Original Poem Styles
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
ABC lines
Abstract poem
Acrostic
Adverb poem
Anaphora poem
Apostrophe poem
Blank Verse poem
“Blotz” or Creature poem
Catalogue Rhyme
Clerihew
Conceit poem
Concrete or Visual poem
(i.e. Shaped Verse)
Consonance
Contrast poem
Cut Up poem
Elegy poem
End-Stopped Line poem
Enjambed Line or RunOn Line poem
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
Epitaph
Five Senses poem
Five W’s poem
Formal Cinquain
Found poem
Heroic Couplet
Hyperbole or
Understatement poem
Impressionistic poem
Internal Rhyme poem
Lyric poem or Ode
Mood poem
Mother Goose Parody
“Mother to Son”
Comparison
Musical poem
Nursery Rhyme poem
Occasional Verse poem
Pantoum
Parallelism
37. Prepositional Phrase
poem
38. Quintet
39. Rhyme Royal
40. Rhyming
Synonym/Antonym
41. Rhymed Riddle
42. Rhyming Tale
43. Self-Image poem
44. Sententious Simile
45. Slant Rhyme/Off-Rhyme
Poem
46. Starter poem
47. Symbol poem
48. Tanka
49. Terse Verse
50. Word Cinquain
The Internet also has lots of amazing resources for samples of each of these poems. Do your own searching
by using keywords like poetry, or the type of poem itself + definition, which will bring lots of educational
resources for these types of poems. Online dictionaries and encyclopedias will provide information also.
Share these websites with the class if any are helpful!
http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/indextitle.html contains many poems of literary merit
http://www.poetryexpress.org/glossary.htm#apostrophe contains a glossary of poetic terms and devices
Poem Definitions and Examples
1.
ABC
The first letter of the first word on each line follows the order of the alphabet. Can begin and/or end at any letter in
the alphabet. Can form complete sentences(s) or simply related words or phrases.
Dream girl
Alluringly
Blonde,
Caressable,
Distressable,
Exciting
Felicia:
Glamorous,
Humorous,
Inimitable—
Just so!
Kind?
Loyally!
Moody?
Never!
Observe her:
Pulse—
Quickening
Really
Sensational,
Truly
Unusual
Vivaciously
Winsome,
eXtraordinarily
Youthfully
Zestful.
Rehearsal
All together now,
Begin:
Cornets –
Drums –
Everyone –
Fortissimo!
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2.
Abstract poem
Words are chosen for their aural (how they sound) or visual quality rather than specifically for their sense or meaning.
This creates poetry that is strangely interesting and dreamlike, not necessarily meaningless.
“Façade”
The red retriever-haired satyr
Can whine and tease her and flatter,
But Lily O'Grady,
Silly and shady,
In the deep shade is a lazy lady;
Now Pompey's dead, Homer's…
“Buffalo Bill's” by E. E. Cummings
Buffalo Bill's
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive
pigeonsjustlikethat
Jesus
he was a handsome man
and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death
3.
Acrostic verse (not your own name!)
Subject is first word of first line; second letter of subject becomes first letter of first word in second line; third
letter of subject becomes first letter of first word in third line, etc. Each line contributes further detail and
emotional tone.
Birds are graceful,
Idle and free,
Riding the skies;
Direction is no object,
Sailing through the sky, forever free!
Lions,
I hear, are the king
Of beasts; but I am
Not afraid as long as they
Stay in a cage.
Adverb poem Write a poem that starts each line or each stanza with an “ly” adverb or an adverb that does not
end in “ly”. It can be the same adverb that starts each line, or different adverbs for each line. Adverbs are words
that modify (describe) verbs. Some examples of “ly” adverbs are: carefully, sleepily, softly, angrily, bitterly,
excitedly, boldly, happily. Some examples of other adverbs are on your “Keep This Forever…and Ever… and
Ever” handout. The following song by The Beatles uses a recurring adverb yesterday to create a sense of time:
:
Yesterday (Lennon/McCartney)
Now I need a place to hide away.
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.
Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be,
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play.
There's a shadow hanging over me.
Now I need a place to hide away.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play.
4.
2
5.
Anaphora poem The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses,
clauses, or paragraphs; for example, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we
shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills” (Winston S. Churchill). The repetition can be
as simple as a single word or as long as an entire phrase.
