2. Today’s Standard Reading Standard 3.1 Determine and articulate the relationship between the purposes and characteristics of different forms of poetry (for example, ballad, epic, narrative, lyric, ode and sonnet). I love poetry!

3.  Sometimes poetry has no particular form or rhyme scheme; these types of poems are called free verse poems.  Traditionally, however, poems had a particular format and/ or rhyming pattern. The subject matter and form of a poem may put it in a particular category like ballad, epic, lyric, sonnet, ode, elegy, narrative etc. Hey, what’s a sonnet?

4. The Sonnet:  A fourteen-line poem  Usually written in iambic pentameter.  Has a particular end rhyme pattern (ABABCDCD…)  Usually ends in a rhymed couplet (two lines with end rhyme). A fourteen-line rhyming poem? Hey, we wrote a sonnet for the front of our portfolios the first week of school!

5. The Ode:  This type of poem dates back to Ancient Greece  It’s a long, lyric poem usually addressed to a particular person or thing.  It generally deals with one main idea and can be written as a song of praise or to celebrate an experience, thing or a person.  The Romantic poets like Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley used this form of poetry. Pablo Neruda is a famous Latin American poet well-known for his odes. Ode to a Fountain Pen: “Oh beloved pen of midnight black ink, How I love to roll you down my nose.”

6. Ode to My Thumb: “Delicious appendage on my left hand. You are my favorite finger, my most tasty dessert.” Ode to Dancing: “’Kick up your heels Wave your hands in the air. There’s nothing as joyful as Dancing in pairs!”

7. Ode to My Teeth: Little white molars Striped with braces Help me make amusing faces

8. A ballad is a songlike poem that tells a story, often a sad story of betrayal, death, or loss. Ballads usually have a regular, steady rhythm, a simple rhyme pattern, and a refrain, all of which make them easy to memorize. Historically ballads were passed down orally from person to person rather than in writing. Steady rhythm, simple rhyme pattern, and refrain. That’s easy!!

9. Narrative Poem: Tells a story. Lyric Poem: Does not tell a story, more emotion based. Elegy: A Poem written for someone who has died, often a tribute.

10. An epic is a long narrative poem about the many deeds of a great hero. Epics are closely connected to a particular culture. The hero of an epic embodies the important values of the society he comes from. Essentially, an epic is a long story about the quests of a hero. Think Hercules, and Shrek in poetic form. The most famous epic poems are Illiad and the Odessy by the great writer Homer (no, not Simpson). Epic: long story poem about a hero. d’oh! ©Created by Cathy Shope, EWMS 2001