1. Poetry Elements
Popular Poetry Forms

2. Epic -The length of a novel
-Dramatic story about a hero from history or legend
-Tone is usually serious or grand
Examples: The Odyssey and Beowulf

3. Lyric - Short in length - Describes personal feelings of the author
- Usually have a musical quality
Examples: Emily Dickinson’s poems, including I Took My Power in My Hand

4. Sonnet
-14 line poem
-Specific Rhyme Scheme- Shakespearean (abab, cdcd, efef, gg)
-Traditionally LOVE poems
Example: William Shakespeare Sonnets 1-150

5. Ballad - Originally written to be sung - Usually features a refrain
- Type of lyric poem
- Originally written to be sung
- Usually features a refrain
Example: Love songs

6. Elegy A poem about a person who died OR death/tragedy
Mood is somber or serious
Example: Edgar Allen Poe’s Annabel Lee

7. Haiku Japanese poem Three unrhymed lines
Five syllables in the first and third lines and seven in the second.
Depicts moments in nature
Modern poets use the format, but poems do not depict moments in nature.
Example: Matsuo Basho’s A Bee or MIT’s SPAM-KU

8. Free Verse No predetermined format
Most modern poetry is in free verse format
Uses figurative/descriptive language to enliven the poem and create rhythm
Example: Walt Whitman’s When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer

9. Limerick
A five-line poem written with one couplet and one triplet. The rhyme pattern is a a b b a
It is meant to be funny. They often contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, puns, and other figurative devices. The last line of a good limerick contains the PUNCH LINE or "heart of the joke."
There once was a pauper named Meg,
Who accidentally broke her _______.
She slipped on the ______.
Not once, but thrice
Take no pity on her, I __________.