Different Types of Poems

📌1. Sonnet

Sonnets are practically synonymous with Shakespeare, but there are actually two different kinds of this famous poetic form. Having originated in 13th century Italy, the sonnet usually deals with love and has two common forms: the Petrarchan (named for its famous practitioner, the poet Petrarch) and the Shakespearean (also known as the English sonnet). Each type contains 14 lines but comes with its own set of rules.

🍀Petrarchan Sonnet

Characteristics and Rules:

• 2 stanzas

• Presents an argument, observation, or question in the first 8 lines

• Turn (or “volta”) between 8th and 9thlines

• Second stanza answers the question or issue posed in the first

• Rhyme Scheme: ABBA, ABBA, CDECDE

🍀Shakespearean Sonnet

• 3 quatrains (4 lines each) and a couplet (2 lines)

• Couplet usually forms a conclusion

• Rhyme scheme: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG

📌2. Villanelle

Villanelles have even more specific rules than sonnets. Luckily, many of the lines are repetitions, but this means you’ll have to take care to make those lines meaningful.

🍀Villanelle Characteristics and Rules

• 19 lines

• 5 stanzas of 3 lines each

• 1 closing stanza of 4 lines

• Rhyme scheme: ABA, ABA, ABA, ABA, ABA, ABAA

• Line 1 repeats in lines 6, 12, and 18

• Line 3 repeats in lines 9, 15, and 19

🍀Examples of Villanelles

“The Waking” by Theodore Roethke

“Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas

📌3. Haiku

The haiku originated in 17th century Japan. Although they usually refer to nature, the only real rule applies to the number of syllables in each line, so you can let your imagination run wild with this one.

🍀Haiku Characteristics and Rules

• 3 lines

• Line 1 contains 5 syllables

• Line 2 contains 7 syllables

• Line 3 contains 5 syllables

🍀Example of Haiku

Matsuo Bashō, “By the Old Temple”:

By the old temple,

peach blossoms;

a man treading rice.

📌4. Ekphrastic Poems

Ekphrastic poems don’t really have specific rules, but they do speak of another work of art.

Ekphrasis comes from the Greek word for “description,” and that’s exactly what this poem should do: vividly describe a painting, statue, photograph, or story. One famous example is found in the Iliad, where Homer refers to Achilles’ shield.

🍀Examples of Ekphrastic Poetry

Tyehimba Jess, “Hagar in the Wilderness”

Rebecca Wolff, “Ekphrastic”

📌5. Concrete Poems

Concrete poetry is designed to take a particular shape or form on the page. Poets can manipulate spacing or layout to emphasize a theme or important element in the text, or sometimes they can take the literal shape of their subjects.

🍀Example of Concrete Poetry

“The Altar” by George Herbert was intended to resemble a church altar.

📌6. Elegy

The elegy is another type of poem that lacks particular rules, but it usually is written in mourning following a death. They can be written for a particular person, or treat the subject of loss more generally.

🍀Example of an Elegy

Walt Whitman’s “O Captain, My Captain,” which Whitman wrote following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

📌7. Epigram

Epigrams are short, witty, and often satirical poems that usually take the form of a couplet or quatrain (2-4 lines in length).

🍀Example of an Epigram

An example of this wit is provided by Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

Sir, I admit your general rule,

That every poet is a fool,

But you yourself may serve to show it,

That every fool is not a poet.

Epigrams are not exclusive to poetry. They are also commonly used as literary devices and in speeches. John F. Kennedy’s famous quote, “Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind” is one such example.

📌8. Limerick

Limericks are humorous poems that have a more distinct rhythm. Their subject matter is sometimes crude, but always designed to offer laughs.

🍀Limerick Characteristics and Rules

• 5 lines

• 2 longer lines (usually 7-10 syllables)

• 2 shorter lines (usually 5-7 syllables)

• 1 closing line to bring the joke home (7-10 syllables)

• Rhyme scheme: AABBA

🍀Example of Limerick

A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His bill can hold more than his beli-can.

He can take in his beak

Food enough for a week

But I’m damned if I see how the heli-can.

—Dixon Lanier Merritt

📌9. Ballad

Ballads usually take a narrative form to tell us stories. They are often arranged in quatrains, but the form is loose enough that writers can easily modify it.

🍀Ballad Characteristics and Rules

• Typically arranged in groups of 4 lines

• Rhyme scheme: ABAB or ABCB

🍀Example of Ballad

“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe (first two stanzas)

📌10. Epitaph

An epitaph is much like an elegy, only shorter. Epitaphs commonly appear on gravestones, but they can also be humorous. There are no specific rules for epitaphs or their rhyme schemes.

🍀Examples of Epitaphs

From William Shakespeare’s gravestone:

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,

To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blessed be the man that spares these stones,

And cursed be he that moves by bones.

“Epitaph” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Heap not on this mound

Roses that she loved so well:

Why bewilder her with roses,

That she cannot see or smell?

She is happy where she lies

With the dust upon her eyes.

📌11. Ode

Odes address a specific person, thing, or event. The ode is believed to have been invented by the ancient Greeks, who would sing their odes. Modern odes follow an irregular pattern and are not required to rhyme.

🍀Example of an Ode

“Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth

Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!

Be through my lips to unawaken’d earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

📌12. Free Verse

Free verse is exactly what its  name implies. There are no rules, and writers can do whatever they choose: to rhyme or not, to establish any rhythm. Free verse is often used in contemporary poetry.