Poetic Forms

At left, an early Chinese poetics, the Kǒngzǐ Shīlùn (孔子詩論), discussing the Shijing (Classic of Poetry). Shanghai Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Poetic forms consist of a set of rules that order the rhyme scheme (if any), structure, stanza lengths, rhythm, and meter of a poem. Some poets use a certain form to dictate the purpose and overall tone of their poems. The following list is just a small offering of various poetic forms. The sonnet, for instance, has two major forms, Shakespearean and Petrarchan. However, now you might hear a poet refer to a poem as an "American sonnet." Forms are necessary to learn how to write poetry. Forms remain necessary unless poets take the form a step backward or forward or even sideways.

Be patient...more added soon.

Poetic Forms Glossary (a beginning...)

• Abstract Poem: A poem that emphasizes ideas and concepts rather than concrete images or narrative.
• Acrostic: A poem in which the first letter of each line spells out a word or message when read vertically.
• Allegory: A narrative that uses symbolic figures, actions, or events to convey deeper meanings or moral lessons.
• Alliteration: The repetition of the same initial consonant sounds in a sequence of words.
• Alphabet Poem: A poem where each line or stanza begins with a successive letter of the alphabet.
• Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds within close proximity in a line of poetry.
• Ballad: A narrative poem, often in a song-like form, that tells a story, usually of folk origin.
• Ballade: A fixed-form poem with three main stanzas, followed by a shorter final stanza, typically with a recurring refrain.
• Biographical Poem: Also known as a "bio poem", this type of poem is often used as a learning tool by students to remember a famous person. Although the bio poem is a type of poem, it also has a form. This poetic form can be used by poets to begin a poetic journey into describing a family member or friend. In this specific format, the poet outlines the subject's name and various attributes. A sample of a bio poem's format is offered by Read, Write, Think (PDF).
• Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter, often used in English dramatic, epic, and reflective verse.
• Blues Poem: A poem modeled on the themes and form of traditional blues music, often expressing sorrow or lament.
• Bouts Rimes: A poetic game where participants write verses using a set of predetermined rhyming words.
• Burns Stanza: Named for the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, this poetic form is a six-line stanza that uses a rhyme scheme of AAABAB, and lines of tetrameter and dimeter.
• Calligram: A poem arranged in the shape of the subject it describes, blending visual and textual art.
• Canto: A subdivision of an epic or long narrative poem, equivalent to a chapter in a book.
• Canzone: A medieval Italian lyric poem, typically structured in stanzas with a complex rhyme scheme.
• Chant: A rhythmic poem or song, often with a repetitive structure, used in religious or ritualistic contexts.
• Cinquain: A five-line poem with a specific syllable count (2, 4, 6, 8, 2) or word pattern.
• Clerihew: A whimsical, four-line biographical poem with a rhyme scheme of AABB, often humorously highlighting a person's character or actions.
• Collaboration Poem: A poem created by multiple poets working together, each contributing lines or stanzas.
• Concrete Poem: A poem in which the layout or typography reflects the poem's subject or theme.
• Couplet: Two consecutive lines of poetry that typically rhyme and have the same meter.
• Ecologue: A pastoral poem, often in dialogue form, depicting rural life and nature.
• Ekphrastic: A poem inspired by or describing a work of art, often vividly detailing the subject.
• Elegy: A reflective poem that laments the loss of someone or something, typically expressing sorrow and praise.
• Epic: A long narrative poem detailing heroic deeds and events of cultural significance.
• Epigram: A short, witty poem or statement, often with a surprising twist at the end.
• Epistle: A poem in the form of a letter, often addressing a specific person or audience.
• Epitaph: A brief poem or inscription in memory of someone who has died, often engraved on a tombstone.
• Epithalamium: A poem written in celebration of a marriage, often performed at the wedding ceremony.
• Event Poem: A poem that captures or commemorates a specific event or occasion.
• Foot: The basic unit of meter in a poem, consisting of a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables.
• Found Poem: A poem composed from text found in non-poetic contexts, such as newspaper articles or advertisements.
• Free Verse: A form with no specific rhyme scheme or meter, allowing for more natural speech patterns and flexibility in expression.
• Haiku: A traditional Japanese form of poetry with three lines, following a 5-7-5 syllable structure, often focusing on nature.
• Imitation Poem: A poem written in the style of another poet or based on a specific model or form.
