English 12
Poetry Forms
Poems are often referred to in the following categories:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Narrative – tell a story
Lyric – expresses thoughts and emotions
Didactic – teaches a lesson
Descriptive – paints a word picture
Further classifications include the following:
Ballad: A narrative poem (tells a story), often written traditionally in quatrains
Sonnet: a poem of 14 lines with ten syllables per line and a rhyme scheme
Elegy: a poem mourning the death of an individual
Epic: an extended narrative which tells of heroic adventures
Ode: dignified in style, praising its subject matter
Parody: mocks another poem or famous work, paralleling the original structure
Satire: the ridicule of any subject to make the subject laughable
Allegory: an extended metaphor and narrative that carries a second meaning