Types of Poems
Elegy
A lyric poem that is written to mourn the passing of
something or someone
. O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Epitaph
Poems written about the dead that are written on
tombstones. Usually very short
Epigram
Short, witty poems that make a pithy pronouncement
about something. Usually a couplet or quatrain.
Bruce Bennett, "Ironist"
I mean the opposite of what I say.
You've got it now? No, it's the other way.
Alexander Pope
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be
disappointed.
Epic
Very, very long poem that tells a story.
Narrative and usually a book.
Eg.
http://listverse.com/2008/07/06/top-10greatest-epic-poems/
Ode
Very serious form of the lyric. Very dignified
and formal in tone and style. Usually in
reverence to something (eg. Ode to
icecream! )
http://www.poetrysoup.com/dictionary/ode_
Ballad
Folk ballad: A story expressed through song, OR a haunting,
dramatic tale handed down from generation to generation.
These usually have chorus.
Literary ballad: A narrative poem written in the ballad form.
Often written in quatrains.
Eg. Sadie and Maud
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172083
Sonnet
•14 line poem
Iambic pentameter rhythm
Intricate rhyme and scheme
Sonnets are either Petrarchan (octave and a
sestet) or Shakespearean (3 quatrains and a
rhyming couplet at the end)
http://genius.com/Gwendolyn-brooks-first-fightthen-fiddle-annotated
Lyric
A poem of intense emotion and personal
These poems can have rigid rhyme and rhythm OR they
can be a free verse (no set rhythm or rhyme)
Eg. Do not go gentle into that
good night
Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Concrete Poetry