Types of Poetry
Haiku
 Originally Japanese
 3 line verse form
 1st and 3rd lines have 5 syllables
 The 2nd line has 7 syllables
 Purpose: present a single vivid emotion by means of
images from nature
Free Verse
 Poetry not written in regular rhythmical patterns
 Purpose: capture the rhythms of speech
 Main form of contemporary poetry
Blank Verse
 Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines
 Iambic Pentameter: Each line has 5 stressed and 5 unstressed
syllables
 Widely used by Elizabethan writers like William
Shakespeare
Ballad
 A songlike poem that tells a story
 Most are written in 4-6 line stanzas and have regular
rhythms and rhyme schemes
 Often features a refrain
 Refrain: regularly repeated line or group of lines
Epic
 A long narrative poem about the deeds of gods or
heroes
 Ex: Homer’s The Odyssey
Sonnet
14 lines
Usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter
The most famous is the English, or
Shakespearean, sonnet
Consists of 3 quatrains and 1 couplet
Quatrain: 4-line stanza
Couplet: 2 line stanza
Limerick
 Consists of 5 lines: 3 long and 2 short
 Rhyme Scheme: AABBA
 Humorous and frequently inappropriate
 Popularized by Edward Lear in the 19th century