1. Types of Poetry

2. Haiku  Originally Japanese  3 line verse form  1 st and 3 rd lines have 5 syllables  The 2 nd line has 7 syllables  Purpose: present a single vivid emotion by means of images from nature

3. Free Verse  Poetry not written in regular rhythmical patterns  Purpose: capture the rhythms of speech  Main form of contemporary poetry

4. Blank Verse  Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines  Iambic Pentameter: Each line has 5 stressed and 5 unstressed syllables  Widely used by Elizabethan writers like William Shakespeare

5. Ballad  A songlike poem that tells a story  Most are written in 4-6 line stanzas and have regular rhythms and rhyme schemes  Often features a refrain  Refrain: regularly repeated line or group of lines

6. Epic  A long narrative poem about the deeds of gods or heroes  Ex: Homer’s The Odyssey

7. Sonnet  14 lines  Usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter  The most famous is the English, or Shakespearean, sonnet  Consists of 3 quatrains and 1 couplet  Quatrain: 4-line stanza  Couplet: 2 line stanza

8. Limerick  Consists of 5 lines: 3 long and 2 short  Rhyme Scheme: AABBA  Humorous and frequently inappropriate  Popularized by Edward Lear in the 19 th century