Styles and Forms

Narrative Poem 0 Tells part or all of a story 0 They might have lots of descriptive passages, but its rimary purpose is to tell a tale 0 Does not have a set form 0 They can be long epics, suchs as The Odyssey, or they can be just a fe stanzas

Lyric Poem 0 Lyric poems express an individual’s thoughts and emotions 0 Many poetic forms can also be considered lyric poetry

Metaphysical Poetry 0 Lyric poems of certain 17 th century men—Donne, Marvell, Herbert—fond of writing highly intellectual verses on the nature of thought and feeling. 0 Their work blends emotion with intellectual ingenuity and modern readers sometimes find it farfetched

Romantic Poetry 0 Literary movement that peaked in England during the 19 th century—Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron 0 Poems protest against classical formalities 0 Poems tend to focus on inner experience and feelings 0 Also look for poems about nature and transcendentalist ideas 0 Focuses on individuality

Ballad 0 Orriginally sung, folk ballads are storied about life, death, heroism, love, murder, and betrayal

Couplet 0 Made up of 2 rhymed lines, usualy in meter 0 Rarely stand on their own, usually the building blocks of other works

Dramatic Monologue 0 Poem spoken by one person to a listener 0 The listener may influence the speaker, but says nothing

Elegy 0 A poem of mourning and meditation 0 Also called a dirge

Limerick 0 One of the most popular lighter forms 0 5 lines built on 2 rhymes, lines 3 and 4 are shorter— makes it easy to remember

Ode 0 An ancient form of poetic song, a celebratory poem 0 Highly lyical or philosophical 0 Pay homage to something the poet holds dear 0 Usually employ a uniform stanza throughout

Villanelle 0 19 line poem with 5 three-line stanzas and a concluding quatrain 0 Usually light in tone and is based on only 2 rhymes

Sonnet 0 14 line lyric poems, each line is 10 syllables long (5 poetic feet) 0 Italian Sonnet 0 Octave (first 8 lines) abba, abba 0 Volta—turning point 0 Sestet—the remaining 6 lines, either cdcdcd or cdecde 0 English/Shakespearean Sonnet 0 3 quatrains, 1 couplet 0 Usually abab cdcd efef gg 0 Typically written in iambic pentameter