“Sonnet 66”, William Shakespeare
And captive good attending captain ill:
Tir'd with all these, from these would I be gone,
Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.
Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,
As to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily forsworn,
And gilded honour shamefully misplac'd,
And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,
And right perfection wrongfully disgrac'd,
And strength by limping sway disabled
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly--doctor-like--controlling skill,
And simple truth miscall'd simplicity,
6.
“Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” by Walt Whitman
Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle,
Out of the Ninth-month midnight,
Over the sterile sands, and the fields beyond, where the
child, leaving his bed, wander’d alone,
bare-headed, barefoot…
Apostrophe poem Language addressed to a person, animal, object, or other entity that is not present. William
Blake's "The Tyger" and Walt Whitman's "To a Locomotive in Winter" are examples, as is John Keats's "Bright
star, would I were stedfast," which is also a one-sentence poem. If you like, you could follow Blake's example by
composing your poem entirely of questions. Keep your poem between six and sixteen lines long.
from “The Tyger” by William Blake
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
7.
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
Blank Verse This is poetry written in iambic pentameter without rhyming. Shakespeare employed blank verse
in much of the dialogue of his plays. Here is one such example in his masterpiece Macbeth:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
8.
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
“Blotz” or Creature poem A colored drawing of the creature is required. The majority of the words in your
poem need to begin with the first letter of your creature’s name.
Line 1:
Line 2:
Line 3:
Line 4:
Line 5:
Line 6:
Name your creature
Tell where it lives
Tell what it eats
Tell what it likes
Tell something about it
Tell what the creature did to you.
This is a….
Same first letter…at least four words.
Same first letter…four items
Same first letter…four items
Same first letter…three things
Turkle
This is a turkle.
Turkles take turns residing in taffy tunnels
Turkles eat truffles, teacups, toast and tuna
Turkles like Toyota trucks, Tiffany lamps, teasing and turtles
Turkles turn tan at tarantulas, tap dancing and tickling
The turkle took my tennis shoe and toes.
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9.
Catalogue Rhymed arrangement of things students like or dislike; these things are associated with one of the of
the senses, seasons, or holidays, etc.
“I Like TV…”
AM or PM I’ll turn on the set
For Barbara Walters or Carol Burnett
Abernethy, Brinkley, or Walter Cronkite;
Push the button and make the screen bright
With Mod Squad’s capers or Archie’s quotes,
Weather predictions or precinct votes,
Rams and Lakers and New York Knicks,
Hammy wrestlers for extra kicks,
Happy commercials in fast or slow motion,
Making a pitch for beer or lotion,
Daytime or nighttime, so much to see:
That’s why I simply adore TV!
“Children Do So Many Things”
They sit
They soil
They pout
They shout
They weep
They leap
They jump
They hide
They swim
They ride bikes
They eat
They sweep
They ride
They fly
They play games
They read
They GRUMBLE
10. Clerihew Four-line form consisting of two couplets (a-a, b-b) that offer a humorous view of a well-known
person. The name must be a part of one of the end rhymes.
John Wayne
When rugged John Wayne
Leads the wagon train,
The badmen scatter
To his bullets’ patter.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Genius at nine
Did what none dared:
Invented E=mc2
11. Conceit poem A conceit is a fanciful poetic image, especially an elaborate or exaggerated comparison. This is
really an experience in working with metaphor, but one that extends through the poem. You will be writing about
one thing entirely in terms of another, eg. the moon as a soccer ball - kicked around the sky, 'off-side!' Answer
these questions about your chosen object comparison:
1) What is it? What does it look like?
2) Where is it?
3) What is it doing?
4) Expand this to use senses, eg. touch, feeling
5) A final action to round off the conceit
Notice how this poem describes a mosquito in terms of a burglar.
The Flying Burglar
He's out at dead of night, dodging
between this shadow and that.
His nerves quiver.
He looks for a chink of light,
the smallest crack.
He's found it. He's in
How careless
to leave the goodies
heaped on the bed.
He zones in, strikes,
and stashes away
his first sackful
of warm blood.
12. Concrete (or Visual) poem Concentration on a word or words in which form becomes as essential as meaning; words
reduced to their letters (see) or syllables (hear); reduced language in a new relationship to space (the page) and time
(linear measure); an object to be perceived rather than just read; a “picture poem.” See
http://www.thegatesofparadise.com/chicken/six/years.html for examples of more sophisticated concrete poems.
