Poetry is an old form of literary expression, rooted in oral tradition and ancient storytelling. It uses language, rhythm and imagery to communicate emotions, ideas and experiences that are impossible to express in other ways. Poetry enables the writers to define beauty, pain, love and humanity’s most profound truths in a precipitated and powerful way.
Poetry is also considered as an art of language that is used to evoke responses of emotional or imaginative kinds. The poetry is different from prose in the way that it emphasis aesthetic qualities like meter, rhyme and structure. It tries to blend your senses and expose a layer of meaning that you may not have been able to expose just looking at it. Poets have many ways to grab the attention of the readers and make them able to look at the world through new perspectives.
Elements of Poetry
To understand different types of poems, we first need to keep in mind the basic elements of poems and why is it unique. Here are a few basic elements:
- Imagery: The use of evocative and descriptive language to form mental images.
- Meter and Rhythm: The musical quality of poetry given by stressed and unstressed syllables.
- Rhyme Scheme: The pattern of rhyming sounds at the end of lines. It usually contains the letters, such as ABAB.
- Symbolism: The use of symbols to signify deeper meanings.
- Alliteration and Assonance: The use of consonant (alliteration) or vowel (assonance) sounds repeated to improve rhythm and mood.
Kinds of Poems
Throughout centuries poetry has been a versatile medium and has brought into being different forms. Here we can look at some of the most known types with their defining characteristics and examples.
1- Sonnet
The sonnet is a classic form, first invented in Italy and refined by the poets, such as William Shakespeare. A sonnet traditionally contains 14 lines. It is written in a prescribed rhyme scheme and meter (usually iambic pentameter). There are two main types: Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet and Shakespearean (English) sonnet. Sonnets are often written to show intense emotions, mainly love, beauty, or death.
Example
The “Sonnet 18” by Shakespeare is one of the most famous sonnets in English literature:
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…
This sonnet contains evocative imagery to compare a beloved to a beautiful summer day, which reflects the themes of beauty and permanence.
2- Haiku
Haiku is a traditional Japanese form of three lines, with the syllable pattern 5-7-5. Haikus tend to be simple and focuses on nature and a moment or scene in a terse but powerful way.
Example
A famous haiku by Matsuo Bashō captures the beauty of a fleeting moment in nature:
An old silent pond…
A frog jumps into the pond—
Splash! Silence again.
This haiku underscores simplicity, which draws the reader into a quiet scene that resonates with both sound and silence.
3- Limerick
A limerick is a form of humorous poem, which contains five line with a certain rhythm and AABBA rhyme scheme. This type of poetry is often witty, playful, and occasionally a little absurd. It is also popular for lighthearted or comical subjects.
Example
A classic limerick by Edward Lear:
“There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!”
This limerick reflects the playful form and humorous nature, as well as its rhythmic appeal.
See also: Personification Examples in Literature
4- Free Verse
Poetry in free verse means that a poem has no set meter, rhyme or structure. This kind of poetry is generally much closer to the way people speak, which gives poets the opportunity to play with lines, imagery and rhythm.
Example
A portion from the poem “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman contains free verse:
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
This free verse style invites the readers into a personal and conversational space, which makes the use of repetition and parallel structure without conforming to strict rules.
5- Ballad
A ballad is a narrative poem, typically of a quatrains with a rhyme scheme of ABAB or ABCB. Originally ballads were set to music and usually involve the tale of adventure, romance and folklore.
Example
Following excerpt of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge indicates the ballad structure:
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
“By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp’st thou me?”
6- Ode
An ode is a formal lyric poem, usually of a ceremonial character, celebrating a person, thing, or quality of nature. Odes generally have a complex structure and elaborate language.
Example
The poem “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats reflects the example of Ode:
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown…
Here, the ode considers the nightingale as a symbol of eternal beauty and inspiration. It creates an atmosphere of admiration and melancholy.
7- Epic
An epic is a long story poem that portrays the adventures of heroic figures. Epics usually define grand themes of heroism, loyalty and conflict. It usually involves the journeys or mythic conflicts.
Example
“The Illiad” by Homer reflects the example of epic:
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought
countless ills upon the Achaeans.
Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades,
and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures…
This epic begins with an invocation to the Muse, which establishes the grand and heroic theme that will unfold.
8- Elegy
Elegy is a reflective poem about the loss of a loved one or something deeply cherished. Usually, elegies are written in a serious and contemplative mood that leads from grief to an acceptance or solace.
Example
From “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
This elegy is a meditation on mortality and the passage of time. It captures the quiet sadness that accompanies death and remembrance.
9- Villanelle
A villanelle is a highly structured 19 lines poem. It uses a particular rhyme scheme and repeated lines to achieve hauntings and rhythmic effect. The poem consists of five tercets (three line stanzas) followed by a quatrain (four line stanza) with two refrains that alternate in each tercet.
