1. Types of Poetry

2. What is poetry?
A written or spoken work that tells feelings or a story in an artistic way
A poem is created by putting words together in an interesting way to express a feeling, create a mental picture, tell a story, or make a sound.
Poetry entertains the ears and the eyes

3. Lyric Poetry
A poem that talks about personal feelings or emotions. Sometimes includes nature
Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.
-Langston Hughes

4. Concrete Poetry
A poem that is written in a special shape to add meaning to the poem

5. Ballad Poetry
A poem that tells a story or describes a person or thing. Usually has 4 lines per stanza
“The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright-- And this was odd, because it was The middle of the night.”
-The Walrus and the Carpenter

6. Acrostic Poetry
A poem made from the first letters of a word or phrase

7. Haiku
Japanese poems, usually about nature. They have a very strict form- The 1st line is 5 syllables, the 2nd line is 7 syllables, and the 3rd line is 5 syllables
The warmth on my skin. Fire falls beneath the trees. I see the sun set

8. Free Verse
Free verse or unrhymed poems do not rhyme or have regular rhythm.
American Walt Whitman was one of the first poets to publish free verse poems.
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work…
~(From I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman)

9. Sonnet
A strict poetic form made up of 14 lines written in iambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter is a specific rhythm pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables
Ex. “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”
2 major types of sonnets
Petrarchan Sonnet- 8 lines (octave), a space, then 6 lines (sestet) that “answers” the first part.
Shakespearean Sonnet- 3 groups of 4 lines (quatrains) and then 2 lines (couplet) that brings the poem to a conclusion

10. Limerick
A limerick is a humorous poem that is made up of 5 lines. The 1st, 2nd, and 5th lines all rhyme, and the 3rd and 4th rhyme.
They typically make fun of someone or something
Ex. There was an Old Man of Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
His daughter, called Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.