TYPES

OF
POEMS
(part 1)
LIMERICK
✓ The Limerick is a 5-line poem with a
specific rhyme pattern: AABBA, with
each line
✓ Having a specific number of
syllables: 8 – 8 – 5 -- 5 –
8
✓ Limericks are
meant to be funny
 LIMERICK
✓ The last line of a good limerick
contains the PUNCH LINE or “heart of
the joke.”
✓ The typical rhythm of a limerick is
like this:
bah – BAH bah – bah - BAH bah – bah - BAH
bah – BAH bah – bah - BAH bah – bah - BAH
bah – BAH bah – bah - BAH
bah – BAH bah – bah - BAH
bah – BAH bah – bah - BAH bah – bah
- BAH
LIMERICK
There once was a lady called ‘Mom’,(A -8)
who you could say was quite the bomb.(A -8)
She gave us all hugs,(B-5)
and swept up the rugs.(B - 5)
She kept the house nice and calm.(A - 8)

LIMERICK
 There once was a woman named Nanny(A
-8) whose height was quite uncanny..(A
-8) Small as she was,(B-5)
she made quite a buzz,(B - 5)
and often fell flat on her fanny.(A - 8)
Let’s
Write
LIMERICK
Choose 3 from the “first lines” you can you
to get your LIMERICK started.
A.There was a teacher from Berlin
B.There once was a very old dog
C.A beautiful girl in my town
D.There was a young woman whose head E.Two

poets who couldn’t agree

HAIKU
✓ is a form of Japanese poetry.
✓ Typically, haikus are written about
nature, but they can be about any topic.
✓ The first line
✓ of every haiku has 5 syllables, the
second line has 7 syllables, and the last
line has 5 syllables.
(5 – 7 – 5)

HAIKU
HAIKU – HOW TO WRITE!
✓ Write two lines about something beautiful in nature.
Don’t worry about counting syllable yet.
✓ Write a third line that is a complete surprise, that is
about something completely different from the first two
lines.
✓ Look at the three lines together. Does the combination
of these two seemingly unrelated parts suggest any
surprising relationships? Does it give any interesting
ideas?
✓ Now rewrite the poem, using the 5 – 7 – 5
syllable format!

HAIKU – sample!
 The last winter leaves (5)
Clinging to the black
branches(7) Explode into birds
(5)

HAIKU – sample!
HAIKU – sample!
Let’s
Write
TITLE: _____________
FIRST LINE: ___________________________
SECOND LINE: _________________________
THIRD LINE: ___________________________
BALLAD
Purpose
✓ Ballads are narrative poems, intended to tell a
story.
Structure
✓ Ballads can have several verses. Each verse has
four lines. Sometimes, verses may be repeated
throughout the poem.
Rhyming Pattern
✓ Ballads usually follow an abcb rhyming pattern.
BALLAD came alive, So I ran away
and I hid!.

I went for a walk to the

park one day,(A) And what
do you think I found? (B)
A busy bee stuck up in a
tree,(C)
And a bee hive down on the
ground!(B)

I bravely walked up to
that bee hive, And what do
you think I did?
I poked that hive and it
Let’s
Write
BALLAD – WRITING!
✓ A TIME YOU RECEIVED BAD NEWS – don’t tell the
reader how you felt about the news. Instead show
 the details of the place and situation where you
heard the news, doing this in a way that
expresses your feelings. Think of how, in
movies, the camera zooms in an objects to create
a mood. See if you can do the same thing in the
poem.

BALLAD – WRITING!
Choose a topic for your ballad. Here are some
ideas:
✓ a midnight thunderstorm
✓ forgotten homework
✓ a time you fell in love at first sight --- or
thought you did.
✓ A car accident

REFERENCES
• https://www.readwritethink.org/sites/default/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson391/limericks.pdf •
https://www.scholastic.com/content/dam/parents/migrated-assets/printables/pdfs/writing-limericks-fill-in
printable.pdf
• https://www.haiku-poetry.org/documents/haiku-booklet.pdf
• https://www.readwritethink.org/sites/default/files/30697_haiku.pdf
• https://aspleyss.eq.edu.au/SupportAndResources/FormsAndDocuments/Documents/a-collection-of-haiku.pdf •
https://pun.me/funny/haiku-poems/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvBl6RK8tEw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJs7Dl3NSGA
• www.canva.com (for the cover)