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CUPCUPCUP
CUPCUPC
UPCUP
CUP
SaucersauceR
13. Consonance Repetition of consonant sounds: "bare ruined choirs." Notice the repetition of the s, t, r, b, l, and n sounds
in the following passage by Edmund Wilson:
Song that pours plaintive or gay from Schubert’s
Blue-coated Vienna:
Lindens and lonely men, millers and brooks and May
14. Contrast (Yin-Yang) poem Create a poem of contrasts – thinking of extreme and unique examples to illustrate pairs
of opposites (e.g. “As rough as a splintery piece of wood; As smooth as a freshly waxed car”)
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 1 There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to give birth and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to uproot; 3 a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to tear down and a time to build; 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance; 5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing; 6 a time to search and a time to count as lost;
a time to keep and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak; 8 a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.
15. Cut Up poem Choose a poem from the textbook that has vivid words, phrases and sentences, and enough length to
work with. Make a copy of the poem or type up the poem, and then cut up the poem so it is in fragments – fragments of
words, phrases or sentences. Then mix around the cut up fragments to create a new poem. You can arrange the
fragments any way you wish, and you may wish to convey a tone for your poem that is much different or perhaps
opposite of the original poem.
“Along with Youth” (original poem)
A porcupine skin,
Stiff with bad tanning,
(Continued on the next page)
It must have ended somewhere.
Stuffed horned owl
Pompous
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Piles of Youth (A cut up of “Along with Youth”)
Yellow eyed;
Chuck-wills-widow on a biased twig
Sooted with dust.
Piles of old magazines,
Drawers of boy's letters
And the line of love
They must have ended somewhere.
Yesterday's Tribune is gone
Along with youth
And the canoe that went to pieces on
the beach
The year of the big storm
When the hotel burned down
At Seney, Michigan.
The year of the storm
At the Seney, Michigan hotel.
Chuck-Wills' Pompous Yellow skin with bad
tanning,
Sooted Stiff horn of porcupine owl
When the canoe of twigs that went to pieces
Burned down dust
Drawers Stuffed with old magazines,
And Biased Tribune
A boy's Yesterday
And youth is gone
Along with love - big eyed
Boy’s letters on the beach
A Widow on the line
It must have ended somewhere;
They must have ended somewhere.
16. Elegy poem A poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person, or is melancholic and
pensive in tone. This poetic form is Greek from elegeia, which means “song of mourning.” Formal elegies are
structured in four-line stanzas written in iambic pentameter and rhymed abab. Classical elegies start out with a
statement of the subject (usually a specific death), followed by the lamentations or mourning of this death, and
finally consolation, as the poet comes to accept the loss.
“On My First Son” by Ben Jonson
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy ;
My sin was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy.
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
Oh, could I lose all father now ! For why
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
And if no other misery, yet age !
Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, Here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.
For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such
As what he loves may never like too much.
from “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman (written after the assassination of President Lincoln
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we
and daring:
sought is won;
But O heart! heart! heart!
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all
O the bleeding drops of red,
exulting,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
17. End-Stopped Line poem A poem that has lines that each end with a full stop, using a punctuation mark.
From the Prologue of Romeo and Juliet
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
18. Enjambed Line or Run-On Line poem A line of poetry that is run on to the following line without any pause,
such as these lines from Romeo and Juliet:
O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.
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19. Epitaph Write your own epitaph at least four lines long. Epitaphs should be serious poems since they are found
on tombstones. However, as usual, someone has to make this an occasion for a joke. Here are some humorous
examples (said to be actually real). Note the rhyme scheme of each of these.
Under this stone lies Horace Blue
Here lies Jason Maces
Owner of a pistol, a thirty-two.
Who played poker sharp,
To see if it was dirty, in it he blew,
‘Til he played five aces.
The gun went off and he did, too.
Now he’s playing a harp.
