Types of Poems Creative Writing

Overview Modern free form Traditional Fixed Form Traditional free form Sonnets Ode English Elegy Italian Epistle Villanelle Modern free form Terza Rima Concrete Short Fixed Form Found Haiku Call & Response Cinquain Limerick

Traditional Fixed form Poems

Fixed form Poems- The sonnet 14-line poem with specific rhyme scheme Usually discusses important ideas of humanity (love, hate, etc.) 2 types

English (Shakespearean) Sonnet ababcdcdefefgg rhyme scheme Three quatrains (4 line stanzas) and a couplet (2 line stanza) Usually in iambic pentameter Couplet at the end summarizes the theme or looks at the poem in a new perspective

Example of English Sonnet Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds A Admit impediments. Love is not love B Which alters when it alteration finds, A Or bends with the remover to remove: B O no! it is an ever-fixed mark C That looks on tempests and is never shaken; D It is the star to every wandering bark, C Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. D Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks E Within his bending sickle's compass come: F Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, E But bears it out even to the edge of doom. F If this be error and upon me proved, G I never writ, nor no man ever loved. G

Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet abbaabbacdecde Octet & sestet volta is between lines 8 and 9 Volta= change in Italian. First 8 lines introduce idea, question, or problem; last 6 provide a solution or new perspective

Example of Petrarchan Sonnet His Blindness by Milton When I consider how my light is spent (a) Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, (b) And that one talent which is death to hide, (b) Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (a) To serve therewith my Maker, and present (a) My true account, lest he returning chide; (b) "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" (b) I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent (a) That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (c) Either man's work or his own gifts; who best (d) Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state (e) Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed (c) And post o'er land and ocean without rest; (d) They also serve who only stand and wait." (e)

Villanelle 19 lines long Uses two rhymes, while also repeating two lines throughout the poem. The first five stanzas are triplets or tercets, and the last stanza is a quatrain the rhyme scheme is as follows: "aba aba aba aba aba abaa." The 1st and 3rd lines from the first stanza are alternately repeated such that the 1st line becomes the last line in the second stanza, and the 3rd line becomes the last line in the third stanza. The last two lines of the poem are lines 1 and 3 respectively, making a rhymed couplet.

Example of a Villanelle Do not go gentle into that good night, a Old age should burn and rave at close of day; b Rage, rage against the dying of the light. a Though wise men at their end know dark is right, a Because their words had forked no lightning they b Do not go gentle into that good night, a Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright a Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, b Rage, rage against the dying of the light. a Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, a And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, b Do not go gentle into that good night, a Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight a Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, b Rage, rage against the dying of the light. a And you, my father, there on the sad height, a Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. b Do not go gentle into that good night, a Rage, rage against the dying of the light. a “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” By Dylan Thomas

Terza Rima Created by Dante, a poem of tercets (3 line stanzas) in which the 2nd line, must rhyme with the first and last line of the next tercet. Therefore the rhyme scheme looks something like this: aba, bcb, cdc…. Often employs slant rhyme Sometimes ends in a couplet

Terza Rima Example 0 wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being, A Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead B Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, A Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, B Pestilence-stricken multitudes: 0 thou, C Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed B The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low, C Each like a corpse within its grave, until D Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow C Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill D (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) E With living hues and odours plain and hill: D Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; E Destroyer and Preserver; hear, 0 hear! E

Short Fixed form Poems

A Rainbow by Donna Brock Haiku 3 line Japanese poem 17 syllables – (5, 7, 5) It combines form, content, and language in a meaningful, yet compact form Haiku doesn't rhyme. A Haiku must "paint" a mental image in the reader's mind. A Rainbow by Donna Brock Curving up, then down. Meeting blue sky and green earth Melding sun and rain.

Tree Strong, Tall Swaying, swinging, sighing Memories of summer Oak Cinquain A poem with five lines Line 1 is one word (the title) Line 2 is two words that describe the title. Line 3 is three words that tell the action Line 4 is four words that express the feeling Line 5 is one word that recalls the title Tree Strong, Tall Swaying, swinging, sighing Memories of summer Oak

Limerick short sometimes bawdy, humorous poems consisting of five anapestic 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 Limerick There was an Old Person whose habits, A Induced him to feed upon rabbits; A When he'd eaten eighteen, B He turned perfectly green, B Upon which he relinquished those habits. A http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/examples-of-limericks.htm

Traditional free form Poems

Ode Usually a lyric (rhyming) poem of moderate length An elevated style, and an elaborate stanza pattern Often praises people, the arts of music and poetry, natural scenes, or abstract concepts.

Ode Example From “Ode to Sir Lucius Gray and Sir H. Morison” Ben Jonson It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be; Or standing long an Oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear. A Lily of a day Is fairer far, in May Although it fall and die that night; It was the plant and flower of light. In small proportions we just beauties see; And in short measure, life may perfect be.

Elegy a sad and thoughtful poem lamenting the death of a person. “Oh Captain, My Captain!” by Walt Whitman is an elegy for Abraham Lincoln

Epistle A poem that is a letter speaking to someone or something in a public and stylized form Ms. Irwin’s “To Kim Kardashian” is an example of an epistle poem

Modern free form Poems

Concrete Poem A poem that’s form shapes the subject in which it is talking

Example of Concrete Poem Bird #3    by Don J. Carlson                     Poe's                   raven told             him nothing nevermore                   and Vincent's circling                     crows were a threat to destroy                       sunlight. Now I saw a bird, black with a yellow                         beak, orange rubber legs                            pecking to kill the                              lawn, storm bird                               hates with claw,                                   evil beak,                                         s                                         u                                         n                                     and eye

Call & Response Poems Two different speakers who are responding to each other or present different viewpoints “Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes

Call & Response Example From “Did I Miss Anything?” By Tom Wayman Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here we sat with our hands folded on our desks in silence, for the full two hours Everything. I gave an exam worth 40 percent of the grade for this term and assigned some reading due today on which I’m about to hand out a quiz worth 50 percent Nothing. When you are not present how could something significant occur? Everything. Contained in this classroom is a microcosm of human experience assembled for you to query and examine and ponder This is not the only place such an opportunity has been gathered but it was one place And you weren’t here

Found Poem