And now several forms

of poetry…

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LCUTOPE
Two lines that rhyme.
 COUPLET

Two lines that rhyme.

A complete idea is usually expressed in a couplet, or in a long
poem made up of many couplets.
Couplets may be humorous or serious.

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 COUPLET CONTINUED…

Example:

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restored and sorrows end.
Shakespeare

Chocolate candy is sweet and yummy

It goes down smoothly in my tummy!
Unknown

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COUPLET CONTINUED…

Twinkle, twinkle little star,

How I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

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 RVENARATI
SMPOE
Tell a story. It is a story told in verse, by a speaker or narrator.

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 NARRATIVE POEMS

Tell a story. It is a story told in verse, by a speaker or narrator.

There is a plot … somethinghappens; because of
this, something else happens.
Can be true or fictional.
Poems vary in treatment of character and setting.
Forms of narrative poetry include:
ballad
epic

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 NARRATIVE POEMS:

DLBALA
A narrative, rhyming poem or song.
Characterized by short stanzas and simple words, usually telling
a heroic and/or tragic story (although some are humorous).
Can be long.
Usually rich with imagery (emotionally charged visual images).
Originated from folk songs that told exciting or dramatic stories.
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 NARRATIVE POEMS: BALLAD

A narrative, rhyming poem or song.

Characterized by short stanzas and simple words, usually telling
a heroic and/or tragic story (although some are humorous).
Can be long.
Usually rich with imagery (emotionally charged visual images).
Originated from folk songs that told exciting or dramatic stories.

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 BALLAD CONTINUED…

Example from John Henry, a traditional American ballad in ten stanzas.

When John Henry was a tiny little baby

Sitting on his mama’s knee,
He picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel
Saying, “Hammer’s going to be the death of me, Lord, Lord,
Hammer’s going to be the death of me.”

John Henry was a man just six feet high.

Nearly two feet and a half across his chest.
He’d hammer with a nine-pound hammer all day
And never get tired and want to rest. Lord, Lord,
And never get tired and want to rest.
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 BALLAD
CONTINUED…
Example from The Unquiet Grave. (an old ballad that would have been sung to an eerily catchy tune)

The wind doth blow today, my love,

And a few small drops of rain.
I never had but one true-love,
In cold grave she was lain.

I’ll do as much for my true-love

As any young man may.
I’ll sit and mourn all at her grave
For a twelvemonth and a day.

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 NARRATIVE POEMS:

IECP
Some are VERY long – for example, The Odyssey by Homer,
(written as 12 books) has over 6,213 lines in the first half
alone!

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 NARRATIVE POEMS: EPIC

Very long narrative (story) poem that tells of the adventures

of a hero.
Purpose is to help the reader understand the past and be
inspired to choose good over evil.
Usually focuses on the heroism of one person who is a
symbol of strength, virtue, and courage in the face of
conflict.

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 NARRATIVE POEMS: EPIC CONTINUED

Some are VERY long – for example, The Odyssey by Homer,

(written as 12 books) has over 6,213 lines in the first half
alone!

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 YLCIR
TPROYE
Always expresses some emotion.
Poems are shorter than epic poems.
Tend to express the personal feelings of one speaker (often the poet).
Give you a feeling that they could be sung.

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 LYRIC POETRY

Always expresses some emotion.

Poems are shorter than epic poems.
Tend to express the personal feelings of one speaker (often
the poet).
Give you a feeling that they could be sung.

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 LYRIC POETRY CONTINUED…

Originally Greek poets sang or recited poems accompanied

by music played on a lyre (a stringed instrument like a small harp).
In the Renaissance, poems were accompanied by a lute (like
a guitar).

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 LYRIC POETRY:

TSONEN
Most are in a fixed form of 14 lines of 10 syllables, usually written in
iambic pentameter.
The theme of the poem is summed up in the last two lines.
Can be about any subject, but usually are about love and/or philosophy.

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 LYRIC POETRY: SONNET

Most sonnets are in a fixed form of 14 lines of 10 syllables, usually

written in iambic pentameter.
The theme of the poem is summed up in the last two lines.
Can be about any subject, but usually are about love and/or philosophy.

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 LYRIC POETRY: SONNET CONTINUED…

Example from Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
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 LYRIC POETRY:

EOD
A tribute to someone or something.
Often uses exalted language in praise or celebration.
Can be serious or humorous.

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 LYRIC POETRY: ODE

A tribute to someone or something.

Often uses exalted language in praise or celebration.
Can be serious or humorous.

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 LYRIC POETRY: ODE
CONTINUED…
Example from Ode to Pablo's Tennis Shoes by Gary Soto

They wait under Pablo's bed, Now it's night.

