Forms of Poetry

Diamante Sample square symmetrical, conventional shaping, measuring, balancing boxes, rooms, clocks, halos encircling, circumnavigating, enclosing round, continuous circle

Diamante A Diamante is a seven-lined contrast poem set up in a diamond shape. Line 1: Noun or subject Line 2: Two Adjectives describing the first noun/subect Line 3: Three -ing words describing the first noun/subect Line 4: Four words: two about the first noun/subect, two about the antonym/synonym Line 5: Three -ing words about the antonym/synonym Line 6: Two adjectives describing the antonym/synonym Line 7: Antonym/synonym for the subject

Limerick Sample There was a large lady from Perth Who wanted to travel the earth But her wish was in vain For the door of the plane Was not wide enough for her girth.

Limerick A Limerick is a rhymed humorous or nonsense poem of five lines which originated in Limerick, Ireland. The Limerick has a set rhyme scheme of : a-a-b-b-a with a syllable structure of: 9-9-6-6-9. (8-8-6-6-8) The rhythm of the poem should go as follows: Lines 1, 2, 5: weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak Lines 3, 4: weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak

Quatrain Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?   -From William Blake's "The Tyger"

Quatrain A Quatrain is a poem consisting of four lines of verse with a specific rhyming scheme. A few examples of a quatrain rhyming scheme are as follows: #1) abab #2) abba -- envelope rhyme #3) aabb #4) aaba, bbcb, ccdc, dddd -- chain rhyme

Cinquain Angels kind beyond words they protect and forgive and make feelings of blissfulness cherubim

Cinquain Cinquain is a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines. It was developed by the Imagist poet, Adelaide Crapsey. Another form, sometimes used by school teachers to teach grammar, is as follows: Line 1: Noun Line 2: Description of Noun Line 3: Action Line 4: Feeling or Effect Line 5: Synonym of the initial noun.

Tanka Subtle hints of spring In the wet bark of the tree Dew dripping from leaves Then runs down the russet trunk Pools round the roots and is drunk

Tanka Tanka is a classic form of Japanese poetry related to the haiku with five unrhymed lines of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables. (5, 7, 5, 7, 7) The 5/7/5/7/7 rule is rumored to have been made up for school children to understand and learn this type of poetry.

Ode An Ode is a poem praising and glorifying a person, place or thing.

Ode on a Grecian Urn (excerpt) Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!     When old age shall this generation waste,         Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe     Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all         Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Keats 1819

Sonnet HOW do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, -I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sonnet A Sonnet is a poem consisting of 14 lines (iambic pentameter) with a particular rhyming scheme: Examples of a rhyming scheme: #1) abab cdcd efef gg #2) abba cddc effe gg #3) abba abba cdcd cd A Shakespearean (English) sonnet has three quatrains and a couplet, and rhymes abab cdcd efef gg.

Villanelle 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 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, 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, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas

Villanelle A Villanelle is a nineteen-line poem consisting of a very specific rhyming scheme: aba aba aba aba aba abaa. The first and the third lines in the first stanza are repeated in alternating order throughout the poem, and appear together in the last couplet (last two lines).

Free Verse in just- in Just- spring when the world is mud- luscious the little lame balloonman whistles       far       and wee and eddieandbill come running from marbles and piracies and it's spring when the world is puddle-wonderful the queer old balloonman whistles far       and       wee and bettyandisbel come dancing  from hop-scotch and jump-rope and it's and      the              goat-footed balloonMan       whistles far wee e.e. cummings

Free Verse Free Verse is an irregular form of poetry in which the content is free of traditional rules of versification (freedom from fixed meter or rhyme). In moving from line to line, the poet's main consideration is where to insert line breaks. Some ways of doing this include breaking the line where there is a natural pause or at a point of suspense for the reader.