Types of Poems
Class Notes
Acrostic
 Also called “name poems”
 First letter of each line spells out a word
or phrase
 Should still have characteristics of a “real”
poem
 Including poetic devices such as metaphor,
simile, personification, alliteration, rhyme, etc…
Acrostic Example
Acrostic
by Lewis Carroll, 1832 - 1898
Little maidens, when you look
On this little story-book,
Reading with attentive eye
Its enticing history,
Never think that hours of play
Are your only HOLIDAY,
And that in a HOUSE of joy
Lessons serve but to annoy:
If in any HOUSE you find
Children of a gentle mind,
Each the others pleasing ever—
Each the others vexing never—
Daily work and pastime daily
In their order taking gaily—
Then be very sure that they
Have a life of HOLIDAY.
Acrostic Assignment
Write an original acrostic
Your acrostic may be any length but it must
be about the word that is being spelled out.
Like all poems, your acrostic must include
poetic devices such as metaphor, simile,
personification, alliteration, rhyme, etc…
Your acrostic must also convey a vivid image
and/or strong emotions.
Haiku
 Japanese origin
 Three non-rhyming lines
 First line has 5 syllables
 Second line has 7 syllables
 Third line has 5 syllables
Haiku Example
An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.
- Bashō
In the twilight rain
these brilliant-hued hibiscus A lovely sunset
- Bashō
Toward those short trees
We saw a hawk descending
On a day in spring.
- Shiki
Haiku Assignment
Write two original haikus
Your haikus may be connected to each other
or they can stand alone.
Tanka
 Japanese origin
 Five non-rhyming lines
 First line has 5 syllables
 Second line has 7 syllables
 Third line has 5 syllables
 Fourth line has 7 syllables
 Fifth line has 7 syllables
Tanka Example
About Writing
It starts with nothing
A blank page and an idea
Thoughts form into words
And words create a picture
My image now shared with you.
Tanka Assignment
Write two original tankas
Your tankas may be connected to each other
or they can stand alone.
Epitaph
 A short poem intended (or imagined) as
the inscription on a tombstone.
Epitaph Examples
I am ready to meet my Maker.
Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal
of meeting me is another matter.
- Winston Churchill
The Body of B. Franklin, Printer; like the Cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be wholly lost; For it will, as he
believ’d, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and amended By the Author.
- Benjamin Franklin (* not his actual epitaph)
Good Friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here:
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
- William Shakespeare
Epitaph Assignment
Write two original epitaphs.
One epitaph should be about yourself. The
other should be about a character from one
of the stories we have read. (The character
may be from a story you read in English class
last year as well.)
Your epitaph should accurately depict aspects
of the subject’s life, but it may be serious or
humorous.
Ballad
 A popular narrative song
 Originally passed down orally
 Usually written in quatrains
 (four rhyming lines)
 Recount tragic, comic, or heroic stories
 Focus on a central event
Molly Malone
Ballad Example
In Dublin’s fair city,
Where girls are so pretty,
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she pushed her wheelbarrow
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh”!
Now she was a fishmonger,
And sure twas no wonder,
For so were her mother and father before,
And they each wheeled their barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh”!
She died of a fever,
And no one could save her,
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone.
Now her ghost wheels her barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh”!
Epic
 A long narrative poem
 Centers around epic hero
 Plot involves actions of mythic or historical
importance
Epic Examples
 Beowulf
This is an Old English epic poem
about the hero, Beowulf, who helps
King Hrothgar defeat the monster,
Grendel. Beowulf later becomes
king and defeats a dragon but is
fatally wounded in the process.
 The Odyssey
This is an ancient Greek epic poem
which centers around the hero
Odysseus and his return home after
the Trojan War.
Villanelle
 French origin
 5 three-line stanzas + a final quatrain
 Lines 1 and 3 of stanza one repeat
alternately in the rest of the stanzas
 Lines 1 and 3 of stanza one form the final
couplet of the poem
Villanelle Example
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
by 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
night.
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,
night.
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,
night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Villanelle Assignment
Write an original villanelle.
Be sure to follow the guidelines exactly.
Your villanelle can be on any (school
appropriate) topic.
Hymn
 Poem that is often sung
 Praises God or the divine
 Most English hymns were written between
1600 and 1800
Hymn Example
Amazing Grace
by John Newton (1725 – 1807)
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.
T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
a life of joy and peace.
Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.
When we've been here ten thousand
years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
Limerick
 Light-verse poem
 Five lines with rhyme scheme AABBA
 Usually silly, mocking, or even vulgar
 Note: The ones you write may be silly but
they must be school appropriate.