(Carson City, Nevada)
(Dodge City, Kansas)
20. Five Senses poem Write a poem that appeals to each of the five senses: visual (sight), auditory (sound), tactile
(touch), gustatory (taste), and olfactory (smell), but can also appeal to the sense of movement (kinesthetic), sense
of temperature (thermal), to textures, colors, light levels, etc. Description and vivid, specific words should be
used, and maybe even figurative language (e.g. “The smooth walls of the mollusk shell were a tropical sunset of
pinks and creams and purples”). Note the sensory detail in Donne’s simile: “And like a bunch of ragged carrots
stand / The short swollen fingers of thy gouty hand.”(tactile) Or these lines from T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland:
“…Then a damp gust / Bringing rain.” (tactile, visual)
21. Five W’s poem Five lines about a subject. First line introduces and describes the “who” – the subject. The
second line explains the “what” – what the subject is doing. The third line give the “when” – when this scene
takes place. The fourth line is the “where” – where this scene takes place. The last sentence is the “why” –
explaining why the subject is doing what she is doing or why the scene is taking place as it is.
Rich Ladies
The tiny silken terrier
Surveys the wares of luxury stores
Most every day from one to five
On crooked throne of elbow bone.
Rich ladies are lonesome, too.
22. Formal Cinquain
is 2-4-6-8-2.
A Golden Carp
A golden carp of brightest hue
From banks of treetops leaps to view
Blue April afternoon invites
To park or meadow schools of kites
Don’t you feel the challenge, too?
Five lines, each line adding two syllables and further meaning to the subject. Syllable pattern
Flowers
Flowers
Are bursts of warmth,
Bringing sunshine to me,
Brightening my day. I love
Flowers.
Hope
Gently,
Gasping for breath,
Caring for human life,
Hope renders the world resounding
Pleasures.
23. Found poem Much of the language we use in daily life is poetic. By putting the words into a form that looks
like poetry, you can find thousands of poems. Found poems consist of words, phrases, and/or sentences that are
discovered in public communications, such as advertisements, menus, signs, reports. They can be arranged into
lines and stanzas that form fresh commentaries in or insights into life. Be sure to give the source of your “found
poem.”
Facts
Facts,
like certain moths
and flying ants,
lay their eggs
and die.
(From John Hersey)
Tahitian Fling
TAHITIAN FLING
A zesty taste treat
that wafts you to Paradise.
Fresh strawberry ice cream
And lime sherbet surfing on half a pineapple
with white caps of whipped cream
and orange crunch.
Good enough to make
the natives restless.
(Found on paper place mat)
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24. Heroic Couplet A verse unit consisting of two rhymed lines in iambic pentameter. It is a rhyming pair of lines.
The rhyme scheme progresses as "aabbcc," etc. The heroic couplet is so called because it was a form of poetry in
which an important subject matter could be written. This form was mostly used for translation of epic poetry from
the classical Greek and Latin. An example of a heroic couplet is Anne Bradstreet's "The Author To Her Book".
Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise
than true,
Who thee abroad, exposed to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet;
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save homespun cloth i' th' house I
find.
In this array 'mongst vulgars may'st thou roam.
In critic's hands beware thou dost not come,
And take thy way where yet though art not
known;
If for thy father asked, say thou hadst none;
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.
25. Hyperbole or Understatement poem –Hyperbole is a figure of speech using extreme overstatement or
exaggeration that distorts facts by making them much bigger than they are if looked at objectively. It is not to be
taken literally, and is often in the form of a simile or metaphor. (Ex. “I could sleep for a year” or “This book
weighs a ton”). The opposite of hyperbole, understatement is used to make something appear smaller or less
important than it really is. It can be used to entertain or to reduce the importance of the truth. Use hyperbole in
your own poem to exaggerate facts, or use understatement to reduce the importance of the facts.
“What the Mirror Said” excerpt, Lucille Clifton
listen,
you a wonder,
you a city
of woman.
Andrew Marvell employed hyperbole throughout
“To His Coy Mistress”:
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore thy breast;
But thirty thousand to the rest...
26. Impressionistic poem The subject is a word, a memory, etc., that has emotional connotations. Impressions –
words and phrases of color, sound, feeling – are recorded as quickly as they occur; then they are arranged in lines
that create a consistent image.
“Rain”
It tickles my nose,
And it wets my toes,
Rumbles and flashes,
Of thunder that crashes,
Everything outside is weepy
While I’m inside so sleepy,
A lullaby against the
Windowpane.
I love the rain.
