Poetry Forms - Definitions and Examples

prof.Abdelhamid Fouda 

✏️Sonnet - a short rhyming poem with 14 lines.  The original sonnet form was invented in the 13/14th century by Dante and an Italian philosopher named Francisco Petrarch. The form remained largely unknown until it was found and developed by writers such as Shakespeare. Sonnets use iambic meter in each line and use line-ending rhymes.

✏️Limerick - a five-line witty poem with a distinctive rhythm. The first, second and fifth lines, the longer lines, rhyme. The third and fourth shorter lines rhyme. (A-A-B-B-A).

✏️Haiku - This ancient form of poem writing is renowned for its small size as well as the precise punctuation and syllables needed on its three lines. It is of ancient Asian origin.

Haiku's are composed of 3 lines, each a phrase. The first line typically has 5 syllables, second line has 7 and the 3rd and last line repeats another 5. In addition there is a seasonal reference included.

✏️Narrative - A narrative poem tells the story of an event in the form of a poem. There is a strong sense of narration, characters, and plot. It may be dramatic, with objectives and diverse characters. Narrative poetry may be short or long, and the story it relates to may be simple or complex.

✏️Epic - a lengthy narrative poem in grand language celebrating the adventures and accomplishments of a legendary or conventional hero

✏️Couplet - two lines of verse which rhyme and form a unit alone or as part of a poem.

✏️Free Verse - A Free Verse Poem does not follow any rules. Their creation is completely in the hands of the author. Rhyming, syllable count, punctuation, number of lines, number of stanzas, and line formation can be done however the author wants in order to convey the idea. There is no right or wrong way to create a Free Verse poem.

✏️Acrostic - An acrostic poem is a poem where the one letter in each line spells out a word or phrase vertically that acts as the theme or message of the poem. The word used for the acrostic can be the name of the person you are writing the acrostic about, a message such as Happy Birthday or a theme such as Acceptance, Love or Hope.

✏️METAPHOR POEMS

People have used metaphors since the birth of mankind. Metaphors are a way to get around censorship as well as to help us see truths that we may not be able to face if they were stated plainly. It is a way to accentuate beauty as well as pain through this medium of the unstated comparison. When you are reading an appropriate metaphor you are immediately drawn between the truth of the comparison that is being alluded to. The ability to understand metaphoric language opens the key to poetry of tremendous beauty.

✏️ABC POEMS

An ABC poem is a poem where the first letter of each line is the subsequent letter of the alphabet. The first line starts with A. The second line begins with B, and this continues for the rest of the poem. Each line focuses on building upon the central topic of the poem, creating a specific mood, feeling, or picture in the reader’s mind. There are various types of ABC (or Alphabet) poems. Some use all 26 letters, while others only use 5-6 of the letters in alphabetical order.