• Insult Poem: A poem that humorously or sharply criticizes or insults someone or something.
• Light Verse: A category of poetry that uses humor, wit, or satire, often in a playful or nonsensical manner.
• Limerick: A humorous five-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme (AABBA) and rhythm, often with a twist at the end.
• Line: A single row of words in a poem, which can be of varying length and rhythmic pattern.
• List Poem: A poem that is structured as a list, often with repetition or accumulation for effect.
• Lune: An American adaptation of the haiku, with a syllable pattern of 3-5-3 or a word count of 5-3-5.
• Lyric: A short, expressive poem that conveys personal feelings or thoughts, often in a song-like style.
• Macaronic Verse: A poem that mixes languages, often for humorous or satirical effect.
• Madrigal: A short lyrical poem or song, often about love, popular during the Renaissance.
• Metaphor: A figure of speech in which one thing is described as if it were another, implying a comparison.
• Nonsense Verse: A whimsical or humorous poem that defies logical meaning, often playful in nature.
• Occasional Poem: A poem written to celebrate or commemorate a specific occasion or event.
• Ode: A formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and praises a person, place, thing, or idea.
• Ottava Rima: An eight-line stanza with a specific rhyme scheme (ABABABCC), often used in long poems.
• Pantoum: A Malaysian verse form with a series of quatrains, where the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next.
• Parody Poem: A humorous or satirical imitation of another poem or poetic style.
• Pastoral Poem: A poem that idealizes rural life and landscapes, often featuring shepherds and nature.
• Performance Poem: A poem written to be performed aloud, emphasizing oral delivery and often engaging with the audience.
• Projective Verse: A type of poetry that emphasizes the physical act of writing and the visual layout of words on the page.
• Prose Poem: A poem written in prose format, without line breaks, but using poetic language and techniques.
• Quatrain: A four-line stanza or poem, often with a specific rhyme scheme like ABAB.
• Rap: A rhythmic, rhyming form of spoken word poetry, often performed over a beat and associated with hip-hop culture.
• Renga: A Japanese collaborative poem, often written by multiple poets, with alternating stanzas of 5-7-5 and 7-7 syllables.
• Rhyme: The repetition of similar sounds in the final syllables of words, often at the end of lines in poetry.
• Rhythm: The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry, creating a musical beat.
• Ritual Poem: A poem that is performed as part of a ritual or ceremony, often with repeated phrases or actions.
• Rondeau: A fixed-form French poem with 15 lines divided into a quintet, a quatrain, and a sestet, with a refrain (AABBA AABR AABBAR).
• Satire: A poem that uses humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize or poke fun at human behavior or societal norms.
• Senryu: A short Japanese poem similar to haiku, but focusing on human nature, often with a humorous or ironic twist.
• Sestina: A complex form of 39 lines with six stanzas of six lines each, followed by a three-line envoi, featuring repeated end words in a specific pattern.
• Shadorma: A Spanish poetic form with a six-line stanza and a syllable pattern of 3-5-3-3-7-5.
• Skeltonic Verse: A form of humorous, irregular rhyming verse, named after the poet John Skelton.
• Sonnet: A 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme and meter, usually iambic pentameter. Common types include the Shakespearean (ABABCDCDEFEFGG) and Petrarchan (ABBAABBACDCDCD).
• Spoonerism: A playful transposition of the initial sounds or letters of two or more words in a phrase.
• Stanza: A grouped set of lines in a poem, often separated by a space, functioning as a unit within the poem.
• Syllabic Verse: Poetry in which the number of syllables per line is regulated, rather than the rhythm or rhyme.
• Tanka: A Japanese form similar to the haiku but with five lines and a syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7, often expressing deep emotion or reflection.
• Tercet: A three-line stanza or poem that often follows a specific rhyme scheme, such as AAA, ABA, or ABC. Tercets can stand alone or be part of a larger poem, and they are commonly found in forms like the terza rima or villanelle.
• Terza Rima: A three-line stanza form with an interlocking rhyme scheme (ABA BCB CDC), often used in longer poems.
• Triolet: An eight-line poem with a rhyme scheme of ABaAabAB, where the first line is repeated in the fourth and seventh lines, and the second line is repeated in the eighth.
• Villanelle: A 19-line poem with five tercets followed by a quatrain, with two repeating rhymes and two refrains (ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA).
• Word Play: The creative use of language where words are manipulated in terms of meaning, sound, or structure to achieve a humorous or rhetorical effect. Word play includes puns, double entendres, and other forms of verbal wit.