Poetry
po·em
noun
a piece of writing that partakes of the nature of both
speech and song that is nearly always rhythmical,
usually metaphorical, and often exhibits such formal
elements as meter, rhyme, and stanzaic structure.
synonyms:
verse, rhyme, piece of poetry, song
More
something that arouses strong emotions because of
its beauty.
A Poem has…
METER
Meter is a unit of rhythm in poetry, the pattern
of the beats. It is also called a foot. Each foot
has a certain number of syllables in it, usually
two or three syllables. The difference in types
of meter is which syllables are accented and
which are not.
Meter, cont…
Iamb Meter
Iamb meter has the first syllable unaccented and the
second accented. Here are examples:
That time l of year l thou mayst l in me l behold (*Iambic
Pentameter)
Trochee Meter
Trochee meter has the first syllable accented and the
second unaccented. Here are examples:
Tell me | not in l mournful l numbers
Dactyl Meter
Dactyl meter has the first syllable accented and the
second and third unaccented. Here are examples:
This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the
hemlock - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Evangeline”
Major Types of Poems
Haiku
Sonnet
Elegy
Verse
Hymn
Limerick
Canto
Epithet
Lyric
Ode
Couplet
Epic
Ballad
Dirge
Free
Haiku
Haiku (or hokku)
A Japanese verse form of three unrhyming
lines in five, seven, and five syllables. It
creates a single, memorable image.
A traditional Japanese haiku is a threeline poem with seventeen syllables,
written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Often
focusing on images from nature, haiku
emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and
directness of expression.
Haiku, Examples of…
Flowers withering
beneath the weight of the sun.
Yet the weeds stand proud.
An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.
Limerick
A limerick is a form of poetry, especially one in five-line
anapestic meter with a strict rhyme scheme (AABBA),
which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent.
(Anapestic: a foot of three syllables, two short followed by one long)
Examples:
"'Twas the night before Christmas,”
&
“There was an old man” – typical limerick start!
A Limerick:
There once was a man from Peru
Who had a lot of growing up to do,
He’d ring a doorbell,
then run like hell,
Until the owner shot him with a .22.
- Anonymous
Elegy & Epithet
An Elegy is a funeral song (also called a
‘lament’)
An Epithet is any word or phrase applied
to a person or thing to describe an actual
or attributed quality: “Richard the LionHearted” is an epithet of Richard I. They
are frequently written in poetic form
ODE
a poem in which a person expresses a
strong feeling of love or respect for
someone or something. (singing someone
or something’s praises)
Often lyrical
Some lines from Keat’s Ode on
a Grecian Urn, Stanza 2
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
Ballad
A song that has been passed down orally
a slow popular song that is typically about
love
a kind of poem or song that tells a story
(such as a story about a famous person
from history) As in “the ballad of Josie
Wales”
Usually use quatrains or couplets
Poetry Vocabulary
Verse
A verse is formally a single metrical line
in a poetic composition. However, verse has
come to represent any division or grouping of
words in a poetic composition ...
Stanza a stanza is a grouped set of lines
within a poem, usually set off from other
stanzas by a blank line or
different indentation.[1] Stanzas can have
regular rhyme andmetrical schemes, though
they are not required. A typical stanza in
poetry is a quatrain* In a poem, a stanza is
similar to a paragraph in writing.
Refrain
A refrain (from Vulgar Latin refringere,
"to repeat", and later from Old French
refraindre) is the line or lines that are
repeated in music or in verse (poetry);
Refrains usually, but not always, come at the end of the verse.
Some songs, especially ballads, incorporate refrains into each
verse. For example, one version of the traditional ballad The Cruel
Sister includes a refrain mid-verse:
There lived a lady by the North Sea shore, Lay the bent to the
bonny broom Two daughters were the babes she bore. Fa la la la la
la la la la. As one grew bright as is the sun, Lay the bent to the
bonny broom So coal black grew the other one. Fa la la la la la la
la.
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