#poetic forms

here is a list of different poetic forms that might help you get started if you’re feeling a bit stumped, unsure, or it might give you a challenge if you want to try something new! <3

Blank verse: Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter.

Examples:

Villanelle: The villanelle is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets (3 lines) followed by a quatrain (4 lines). There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third line of the first tercet repeated alternately at the end of each subsequent stanza until the last stanza, which includes both repeated lines.

Examples:

do not go gentle into that good night by dylan thomas

10 villanelle poem examples to study

Haiku: The haiku is of ancient Japanese origin. It usually contains 17 syllables in 3 lines of five, seven, five (though modern examples do not systematically follow that pattern). Haiku poems typically contain references to nature.

Examples:

Sonnet: Traditionally, the sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, employing one of several rhyme schemes, and adhering to a tightly structured thematic organization. The two main types of sonnets are the following:

• Shakespearean (or English) sonnet: three quatrains (4 lines) and a couplet (2 lines). Rhymes are ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG

• Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnet: divided into two stanzas, an octave (8 lines) followed by a sestet (6 lines). Rhymes are ABBAABBA + CDECDE or CDCDCD

Limerick: A limerick is a form of verse, usually humorous and frequently rude, in five-line, predominantly anapestic trimeter with a strict rhyme scheme of AABBA, in which the third and fourth lines are typically shorter.

Examples:

Elegy: A melancholy poem that serves the purpose of a lament for or a celebration of a deceased person.

Examples:

Elegies, Book One, 5 BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

Lycidas, BY JOHN MILTON

Because I could not stop for Death, BY EMILY DICKINSON

Ode: An ode is a lyrical poem that expresses praise, glorification, or tribute, with the subject matter being a person, event, or idea. Classic odes contain three sections: a strophe, an antistrophe, and an epode—effectively a beginning, middle, and end.

Example:

Ode on a Grecian Urn, by JOHN KEATS

Concrete poem: Also known as visual poetry, it is essentially poetry which is shaped in a certain way which adds to its meaning.

Found poem: Found poetry is a form of poetry in which you create a poem by cutting up, remixing, or otherwise transforming an existing piece of text. (you can use dialogue from the show/scripts?)

- Villanelle: The villanelle is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets (3 lines) followed by a quatrain (4 lines). There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third line of the first tercet repeated alternately at the end of each subsequent stanza until the last stanza, which includes both repeated lines.

ex: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night - Dylan Thomas

- Haiku: The haiku is of ancient Japanese origin. It usually contains 17 syllables in 3 lines of five, seven, five (though modern examples do not systematically follow that pattern). Haiku poems typically contain references to nature.

Some examples by Japanese and English-speaking poets

- Sonnet: Traditionally, the sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, employing one of several rhyme schemes, and adhering to a tightly structured thematic organization. The two main types of sonnets are the following:

Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnet: divided into two stanzas, an octave (8 lines) followed by a sestet (6 lines). Rhymes are ABBAABBA + CDECDE or CDCDCD

ex: London, 1982 - William Wordsworth

Shakespearean (or English) sonnet: three quatrains (4 lines) and a couplet (2 lines). Rhymes are ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG

ex: Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? - William Shakespeare

- Blank verse: Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter.

ex: Speech: "To be, or not to be, that is the question" - William Shakespeare

- Limerick: A limerick is a form of verse, usually humorous and frequently rude, in five-line, predominantly anapestic trimeter with a strict rhyme scheme of AABBA, in which the third and fourth lines are typically shorter.

ex: There was an Old Man on the Border - Edward Lear

- Elegy: A melancholy poem that serves the purpose of a lament for or a celebration of a deceased person.

ex: Because I could not stop for death - Emily Dickinson

- Ode: An ode is a lyrical poem that expresses praise, glorification, or tribute, with the subject matter being a person, event, or idea. Classic odes contain three sections: a strophe, an antistrophe, and an epode—effectively a beginning, middle, and end.

ex: Ode on a Grecian Urn - John Keats

- Ballad: A ballad is a type of poem that tells a story. It is comprised of a series of quatrains (4 lines), written in either ABCB or ABAB rhyme schemes. The first and third lines are iambic tetrameter, with four beats per line; the second and fourth lines are in trimeter, with three beats per line.

ex: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

- Ghazal: Originally an Arabic verse form dealing with loss and romantic love. Consisting of syntactically and grammatically complete (independent) couplets (2 lines), the form also has an intricate rhyme scheme. Each couplet ends on the same word or phrase (the radif), and is preceded by the couplet’s rhyming word (the qafia, which appears twice in the first couplet). The last couplet includes a proper name, often of the poet’s. In the Persian tradition, each couplet was of the same meter and length, and the subject matter included both erotic longing and religious belief or mysticism.

ex: Even the Rain - Agha Shahid Ali

- Palindrome: Also known as mirrored poetry. A palindrome is a poem that can be read the same forward or backward. Different types of palindromes include character-by-character, word-by-word, and line-by-line.

various examples

- Sestina: A sestina is a fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi. The words that end each line of the first stanza are used as line endings in each of the following stanzas, rotated in a set pattern.

More detailed explanation and examples

- Rhyming couplets: A rhyming couplet is a pair of successive lines that rhyme. They are typically the same length and have the same meter or rhythm. A poem can be composed of one or several rhyming couplets.

ex: Interview - Dorothy Parker

- Concrete poem: Also known as visual poetry, it is essentially poetry which is shaped in a certain way which adds to its meaning.

ex: Sonnet in the Shape of a Potted Christmas Tree - George Starbuck

- Found poem: Found poetry is a form of poetry in which you create a poem by cutting up, remixing, or otherwise transforming an existing piece of text. (using pages from the script/novels?)

did y’all catch it?

In poetry, sonnets are sometimes written in "Crowns" and "Heroic Crowns."

A sonnet, form-wise, has 14 lines. That's the basic structure. Shakespeare was famous for writing sonnets in rhyming couplets (an A B A B scheme) and Iambic Pentameter (10 syllables, with stress on the even syllables).

A regular Crown of sonnets is a series of 7 (seven) sonnets, where the last line of each is the first line of the next, until like a circle, it wraps around and the seventh sonnet's last line is the first sonnet's first line.

A Heroic Crown is double that, plus one. You have 14 (fourteen) sonnets, connected by last and first lines, and then because a sonnet is 14 lines long, you have a 15th (fifteenth) sonnet comprised only of the first lines of the 14 previous sonnets.

In English, they traditionally consist of three lines with the first having 5 syllables, the second having 7, and the third having 5. However, not all haiku markets are this strict. Some are perfectly okay with shorter lines.

Haiku about nature. Human nature is covered by a similar form, senryu. 

Use a kigo (season word) to indicate what time of year the poem takes place in. You can use explicit ones like winter or autumn or more subtle ones like snowflakes or pumpkins.

Keep things concise. You don’t have much space to work with, so make every word count. 

If you want to stick to tradition, avoid figurative language such as similes and metaphors.

On that note, cut out filler words whenever possible so that your haiku will have an impact despite their short length.

You don’t need to write in complete sentences. Using a simple phrase for each line often works best.

Punctuation isn’t necessary, although some use dashes or ellipsis since English lacks kireji (a cutting words) to indicate where the traditional juxtaposition of images takes place.

Haiku are more than just snapshots. Well written ones capture emotions in a powerful way.  


Temporary,


Momentary comfort


To a heart that doesn’t love you,


Just used.