Poetry

1. Poetry Types of Poetry

2. Haiku • Usually has three lines • Broken into 17 syllables that are strategically distributed • 5 syllables • 7 syllables • 5 syllables • Has a Japanese origin • Usually relates to nature or seasons

3. Sample Haikus Matsuo Basho On a withered branch A crow has settled- autumn nightfall. Twinkies Moist golden sponge cake Creamy white filling of joy Boy I love twinkies

4. Limerick • A form of folk verse • Its specific origin is unknown • There is a specific form of rhyme arrangement • The stressed beats of the Limerick style must also fall on the natural stresses of the words being used • The number of stressed beats must be just right so that they Limerick sounds natural

5. Limerick • The Meter: • The first, second an fifth lines must have three accented beats to them • The third and fourth lines have two accented beats • The Rhyme: • The most common lymerick ryme scheme is aabba • A Limerick sounds like “Hickory Dickory Dock” when you say it out loud

6. Limerick • Generally, the poet writing a Limerick follows a specific patter of thought. Each line should follow the set “formula” • Tell about the subject and where he, she, or it is from • Tell something about the person or thing and describe him, her or it • In lines 3 and 4, there should be a build up that relates to the second line • Round off the limerick with an unexpected and funny conclusion, thath relates to the first four lines

7. Sample Limerick I remember a fellow named Louis Who ate seventeen bowls of chop-suey When the eighteenth was brought, He became overwrought And we watched as poor Louis went blooie!

8. Ballad • A ballad often tells a story • Usually about love or romance • Can be turned into songs easily • They are written in multiple stanzas • They usually have a set rhyme scheme of abab • Written using “Iambic” form, meaning that the pattern tends to go “unstress, stress”

9. Sample Ballad My love is like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June My love is like a melodie That’s sweetly played in tune As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in love am I And I will love thee still, my dear, Tell all the seas gang dry…

10. Narrative Poem • Tells a story • Usually fairly long • Usually has a set rhyme scheme but it is not pre-determined • Usually written in stanzas

11. Sample Narrative Poem Now Sam McGee was from Tennesee, where the cotton blooms and blows. Why he left his home in the South to roam ‘round the Pole, God only knows. He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell; Though he’d often say in his homely way that “he’d sooner live in hell”…

12. Sample Narrative Poem • This is only one stanza of a 14 stanza poem • The rhyme scheme is aabb because the last word of the first two lines rhyme, and the last word of the second two lines rhyme • It tells the story about a man named Sam McGee, and there is a distinct setting, plot and characters in the poem.

13. Concrete or Shape Poetry • There are quite a few names for this type of poetry • These poems are printed on the page so that they form recognizable outlines related to the subject of the poem itself • This helps relay further meaning about the words on the page • The words are just as important as the image that they create • It should be perceived as a whole

14. Free Verse • This is poetry that have multiple lines with no pre-determined pattern or structure • The poet has free range to manipulate the poem as they see fit • Essentially there are no rules related to how the poem looks or sounds • Each Free Verse poem is very different from each other.