POETRY

Poetry, in its own way, is a form of artistic expression. But, did

you know there are over 50 different types of poetry? Outside of
upper-level poetry seminars or in-depth studies, we mostly tend
to focus on seven common types of poetry.
Popular poetry types include haiku, free verse, sonnets, and
acrostic poems, etc. It's one thing to define each type; it's
another to enjoy a sample platter. Ready to open the doors to a
world of verbal artistry? Let's dive into some of the more
prominent forms of poetry while we savor a few samples.
 Haiku
Traditionally, haiku poems are three-line stanzas with a 5/7/5
syllable count. This form of poetry also focuses on the beauty
and simplicity found in nature. As its popularity grew, the 5/7/5
formula has often been broken. However, the focus remains the
same - simple moments in life. For more, take a look at
these rules for writing haiku. Now, let's enjoy two short samples.
First, "Sick on a Journey" by Basho is a great example of a haiku:
Sick on a journey -
Over parched field
Dreams wander on
Next, "5 & 7 & 5" by Anselm Hollo demonstrates
the 5/7/5 haiku syllable count across
three stanzas:
night train whistles stars
over a nation under
mad temporal czars

round lumps of cells grow

up to love porridge later
become The Supremes

lady I lost my
subway token we must part
it's faster by air
 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).
 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.
 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.
 Line break
refers to where an author has chosen to end one line in a
poem and begin another. A line break can either be an
example of enjambment, which means the author has
chosen to end a line without completing a sentence or
clause, or can be an end stopped line, which is a line that
completes a sentence or clause. The presence or absence
of punctuation is usually an indication as to whether the
line break is an example of enjambment or an end
stopped line.
Common Examples of Line Break
Though generally line breaks matter most in poetry,
they also can be found in music. Songwriters,
rappers, librettists, and so on choose where to end
lines to create rhyme or fit in a certain beat. Here are
some examples of songs in which line breaks have a
particular aesthetic function:
Common Examples of Line Break

Cutie the bomb

Met her at a beauty salon
With a baby Louis Vuitton
Under her underarm
She said I can tell you rock
I can tell by your charm
Far as girls you got a flock
I can tell by your charm and your arm
But I’m looking for the one
Have you seen her
(“Gold Digger” by Kanye West)
Hello, can you hear me?
I’m in California dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I’ve forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet

(“Hello” by Adele)
 Types of Poetry
◦ Epic – A form of lengthy poem, often written in blank verse, in
which poet shows a protagonist in action of historical significance,
or a great mythic.
◦ Ballad – A type of narrative poem in which a story often talks
about folk or legendary tales. It may take the form of a moral
lesson or a song.
◦ Elegy – A melancholic poem in which the poet laments the death
of a subject, though he gives consolation towards the end.
◦Epitaph – A small poem used as an inscription on a
tombstone.
◦Hymn – This type of a poem praises spirituality or God’s
splendor.
◦Villanelle – A French styled poem with nineteen lines,
composed of three–line stanza, with five tercets and a
final quatrain. It uses refrain at the first and third lines of
each stanza.
Examples of Poem in
Literature
Example #1: While you Decline to Cry (By Ō no
Yasumaro)
HAIKU POEM
While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plume grass wilts.”
(Loose translation by Michael R. Burch)

This poem contains three lines, which is the typical structure of a

haiku poem. It does not follow any formal rhyme scheme or
Epic Poem
Example #2: “By the shore of Gitchie Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited

The Song of Hiawatha (By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Epic Poem
Example #2: “By the shore of Gitchie Gumee,
These are a few lines from The Song of Hiawatha, a classic
epic poem that presents an American Indian legend of a
loving, brave, patriotic, and stoic hero, but which bears
resemblance to Greek myths of Homer. Longfellow tells of
the sorrows and triumphs of the Indian tribes in detail in
this lengthy poem. Therefore, this is a fine example of a
modern epic, though other epics include Paradise Lost by
John Milton and Iliad by Homer.
Example #3: After the Sea-Ship (By Walt
Whitman)
Free Verse Poem

“After the Sea-Ship—after the whistling winds;

After the white-gray sails, taut to their spars and ropes,
Below, a myriad, myriad waves, hastening, lifting up their necks,
Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship:
Waves of the ocean, bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying
Example #3: After the Sea-Ship (By Walt
Whitman)
This poem neither has rhyming lines, nor does it
adhere to a particular metrical plan. Hence, it is
free of artificial expression. It has rhythm and a
variety of rhetorical devices used for sounds,
such as assonance and consonance.
Example #4: La Belle Dame sans Merci
(By John Keats)
Ballad
“O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing …
And this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing
Example #4: La Belle Dame sans Merci
(By John Keats)
This poem presents a perfect example of a
ballad—a folk-style poem that typically
narrates a love story. The language of this
poem is simple. It contains twelve stanzas,
with four quatrains and a rhyme scheme of
abcb.
Example #5: “The Waking” by Theodore
Roethke
Villanelle
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?

I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Example #5: “The Waking” by Theodore
Roethke
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Example #5: “The Waking” by Theodore
Roethke
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.

What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.
Example #5: “The Waking” by Theodore
Roethke
Theodore Roethke’s poem “The Waking” is another famous and
lovely example of a villanelle. He is somewhere between Thomas
and Bishop in terms of how closely he sticks to the villanelle rules.
Generally his lines rhyme with either “slow” or “fear,” though he also
chooses near rhymes of “you,” “how,” “do” and “there,” “stair,” and
“air.” He also slightly varies the second repeating line of “I learn by
going where I have to go.”