“One Dark Street”
One dark street
Lonely in the night,
A street post rolling, flickering light,
A sleeping old tramp, on a sidewalk bench,
With a sigh and hum…
The dark, clear sky,
Over rusty old buildings.
Glittering stars, dirty street
One dark street…
8
27. Internal Rhyme poem Also known as leonine rhymes, it is the occasion when rhymes exist within the lines of
poetry instead of at the ends. It is like burying rhymes within the poem.
From “Song for Townes Van Zandt” by
Naomi Shihab Nye
I have waited long to see you
As the seasons wait so patiently to change.
And it’s not strange that when you are here
tonight
There’s something in my heart that’s
rearranged.
“The Pool Players”
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
28. Lyric poem or Ode
These poems originated to have musical accompaniment on the lyre, a kind of harp. They resemble songs in that
they are shorter than dramatic or epic poems, they tend to express personal feelings of one speaker, often the poet,
and they give you the feeling that they could be sung. They always express some emotion. Here is an example by
Zachery Linton
“Paradise in Disguise”
Harlem is like Paradise
Is living in Harlem
In disguise
Despite evil things it’s still
But you have to look
Nice
Not with your eyes
You have to look with
Flow, love of life, but
Eagle eyes at things
Neighbor is what it’s built on
That are in disguise
These things do happen
The crazy, evil, threatening
But it is short-lived
Things.
Because fire from a pipe
Won’t keep you happy
(by Zachery Linton, age twelve)
Living in Paradise
29. Mood poem
Mood is an atmosphere or feeling of a poem, often created by description. Most pieces of literature have a prevailing
mood, but shifts in this prevailing mood may function as a counterpoint, provide comic relief, or echo the changing events
in the plot. The term mood is often used synonymously with atmosphere and ambiance. Mood is an atmosphere or
feeling of a poem created by description. It is like the emotional quality of the work itself. Notice the melancholy mood of
the following poem, which is about the speaker’s frail mother:
“As the Cold Deepens” by Elizabeth W. Holden
She is eighty-six
Braced in her metal walker
and her friends are dying,
she haunts the halls, prowls
“They’re dropping like flies,” she grumbles
the margin of her day, indomitable
and I see black winged bodies crumbling
erect in this support
an window sills when we open our summer house.
that fuses steel with self.
Flies all over!
Brushing them onto the floor, sweeping
At noon the flies mass on the sills
them up, we drop black mounds into the bag.
flying up and down the pane
“What a mess!” my mother declares.
pressing for sun.
What buzzing agitates the air
I think of flies
as the swarm becomes a single drive
how they live in a weightless armor
a scramble up, a dizzy spin.
tough, resistant like a finger nail
It is hard to hold the light
which grows weaker every day.
My mother is almost weightless now,
The temperature is falling
her flesh shrinks back toward bone.
The glass is cold.
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30. Mother Goose Parody Familiar patterns, phrases, and/or characters from nursery rhymes, used to comment
humorously on contemporary situations or to recreate a nonsensical or ridiculous event.
Women’s Lib
Little Ms. Fonda,
Sat on a Honda
Eating her yogurt and cheese;
When an Easy Rider
Sat down beside her
She gave him a healthy squeeze.
Scientist’s Song
Higgledy, piggledy, my space lab
Is better than a Yellow Cab;
Astronauts use its unique facilities
More easily than the public utilities;
Of course, there’s a costly national tab
For higgledy, piggledy, my space lab.
31. “Mother to Son” Comparison You will create an extended metaphor poem comparing life to a concrete object
of your choice. Hughes compared life to a staircase. Others have compared life to a walk in the park, a car ride,
an amusement park, a highway, a sports game, etc. Be creative! You will fill in the blanks of the original poem’s
skeleton, which is on a handout provided by your teacher if you ask for one.
“Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
Well, son, I'll tell you:
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
Where there ain't been no light.
It's had tacks in it,
So boy, don't you turn back.
And splinters,
Don't you set down on the steps
And boards torn up,
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
And places with no carpet on the floor -Don't you fall now -Bare.
For I'se still goin', honey,
But all the time
I'se still climbin',
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
32. Musical poem Poetry is closely linked to music, and music lyrics are a form of poetry. Many poets have written
poetry about music which are about jazz and even incorporate some elements of jazz in the poems. Write your
own musical poem in which you incorporate elements of the music you choose inside the poem itself.