Limerick Examples
Our novels get longa and longa
Their language gets stronga and stronga
There’s much to be said
For a life that is led
In illiterate places like Bonga
- H. G. Wells
A wonderful bird is the pelican
His bill can hold more than his belican
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week
But I’m damned if I see how the helican
- Dixon Merritt
I wish that my room had a floor!
I don't so much care for a door,
But this crawling around
Without touching the ground
Is getting to be quite a bore!
- Gelett Burgess
Limerick Assignment
Write an original limerick
Remember that limericks should be
humorous and/or gently mocking.
Be sure to keep your limerick school appropriate.
Lyric Poem
 Originally meant to be accompanied by music
 Short poem in which speaker expresses
personal feelings
Lyric Poem Example
The Tables Turned
by William Wordsworth
Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?
She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless—
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.
The sun above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has
spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of
things:—
We murder to dissect.
And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.
Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.
Narrative Poem
 Poem that tells a story
 Speaker acts as narrator and there are
often characters
Narrative Poem Example
Charge of the Light Brigade
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Narrative Poem Example
Charge of the Light Brigade (continued)
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Narrative Poem Example
Charge of the Light Brigade (continued)
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
Ode
 Type of lyric poem
 Formal poem about (often celebrating)
a person, place, thing, or idea
Ode.
by John Keats
Bards of Passion and of Mirth,
Ye have left your souls on earth!
Have ye souls in heaven too,
Double-lived in regions new?
Yes, and those of heaven commune
With the spheres of sun and moon;
With the noise of fountains wond’rous,
And the parle of voices thund’rous;
With the whisper of heaven’s trees
And one another, in soft ease
Seated on Elysian lawns
Brows’d by none but Dian’s fawns
Underneath large blue-bells tented,
Where the daisies are rose-scented,
And the rose herself has got
Perfume which on earth is not;
Where the nightingale doth sing
Not a senseless, tranced thing,
But divine melodious truth;
Philosophic numbers smooth;
Tales and golden histories
Of heaven and its mysteries.
Ode Example
Thus ye live on high, and then
On the earth ye live again;
And the souls ye left behind you
Teach us, here, the way to find you,
Where your other souls are joying,
Never slumber’d, never cloying.
Here, your earth-born souls still speak
To mortals, of their little week;
Of their sorrows and delights;
Of their passions and their spites;
Of their glory and their shame;
What doth strengthen and what maim.
Thus ye teach us, every day,
Wisdom, though fled far away.
Bards of Passion and of Mirth,
Ye have left your souls on earth!
Ye have souls in heaven too,
Double-lived in regions new!
Elegy
 Traditional English style poem
 Melancholy poem expressing grief over
the subject’s death, but ends with a
note of comfort or solace
O Captain My Captain
by Walt Whitman
Elegy Example
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.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Sonnet - General
 Originated in Italy, later brought to England
 Comes from the term “little song”
 14-line poem with set (but varying)
rhyme scheme
 2 primary forms
 Petrarchan (Italian)
 Shakespearean (English)
Sonnet - Shakespearean
 Made famous by William Shakespeare
 14 lines with rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Q1
Q2
 Arranged into 3 quatrains & 1 couplet
 Written in IAMBIC PENTAMETER
 Each line must have 10 syllables*
Q3
C1
Iambic Pentameter
 Refers to specific rhythmic pattern common to
Shakespeare’s works
 Blank Verse is unrhyming poetry that also is
written in IAMBIC PENTAMETER
 IAMB – set of two syllables in which the first is
unstressed and the second is stressed
 PENTAMETER – means 5 (penta) “feet” or sets of
rhythmic pieces (the IAMB is one “rhythmic piece”)
Iambic Pentameter Take-Away
 An IAMB is two syllables
 Iambic PENTAmeter means that there are 5
iambs
 So, a line of “IAMBIC PENTAMETER” has 10
syllables (2 X 5)
Sonnet Example 1
SONNET 18
by William Shakespeare
Q1
Q2
Q3
C1
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? A
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: B
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, A
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: B
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, C
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; D
And every fair from fair sometime declines, C
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; D
But thy eternal summer shall not fade E
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; F
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, E
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st; F
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, G
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. G
Sonnet Example 2
Sonnet 30
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Q1
Q2
Q3
C1
Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution’s power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.
Sonnet Assignment
Write an original sonnet
Remember to follow all of the requirements
for a sonnet.
Typically sonnets are about love. Yours can be on
any topic as long as it is school appropriate.