Types of Poems Poetry can take many different

Types of Poems

Poetry can take many different forms. Each for comes with its own unique rules and limitations that can affect numerous elements.

Identifying the Types Let’s take a look at some of the more popular types of poems and their various restrictions, limitations, criteria, etc.

Allegory An Allegory is a narrative having a second meaning beneath the surface one - a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. (Think Avatar. . . only a poem)

Example of Allegory Time, Real and Imaginary: An Allegory On the wide level of a mountain's head, (I knew not where, but 'twas some faery place) Their pinions, ostrich-like, for sails outspread, Two lovely children run an endless race, A sister and a brother! This far outstript the other; Yet ever runs she with reverted face, And looks and listens for the boy behind: For he, alas! is blind! O'er rough and smooth with even step he passed, And knows not whether he be first or last. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Blank Verse is Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line, one stressed, one unstressed). Blank verse often resembles the rhythms of ordinary speech. William Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse.

Example of Blank Verse The Ball Poem What is the boy now, who has lost his ball, What, what is he to do? I saw it go Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then Merrily over-there it is in the water! John Berryman

Epic Poetry Epic Poems are long, serious poems that tell the story of a heroic figure. Two of the most famous epic poems are the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer.

Example of Epic Poetry Hiawatha's Departure from The Song of Hiawatha By the shore of Gitchie Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, At the doorway of his wigwam, In the pleasant Summer morning, Hiawatha stood and waited Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Free Verse is a form of poetry which uses fewer rules and limitations using either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern. The early 20 th-century poets were the first to write what they called "free verse" which allowed them to break from the formula and rigidity of traditional poetry.

Example of Free Verse Fog The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbour and city on silent haunches and then moves on. Carl Sandburg

Haiku Poetry Type is a Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Haiku poetry originated in the sixteenth century and reflects on some aspect of nature and creates images.

Example of Haiku the first cold shower even the monkey seems to want a little coat of straw Bashō

Limericks are short, humorous poems of consisting of five lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 of a Limerick have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another. Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other.

Example of a Limerick There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!‘ Edward Lear

Lyric Poetry consists of a poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. The term lyric is now commonly referred to as the words to a song. Lyric poetry does not tell a story which portrays characters and actions. The lyric poet addresses the reader directly, portraying his or her own feeling, state of mind, and perceptions.

Example of Lyric Poetry Dying (aka I heard a fly buzz when I died ) I heard a fly buzz when I died; The stillness round my form Was like the stillness in the air Between the heaves of storm. Emily Dickinson

Sonnet A Shakespearean, or English, sonnet consists of 14 lines, each line containing ten syllables and written in iambic pentameter, in which a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable is repeated five times. The rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g; the last two lines are a rhyming couplet.

Example of a Sonnet #71 No longer mourn for me when I am dead Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell Give warning to the world that I am fled From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell: Nay, if you read this line, remember not The hand that writ it, for I love you so, That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot, If thinking on me then should make you woe. O! if, I say, you look upon this verse, When I perhaps compounded am with clay, Do not so much as my poor name rehearse; But let your love even with my life decay; Lest the wise world should look into your moan, And mock you with me after I am gone. William Shakespeare

And that’s not all. . .

but that’s all we’ll look at today.

Activity In groups of 4, please read through the poems provided. Please attempt to identify: 1 – The Type of Poem 2 – What the poem is about 3 – The theme of the poem 4 – Any thoughts and feelings?

Activity In pairs, please read through the poems provided. Use Think, Pair, Share Think about the poem to yourself after reading Pair up and discuss the poem Share with the class Please attempt to identify: 1 – The Type of Poem 2 – What the poem is about 3 – The theme of the poem 4 – Any thoughts and feelings?

Activity #1 Using the form of a Haiku, construct your own haiku poem based off of the following image. Remember, a true Haiku has to do with imagery (all five senses) of nature.

Activity #2 Using one of your earliest childhood memories, construct a poem that could be analyzed using DRIFT. This poem can be in any form but it must be a minimum of 12 lines. Use every tool in your Poetry tool belt. Both poems will be handed in at the end of class today.