See also: Prose in Literature
Example
One of the most famous villanelles is “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
10- Sestina
A sestina is a complex form of poetry, which consists of six stanzas with six lines each. It is followed by a three line envoi (short concluding stanza). The sestina uses word repetition, rather than rhyme scheme, with the last word of each line of the first stanza repeated in different order in the succeeding stanzas.
Example
Here, Elizabeth Bishop’s Sestina captures the essence of the form’s intricate wordplay and the subtle shifts in meaning that repeated words can create:
September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.
Bishop’s use of repetition creates a cyclical and hypnotic effect, which emphasizes the theme of grief and determination.
11- Acrostic
An acrostic is a poem where the first letters of each line spells out a word, or message, that either work together to make up the theme of the poem. It is usually simple in form, but hidden message can add depth or an element of surprise.
Example
The acrostic poem “Elizabeth” is written by Edgar Allan Poe:
Elizabeth it is in vain you say
“Love not”—thou sayest it in so sweet a way:
In vain those words from thee or L. E. L.
Zantippe’s talents had enforced so well:
12- Cinquain
Cinquains are five line poems that adhere to a predetermined syllable or word count per line. Different variations exist in cinquain, but one popular form includes the lines sporting 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 syllables per line.
Example
An American cinquain by Adelaide Crapsey:
Triumphant sight
In perfect air,
The dome of St. Peter’s stands.
Some inner meaning of the sky
Over Rome.
This form requires conciseness, which allows each line to carry significant weight and meaning.
13- Ghazal
Ghazal is a form of poetry originating from Arabic literature and became popular in Persian and Urdu poetry too. A ghazal consists of a collection of independent couplets, wherein each line is thematically linked and deals with love, loss or longing. A ghazal’s couplets end with a recurring phrase or word that is called a radif.
Example
Following is the excerpt of English ghazal “Tonight” written by Agha Shahid Ali:
Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell tonight?
Whom else from rapture’s road will you expel tonight?
This ghazal contains refrain “tonight”, which emphasizes longing and the intensity of love and loss.
14- Pastoral
A pastoral is a poem that idealizes the rural life. It usually contains shepherds, fields, and an easier way of life away from the complexities of the urban life. It is utilized from ancient Greece and was popularized during the Renaissance.
Example
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe is a classic pastoral poem:
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
The poem romanticizes the country life, which offers an invitation to a life filled with natural beauty and harmony.
15- Ode (Different Type)
Unlike the structured odes of Keats, the Horatian Ode contains a relaxed structure. These odes are more reflective and often deal with personal feelings.
Example
Odes of this style are usually conversational and introspective, such as “Ode to My Socks” by Pablo Neruda:
Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder’s hands…
Neruda celebrates the beauty in an ordinary object, infusing it with reverence and joy.
16- Epigram
An epigram is a short, witty poem, wherein the surprising turns at the end are often satirical or humorous. It is a pithy commentary on a thing or someone.
Example
A well-known epigram by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is as under:
What is an Epigram? A dwarfish whole,
Its body brevity, and wit its soul.
17- Blank Verse
Unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter is called blank verse. This method of speech has been in constant use in English dramatic and epic poetry, because it is so like natural speech.
Example
Following is the example of blank verse from “Paradise Lost” by John Milton:
Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe…
The use of blank verse by the author allows both rhythmic flow and flexibility, fitting for the epic’s grand themes.
18- Epistle
Epistle is a poem that is written in the shape of a letter. This form is intimate and conversational in tone. It is designed to address someone directly. The epistles are about personal feelings or personal reflection.
Example
The poem “Letter to Lord Byron” by W.H. Auden is a modern example of an epistle, in which the author writes to the Romantic poet Lord Byron:
You were a rake, you know; and I was one, too.
Our hearts are wide, but our pulses are few.
We read our books with a patient sigh,
Yet hate the words we cannot defy.
The casual tone of epistle shows both admiration and honest reflection. It creates a dialogue across time.
19- Tanka
Traditionally, a Japanese tanka has five lines with five syllables: 5-7-5-7-7. It works similarly as a haiku but is longer, allowing deeper development of emotions and images.
Example
This tanka by Ki no Tsurayuki captures a poignant moment of longing:
The flowers withered
Their color faded away
While meaninglessly
I spent my days in the world
And the long rains were falling.
The tanka expresses a sense of transience and solitude, common themes in Japanese poetry.
20- Narrative Poetry
Narrative poetry is a poem that narrates the story in a poetic form. Epics are the most familiar kind of narrative poem, but there are shorter narratives that focus on dramatic events or everyday life. These poems have characters, plot, and an obvious storyline.
Example
The example of narrative poetry is “Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. It tells the haunting story of a man visited by a mysterious raven:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
The poem combines a gothic storyline with rhythm and rhyme to create a mesmerizing tale.
See also: Examples of Persona in Literature