“Jazzonia” by Langston Hughes
Were Eve's eyes
Oh, silver tree!
In the first garden
Oh, shining rivers of the soul!
Just a bit too bold?
Was Cleopatra gorgeous
In a Harlem cabaret
In a gown of gold?
Six long-headed jazzers play.
A dancing girl whose eyes are bold
Oh, shining tree!
Lifts high a dress of silken gold.
Oh, silver rivers of the soul!
Oh, singing tree!
Oh, shining rivers of the soul!
In a whirling cabaret
Six long-headed jazzers play.
33. Nursery Rhyme poem Select a favorite nursery rhyme, such as Jack and Jill, Hey Diddle Diddle, Humpty
Dumpty, etc. Using the first line, the same rhythm and rhyme, rewrite the poem.
Little Miss Muffet
Crouched on her tuffet
Mary had a little lamb
Collecting her shell-shocked wits
She called him Woolie Nellie
There dropped a glider
She plumped him full of nice fresh meat
An A-bomb beside her
And served him with mint jelly.
Which blew Miss Muffet to bits.
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34. Occasional Verse poem This is poetry written to commemorate a specific occasion about a particular event, including
weddings, funerals, and birthdays. Occasional poems can also celebrate or memorialize military, athletic, and political
events. They can be long or short, in strict forms or in free verse. These types of poems have been written to the victors
of athletic competitions, to people who have died, about plane crashes, the Vietnamese War and racial segregation, also
known as protest songs or protest poems. The only rule you must follow in writing occasional verse is you must choose
an occasion to write about or for.
from “Aftermath” by Evelyn Roman, a Holocaust
survivor
Fifty years after the fact
Painful memories intact
Nightmares recurring,
Nazis appearing.
Must survivors remain
At their altar of pain
Forever enduring
Unspeakable haunting?
And will it subside
On life's other side
Or go on persisting
Into the realm of night?
from “Young Men” by Curt Bennett
In quiet dignity they trudge
With only the slurping sounds
Of jungle boots sucking mud
As they carry their burden
Of expendable youth at war.
There is a poise about them,
A quality not found in peers,
A bearing common only
To young men in combat.
35. Pantoum A poetic form from Malayan literature. Western form is a poem of indefinite length, made up of stanzas
whose four lines are repeated in a pattern. Every line in the poem is used twice, and the first line of the poem is the same
as the last. Rhyme is optional. It only sounds complicated.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Each stanza has four lines; the second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and third line of the next stanza.
They “drop down” into the next stanza. Always 2nd and 4th line!!
This process continues to the end of the poem…length is determined by the author.
In the last stanza, the second line is the same as the third line of the first stanza and the fourth line of the last stanza is
the same as the first line of the first stanza.
Each line should be a complete thought, phrase or sentence, not dependent on a roll-over to the next line. No
enjambment necessary!
The first two lines of each stanza must develop one theme and the second two lines develop a second separate theme.
This step is optional with beginning writers.
“The Summer We Didn’t Die” by William Stafford
That year, that summer, that vacation
We played there in the cottonwood –
We were young; we had to be brave.
Far out on those limbs above air
(line 1)
(line 2)
(line 3)
(line 4)
We played there in the cottonwood
(line 5 – same as line 2 above)
Above grown-ups who shouted, “Come down!” (line 6 – a whole new thought!)
Far out on those limbs above air
(line 7 – same as line 4 above)
We were brave in that summer that year
(line 8 – another new line!)
Above grownups who shouted, “Come down!
You’ll be killed!” we were scared but held on.
We were brave in that summer that year.
No one could make us come down.
(line 9 – same as line 6 above)
(line 10 – new line)
(line 11 – same as line 8 above)
(line 12 – new thought)
“You’ll be killed!” We were scared but held on. (Line 13 – same as line 10 above)
We were young. We had to be brave.
(Third line of first stanza copied here!)
No one could make us come down
(line 15 – same as line 12 above)
That year, that summer, that vacation,
(First line of the first stanza copied here!)
* * * *
We were young. We had to be brave.
(this poet decided to end with this line – added)
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36. Parallelism A common Biblical pattern (mainly in the older, earlier books) is "parallelism" - the repetition of the same
thought in two different phrasings. This takes three forms:
Synonymous:
One sense is repeated almost exactly.
