Types of Poetry and Examples
Allegorical Poetry
• is a figurative mode of representation
conveying a meaning other than the literal.
Allegory teaches a lesson through
symbolism.
The Faerie Queene
by
Edmund Spenser
Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske,
As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds,
Am now enforst a far vnfitter taske,
For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds,
And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds;
Whose prayses hauing slept in silence long,
Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds
To blazon broad emongst her learned throng:
Fierce warres and faithfull loues shall moralize my song.
Lyrical Poetry
• Lyric Poetry consists of a poem, such
as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses
the thoughts and feelings of the poet.
The term lyric is now commonly
referred to as the words to a song.
" I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William
Wordsworth
I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Narrative Poetry
• poetry that has a plot. The poems may be
short or long, and the story it relates to
may be simple or complex. It is usually
nondramatic, with objective regular
scheme and meter.
• Ex: “The Raven” - Poe
Haiku
• a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of
17 moras in three metrical phrases of 5, 7,
and 5 moras respectively.
As the wind does blow
Across the trees, I see the
Buds blooming in May
Odes
• An ode typically is a lyrical verse written in
praise of or dedicated to someone or
something which captures the poet's
interest or serves as an inspiration
• Ode To A Nightingale
by
John Keats
• My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
Terza Rima
• is a rhyming verse stanza form that
consists of an interlocking three line rhyme
scheme. It was first used by the Italian
poet Dante Alighieri.
• Terza rima is a three-line stanza using
chain rhyme in the pattern A-B-A, B-C-B,
C-D-C, D-E-D
• Midway on our life's journey, I found myself
In dark woods, the right road lost. To tell
About those woods is hard--so tangled and rough
And savage that thinking of it now, I feel
The old fear stirring: death is hardly more bitter.
And yet, to treat the good I found there as well
I'll tell what I saw, thought how I came to enter
I cannot well say, being so full of sleep
Whatever moment it was I began to blunder
Off the true
path....
Epic Poetry
• is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily
concerning a serious subject containing
details of heroic deeds and events
significant to a culture or nation
• Ex: Homer’s Odyssey
Ballad
• Ballad Poems are poems that tells a
story similar to a folk tale or legend and
often has a repeated refrain. A ballad is
often about love and often sung. A
ballad is a story in poetic form.
S. T. Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner:
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
"By thy long gray beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?"
Limerick
• Limericks are short sometimes bawdy,
humorous poems of consisting of five
Anapaestic lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 of a
Limerick have seven to ten syllables and
rhyme with one another. Lines 3 and 4 have
five to seven syllables and also rhyme with
each other. Edward Lear is famous for his
Book of Nonsense which included the poetry
form of Limericks.
•
•
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat Edward Lear
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went
to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty
of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound
note.
The Owl looked up to the stars
above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you
are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'
Sonnet
• English (or Shakespearean) sonnets
are lyric poems that are 14 lines long
falling into three coordinate quatrains
and a concluding couplet. Italian (or
Petrarchan) sonnets are divided into
two quatrains and a six-line sestet.
(Italian/Petrarchan)
"London, 1802" – Wordsworth
English/Shakesperean)
"Sonnet XXIX" - Shakespear
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the
sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends
possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least,
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's
gate,
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth
brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Carpe Diem
• Carpe diem is a Latin expression that
means "seize the day." Carpe diem
poems have the theme of living for
today.
• Gather ye rose-buds
by
Robert Herrick
• Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day,
To-morrow will be dying.
Blank Verse
• Excerpt from Macbeth
by
William Shakespeare
• 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!
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.
Free Verse
• Free Verse is a form of Poetry
composed of either rhymed or
unrhymed lines that have no set fixed
metrical pattern.
• Song of Myself
by
Walt Whitman
• I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good
belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul,
I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of
summer grass.