Poetry Forms – English 10

english sonnet
a type of poem with 14 lines in three 4-line stanzas (quatrains) and one 2-line stanza (couplet) with a rhyming scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG; also known as a Shakespearean sonnet; the end couplet usually plays a pivotal role, often a refutation, amplification, or conclusion of the three quatrains; in some, there is a pivot, or a “yet” in line 9 that takes the poem in a new direction.

This is called a “volta”; the meter is usually iambic pentameter

ballad
a plot-driven poem often set to music that is passed down orally; originally written to be danced to and contained refrains that dancers would sing along with; written in quatrains, which are four-line stanzas, in _______ meter ( alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and trimeter), and with an ABCB rhyme scheme. The ABCB rhyme suggests that they were originally written in couplets

sestina
a type of poetry that follows a very strict pattern. It consists of 6 stanzas, all of which are 6 lines, and is concluded with a 3 line envoi. **An enovi is a short, concluding paragraph in a poem that oftentimes is used to address a person (whether they be real or imaginary), or to comment on the previous 36 lines of poetry.** very rigid pattern of repetition. The final words of each individual line of the first stanza are repeated in a very specific pattern throughout the 5 remaining stanzas of the poem

villanelle
a 19 line rhyming poetic form consisting of 5 tercets (3 line stanzas) and 1 quatrain (4 line stanza); this poetic form often rhymes on the first and third line in the tercets; and the first, third, and fourth lines in a quatrain; another distinct feature is the double refrain, which repeats the first and last line of the first stanza throughout the rest of the poem at the end of other stanzas.

free verse
poetry form that is unique in the sense that it follows no set structure, pattern, or meter;

limerick
a humorous style of poetry that is typically five lines. It is written with anapaestic feet, meaning that each foot has the following stresses: x x /; are five lines and fit a very specific rhyme and metrical scheme. The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme and have three anapaestic feet, whereas the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other and only have two anapaestic feet.

epic
A lengthy narrative poem that is serious, lyrical and dramatic. It usually depicts a hero (sometimes doing superhuman deeds) during events significant to a culture or nation; written in dactylic hexameter, which is also known as heroic hexamete

ode (paean)
generally a formal address to a person, event, or an intangible object. There are three types of odes: Pindaric, Horatian, and Irregular; originally sung; devoted to praising an object or person, and often includes exalted language while expressing deep feeling

rondeau
also known as forme fixe is a form of poetry that is known to be one of the three formes fixes and is most often set to music; begins with a statements of the poem’s refrain which has two halves; this is then followed by a series of lines that are not part of the refrain but mirror the metrical structure and rhyme pattern of the refrain’s first half and then by a restatements of the first half of the refrain also known as the rentrement.

A new section then follows that mirrors the metrical structure and rhyme of the entire refrain but is not the same as the refrain. Finally this is followed by a full restatement of the refrain; most commonly 13 or 10 lines

terza rima
an Italian style of poetry first used in Dante’s famous The Divine Comedy. It consists of lines that are typically written in iambic pentameter, although the number of feet may vary depending on the language used. The lines are formatted into groups of threes where the first and third lines rhyme, and the second line rhymes with the first and third lines of the next triplet

acrostic
a poem or other form of writing in which the first letter(s) or first word of each new line, new sentence, new paragraph, new stanza or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message.

elegy
melancholy poem in which the death of the subject is invoked in the poetry; this form of poetry is used to lament the death of something or someone, in which a serious reflection occurs within the piece. However, the death that occurs can be one of the writer himself, and the personal revelation that the writer has about their character. The honor of the deceased portrayed within the ______ is given through _________ couplets, in which a hexameter verse is followed by a pentameter verse