My voice you will hear in the morning, Oh Lord;
in the morning I will direct it to you, and I will look up.
Synthetic:
The second line progresses from the first.
They give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
Antithetical:
The second is opposite to the first.
The wicked borrows and does not repay,
But the righteous shows mercy and gives.
Shakespeare used parallelism to good effect in Richard II when King Richard laments his unfortunate position. You’ll
notice that this seems to fit antithetical parallelism because the second half of the lines are opposite of the first:
I'll give my jewels for a set of beads,
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
My gay apparel for an almsman's gown,
My figured goblets for a dish of wood . . . . (3.3.170-73).
37. Prepositional Phrase poem Prepositional phrases consist of a preposition and an object. Some examples of
prepositional phrases are the following: above the rim, over the river, through the void, before the end, between a rock and
a hard place, etc. Use prepositional phrases at the start of some of your lines or stanzas, or use them to end some of the
lines of your lines or stanzas. Use them in a pattern to create a rhythm of some sort. Your teacher or a grammar book
would have a full list of possible prepositions to use.
The Milkweed (Richard Wilbur)
Anonymous as cherubs
Over the crib of God
White seeds are floating
Out of my burst pod.
What power had I
Before I learned to yield?
Shatter me, great wind:
I shall possess the field
38. Quintet A quintet is syllabic verse of five lines that tells a story. The syllable pattern is (3,5,7,9,3) for each line
respectively. A quintet brings a visual image alive. Nature photographs provide an excellent springboard for
quintet writing. Display a nature photo with your quintet if you use one.
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Line 5
during fall
(when, 3 syllables)
deep inside the woods (where, 5 syllables)
busy squirrels rush about
(what, 7 syllables)
gathering nuts and berries galore
(activity, 9 syllables)
winter feast
(thought, 3 syllables)
39. Rhyme Royal A form of verse having stanzas with seven lines in iambic pentameter rhyming ababbcc. this is
the first stanza of the Thomas Wyatt poem They flee from me that sometime did me seek:
They flee from me that sometime did me seek
With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,
That now are wild and do not remember
That sometime they put themself in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
Busily seeking with a continual change.
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40. Rhyming Synonym/Antonym A couplet in which the first line consists of a list of synonyms (or antonyms) for
the title; the second line offers a personal comment on their use or meaning.
Fat
Fleshy, thick, obese, or plum:
In any case, the frump’s a lump!
Dull
Sharp, incisive, keen, acute;
The cutting word can execute.
41. Rhymed Riddle Subject can be any commonplace object: rope, hammer, TV set, etc. Two lines with end rhyme
of a-a; four lines of either a-a-b-b or a-b-a-b.
Tall Sucker
Running around the floor on his face,
Doing his job with the most distaste.
Grumbling and mumbling while working away,
“Thank goodness this doesn’t happen all day!”
(vacuum cleaner)
Chewing the Fat
I am essential to the butcher;
all I do is chew
People eat my produce; I’ll
chew fast for you.
(meat grinder)
42. Rhyming Tale Telling an original story or anecdote, or retelling a favorite tale, fable, or legend in rhyme.
The Fight
Back in the old days when men were quite rough,
There was a young man who thought he was tough;
He strode into town and went straight to the bar,
Which was really the worst in the town by far.
“I shoot faster than you,” said he to everyone near.
“Yes,” said the people, all quaking in fear.
But a man pushed in from the back of the crowd,
“I’m not afraid,” said the man very loud.
“We’ll see about that,” said our man with a gleam in his eye.
The crowd all pushed back for they knew he was sly.
“I’m gonna kill you,” said our man with a sneer;
Said the other, “There’s room for only one of us here!”
“Oh, no!” said our man, and the people laughed in fun
For he had brought his son’s toy water gun!
43. Self-Image poem Write a poem in which you describe yourself in images that seem to describe how you see
yourself. Start with I am… or I used to be, but now…. Let your imagination run free.
I am a free bird flying above the blue sky
A bright spring day,
A glass of lemonade,
A trickling stream
with fresh mountain water.
I am me.
I am a child in Sunday clothes
Making mud pies.
I am an old battered shoe
An over-inflated football
A pair of broken glasses
A stop sign on the street
A pothole in the road
A lousy poet
A student who hates writing poems
That’s why this is a lousy poem.
