a heart, or another image
• Free Verse: No rhyme or regular rhythm, different from regular writing.

Ballad

• Definition: A poem that tells a story, often used in songs. Typically serious or tragic, but can be humorous.
• Structure: Often in first or third person, includes action and dialogue, repeats phrases in form of refrains, commonly uses quatrains, rhyming pattern typically abcb
• Rhythm: Usually 8 syllables for lines 1 and 3, 6 syllables for lines 2 and 4

Shakespearean Sonnet

• Structure: Fourteen lines, written in iambic pentameter, following a specific rhyme scheme (abab cdcd efef gg)
• Rhyme Scheme: Four quatrains (four-line stanzas), followed by a rhyming couplet
• Iambic Pentameter: Rhythm with alternating unstressed and stressed syllables five times
• Example: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

Diamante Poem

• Structure: Seven lines, diamond shape
• Content: First line is a noun, line 2 are two adjectives describing the noun, line 3 are three verbs ending in -ing, line 4 are four related nouns, line 5 are three related verbs ending in -ing, line 6 are two adjectives describing the opposite, line 7 is a noun, opposite of the first line (Example: Winter/Summer)
• Method: Find two opposite nouns, then use related adjectives, verbs, and nouns

Cinquain Poem

• Syllable Cinquain: Variations exist, based on syllable counts and not by word count
• Word Cinquain: Varies, One word to describe an object, two words to define or describe, then three action words, four words to describe feeling about, last word to summarize
• Example: Boots, Shiny, heavy, March on stone, establishment