Rain-beaten, sun-beaten, Pablo is in bed listening
A scuff of green To his mother laughing
At their tips to the Mexican novelas on TV.
From when he fell His shoes, twin pets
 In the school yard. That snuggle his toes,
He fell leaping for a football Are under the bed.
That sailed his way.
But Pablo fell and got up,
Green on his shoes,
With the football
Out of reach.
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LYEGE
to express grief or mourning for someone who has died
somber, serious, ending on a peaceful note

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 ELEGY

to express grief or mourning for someone who has died

somber, serious, ending on a peaceful note

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 Elegy for Anne Frank

Elegy example…
by Jessica Smith

You blossomed and grew

between the quiet gray walls
of your attic home.
A sidewalk-surrounded flower
pushed up through the cracks,
petals straining for
the light, but your
roots held you down.
In the dim light of your room
you made family trees,
the continuing lives
comforting you in ways
your mother could not.
While concentration camps
built bonfires with the
bones of your neighbors,
you dreamed of the sun and
the love you’d find when the doors
of your prison were unlocked.
When I took your short life from your diary,
I could feel your heartbeat
pulse with my own,
and every breath you took
went into my own lungs,
every desire you felt,
I felt, too.
Your life was held by four silent years,
surrounding you as the four walls did.
And before the last bomb fell,
destroying the last of your love and light,
27 you died.
And I am thankful.
 KIRMEILC
A FUNNY 5-line poem, written with one couplet (two lines of poetry that rhyme) and
one triplet (three lines of poetry that rhyme).
Always follows the same pattern.
The rhyme scheme (pattern) is – a a b b a.
The last line contains the “punchline” or “heart of the joke”.
Often contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, and other figurative
language.
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 LIMERICK

A FUNNY 5-line poem, written with one couplet (two lines of poetry that rhyme) and
one triplet (three lines of poetry that rhyme).
Always follows the same pattern.
The rhyme scheme (pattern) is – a a b b a.
The last line contains the “punchline” or “heart of the joke”.
Often contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, and other figurative
language.

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 LIMERICK CONTINUED…

You will soon hear the distinctive beat pattern of all limericks.

eg: “A fly and a flea in na! flue

er atio
Were caught, so what
alli
t could they do?
Said the fly, “Let us flee.”
“Let us fly,” said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.”

Can you id
ent ify t he
r hyme pat
t ern?

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 LIMERICK CONTINUED…

By Edward Lear, who made limericks very popular.

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LIMERICK CONTINUED…
eg. Before we even said grace
He sat and filled up his face
He gorged on salami
Ate all the pastrami
Then exploded with nary a trace.

There was a large bear in a tree

Who was in pursuit of a bee
The bee was no dummy
He gave the bear money
So the bear let the honeybee free.
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 REFE SVREE
Is just that – free!
Lines of poetry written without rules; no regular beat or rhyme.
Unrhymed poetry.
T h o ught
t u m n es;
. A u u gh
eg g s t onH
by La
n
m m er.
y in su a w a y.
ha p p own
rs a r e re bl
Flowe ie a n da
n t h ey d
um
I n a ut e red,
d w i t h w ind
a n on t h e
Dry n c e
t a ls da s.
e ir p e t e rfl ie
Th w n but
t le br o
e lit
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 FREE VERSE

Is just that – free!

Lines of poetry written without rules; no regular beat or rhyme.
Unrhymed poetry.

h o u g ht
t u m nT es;
. A u u g h
eg g s t on H
by La
n
m m er.
p p y in su n a w ay.
rs a r e ha re blow
Flowe die a nd a
n t h ey
um
I n a ut e red,
d w i t h w ind
a n t h e
Dry a n ce on
p e t a ls d ies.
T h e ir t t e rfl
ow n bu
t t le b r
e li
Lik
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 IUAKH
A Japanese form of poetry; one line of five syllables; one line of seven
syllables; and a final line of five syllables.
Fragments (not usually complete sentences)
About everyday things; written in the present tense.
Much is left unsaid.

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 HAIKU

A Japanese form of poetry; one line of five syllables; one line of seven
syllables; and a final line of five syllables.
Fragments (not usually complete sentences)
About everyday things; written in the present tense.
Much is left unsaid.

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 HAIKU CONTINUED…
Examples:

Little sparrow child

plays in the road. “Oh, watch out!
Watch out! Horse tramps by!”

Soft, summer twilight,

ry!
a ge
im
suddenly a sound; Frog leaps
in the old pond – Splash!

on om
a t op
oeia
!

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 QNUICINA
It is a poem that resembles a diamond.
It has 5 lines and begins with one word.
The 2nd line has two adjectives that describe that
word.
The 3rd , three verbs.
The 4th line is a phrase that goes deeper into the topic.
The 5th line gives either a synonym for the first word,
or a word that encompasses the whole poem.

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 CINQUAIN

A Cinquain is a poem that resembles a diamond.

It has 5 lines and begins with one word.
The 2nd line has two adjectives that describe that
word.
The 3rd , three verbs.
The 4th line is a phrase that goes deeper into the topic.
The 5th line gives either a synonym for the first word,
or a word that encompasses the whole poem.

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 CINQUAIN EXAMPLES…

Sister
Smart, Outgoing “Tucson Rain”

Loving, playing, Laughing The smell

Everyone moves
Always in for some fun
To the window to look
Friend
Work stops and people
start talking
Rain came

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AND A FEW OTHER INTERESTING POETRY
FORMS…

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TOENCRCE
TPEOYR
Poetry in which authors use
both words and physical
shape to convey a message.

Poetry in which authors use

both words and physical
shape to convey a message.

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Another Concrete Poem

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