I am a newborn rose
A field of wheat
Blowing in the breeze
44. Sententious Simile A sentence arranged into four or five lines, consisting of (1) a noun plus modifiers; (2) a
verb, preferably active, plus object or prepositional phrase; (3) a simile; and (4-5) a participial phrase providing
personal reaction.
The Silver Jet
The silver jet
Soars across the sky
Like a giant dragonfly,
Trailing wisps of white,
Taking my dreams with him.
A Single Glowing Ash
A single glowing ash
Burst into crimson flame
Like an angry phoenix’ flight,
Rising on wrathful wings,
Razing the cool growth of centuries
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45. Slant Rhyme poem A partial or imperfect rhyme, often using assonance or consonance only, as in dry and died
or grown and moon. Also called half rhyme, near rhyme; Also called oblique rhyme, slant rhyme. Note the bold
words in the following poem. They sound similar, but are not exact rhymes. They are like half-way rhymes.
This type of rhyming is most used in music lyrics for they are not as easily noticed.
The difference between Despair
And Fear - is like the One
Between the instant of a Wreck And when the Wreck has been -
The Mind is Smooth - no Motion Contented as the Eye
Upon the Forehead of a Bust That knows - it cannot see.
46. “Starter” poem An opening phrase or line that may be completed by any statement of imaginative quality. A
“starter” that may spark creative expression is “I wish . . .”
Flower
Ocean World
I wish
The world was a single ocean
I were a flower
All fires extinguished
So I could make
All creatures floating peacefully
myself more beautiful.
In a silent watery kingdom.
Peach Tree
I used to be a peach tree
Luscious and blushing pink,
But now I’m a crabapple
Stunted and raging red.
Rocket Metal
I used to be a piece of ore
Buried in the sand.
But now I am a rocket ship
Suspended in space.
47. Symbol poem Symbols – any detail such as an object, action or state that has a range of meaning beyond a
usually larger than itself. Public symbols everyone knows and private symbols devised by the individual writers
for their work are both included in this definition.
In the poem “As the Cold Deepens” the poet Holden develops a private symbol of flies and their short lives spent
flying around a window pane to represent her frail mother: “She is eighty-six/ and her friends are dying./ ‘They’re
dropping like flies,’ she grumbles/…I think of flies/ how they live in a weightless armor… / My mother is almost
weightless now,/ her flesh shrinks back toward bone.” The flies buzzing around the window to get to the light and
dying on the sill symbolize the struggle of life and how it is over quickly.
Note how the following poem uses the tide as a symbol for desire:
“Desire” (Philip Appleman)
The body
Tugged like a tide, a pull
Stronger than
The attraction of stars
Nothing is what
We cannot imagine:
All that we know we know
Moves in the muscles
Moons
Circling their planets,
Planets
Rounding their suns.
Undertow:
I reach for you,
Oceans away.
48. Tanka Thirty-one syllables arranged in five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. Similar to haiku in content.
Dreams
Dreams silently stalk
Striking on cold and dark nights
Quickly here and gone
Leaving their shadows behind
To darken the light of day.
Evening Sea
The twilight moves in
Evening settles on the sea
A fish leaps upward
The sound of its splash muted
By the thick blanketing fog.
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49. Terse Verse Two-line verse, usually composed of only two rhyming words that summarize a thought or act. The
title often serves as a lengthy and mock-serious introductions.
Mark Spitz
MARK SPITZ’S COMMENT
AFTER DRINKING MILK
“Swift
Lift.”
The Farmer and the Cow
WHAT THE FARMER SAID
WHILE TRYING TO MILK
HIS COW
“Now
Cow!
50. Word Cinquain
First line – One word that names the subject. (a noun)
Second line – Two words that define of describe the subject. (adjectives, separated by a comma)
Third line – Three words that express action associated with the subject. (verbs tell what the noun does)
Fourth line – Four words that express a personal attitude toward the subject.
Fifth line – One word that sums up, restates, or supplies a synonym for the subject.
Jeans
Jeans
Soft, blue
Aging, fading, clinging
Second skin for nonplastic people
Levis!
Hatred
Hatred
Deadly, destructive
Stirs, simmers, scalds
More fatal them flame
Rancor
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