Poetry forms
Ballads
• Ballads are poems that tell a story. They are
considered to be a form of narrative poetry.
They are often used in songs and have a very
musical quality to them.
• The basic form for ballads is iambic
heptameter (seven sets of unstressed,
stressed syllables per line), in sets of four, with
the second and fourth lines rhyming.
Sonnets
• A lyric poem of fourteen lines, following one
or another of several set rhyme-schemes.
• Topic is usually love, but not required to be.
• the typical rhyme-scheme for the English
sonnet is
• abab cdcd efef gg.
Villanelle
• A short poem of fixed form, written in tercets,
usually five in number, followed by a final
quatrain, all being based on two rhymes
Sestina
• The lines are grouped into six sestets and a
concluding tercet. Thus a Sestina has 39 lines.
• The six words that end each of the lines of the
first stanza are repeated in a different order at
the end of lines in each of the subsequent five
stanzas.
• The repeated words are unrhymed
Acrostic
• Acrostic Poetry that certain letters, usually the
first in each line form a word or message
when read in a sequence.
Cinquain
• Poetry with five lines. Line 1 has one word
(the title). Line 2 has two words that describe
the title. Line 3 has three words that tell the
action. Line 4 has four words that express the
feeling, and line 5 has one word which recalls
the title.
Elegy
• A sad and thoughtful poem about the death of
an individual.
Haiku
• A Japanese poem composed of three
unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five
syllables, usually containing a season word.
Limerick
• A short sometimes vulgar, humorous poem
consisting of five anapestic lines. Lines 1, 2,
and 5 have seven to ten syllables, rhyme and
have the same verbal rhythm. The 3rd and 4th
lines have five to seven syllables, rhyme and
have the same rhythm.
Pastoral
• A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful,
romanticized way.
Rondeau
• A lyrical poem of French origin having 10 or 13
lines with two rhymes and with the opening
phrase repeated twice as the refrain.