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Poetic Forms

The document defines several poetic forms including sonnets, villanelles, sestinas, pantoums, limericks, ballads, and generic lyric forms like elegies, odes, and pastorals. It outlines the typical structure of each form including line length, rhyme scheme, and repetition patterns. Sonnets are 14 lines following different rhyme schemes depending on if they are Petrarchan, Shakespearean, or Spenserian. Villanelles and sestinas have complex repetition patterns of lines. Ballads are stories told in rhyming quatrains.

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Joe Mama
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28 views

Poetic Forms

The document defines several poetic forms including sonnets, villanelles, sestinas, pantoums, limericks, ballads, and generic lyric forms like elegies, odes, and pastorals. It outlines the typical structure of each form including line length, rhyme scheme, and repetition patterns. Sonnets are 14 lines following different rhyme schemes depending on if they are Petrarchan, Shakespearean, or Spenserian. Villanelles and sestinas have complex repetition patterns of lines. Ballads are stories told in rhyming quatrains.

Uploaded by

Joe Mama
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Poetic Forms

Key Terms

Volta - the “turn” of thought or argument in a fixed form poem

Envoi - the commentary or explanatory concluding remarks at the end of a poem

Sonnets

Sonnet - a 14-line poem, typically written in iambic pentameter

Petrarchan Sonnet
○ 1 octave, 1 sestet
○ Iambic Pentameter
○ Rhyme Scheme: ABBAABBA CDECDE (or CDC DED)
○ Volta before the sestet

Shakespearean Sonnet
○ 3 quatrains, 1 couplet
○ Iambic Pentameter
○ Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
○ Volta before the heroic couplet

Spenserian Sonnet
○ Same as Shakespearean sonnet except for rhyme scheme
○ Rhyme Scheme: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE

Other Fixed Forms

Villanelle
● 5 tercets, 1 quatrain
● No prescribed rhythm and meter, though often in iambic pentameter
● Rhyme Scheme: ABA usually
● The first line of the first stanza is the last line of the second and fourth stanzas and the penultimate line
of the poem.
● The third line of the first stanza is the last line of the third and fifth stanzas and the final line of the poem

Sestina
● 6 sestets, 1 tercet (envoi)
● No prescribed rhythm or meter
● No prescribed rhyme scheme
● The same 6 words occur at the end of each of the 6 lines of each sestet, but in a different order in each
stanza, usually following a consistent pattern.
● The last word of the last last of the previous stanza is usually the same as the last word of the first line
of the next stanza.
● The tercet at the end uses all 6 words, usually 2 in each line
Pantoum
● Quatrains, unspecified number
● Rhyme Scheme: ABAB
● The second and fourth lines of the previous quatrain become the first and third lines of the next.
● The first and third lines of the first stanza become the fourth and second lines of the last stanza.

Generic Forms

Limerick - humorous, often rude poems that describe a person or tell a brief story
● 5 lines
● Rhyme Scheme: AABBA
● The A lines are in anapestic or dactylic trimeter, while the B lines are in anapestic or dactylic dimeter

Ballad - a poem that tells a story


● Quatrains, unspecified number
● Alternating tetrameter and trimeter
● Rhyme Scheme: ABAB

Lyric - a short poem expressing the personal thoughts or feelings of a first-person speaker

Elegy - a contemplative poem, usually a lament for someone who has died

Ode - a meditation on or address to an object or condition

Pastoral - a poem that idealizes rural life and landscapes

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