Types of Poems

Ballad Characteristics Simple language. ’ Stories.  (narrative poems) Ballad stanzas. The traditional ballad stanza consists of four lines, rhymed abcb  Repetition. A ballad often has a refrain, a repeated section that divides segments of the story. Dialogue.  Third-person objective narration. 

55. La Belle Dame Sans Merci by Keats http://www.bartleby.com/126/55.html

Villanelle Characteristics The highly structured villanelle is a nineteen-line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. The form is made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain. The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem's two concluding lines. Using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2

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

Lyric Poem Characteristics 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.

Dying by Dickinson 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. The eyes beside had wrung them dry, And breaths were gathering sure For that last onset, when the king Be witnessed in his power. I willed my keepsakes, signed away What portion of me I Could make assignable,-and then There interposed a fly, With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz, Between the light and me; And then the windows failed, and then I could not see to see.

Sonnet Characteristics All sonnets are 14 lines long. Sonnets in English are written in iambic pentameter, which means that each line has 10 syllables, alternating in an unstressed/stressed pattern. Sonnets follow a predetermined rhyme scheme; the rhyme pattern determines if the sonnet is Petrarchan (Italian), Shakespearean, or Spenserian. All sonnets are characterized by a “turn” located at a designated point in the sonnet.

Petrachan and Shakespearean Sonnets In the old age black was not counted fair, Or if it were, it bore not beauty's name; But now is black beauty's successive heir, And beauty slandered with a bastard shame: For since each hand hath put on Nature's power, Fairing the foul with Art's false borrowed face, Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower, But is profaned, if not lives in disgrace. Therefore my mistress' eyes are raven black, Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seem At such who, not born fair, no beauty lack, Sland'ring creation with a false esteem: Yet so they mourn becoming of their woe That every tongue says beauty should look so. Shakespeaere What tongue can her perfections tell, In whose each part all pens may dwell? Her hair fine threads of finest gold, In curled knots man’s thought to hold: But that her forehead says, “In me A whiter beauty you may see”; Whiter indeed, more white than snow, Which on cold winter’s face doth grow. That doth present those even brows Whose equal line their angles bows, Like to the moon when after change Her horned head abroad doth range; And arches be to heavenly lids, Whose wink each bold attempt forbids. For the black stars those spheres contain, The matchless pair, even praise doth stain. Sir Philip Sidney

What poem tells about the poet’s feelings or perceptions? Which poem tells a story and uses simple language? Which poem has 5 tercets and 1 quatrian? Which poem has 14 lines and a “turn”? What is a refrain? What is a couplet? What is a tercet? What is a quatrian?