Narrative

Narrative poetry tells a story in verse. They often have elements similar to those in short

stories, such as plot and characters.

Example:
Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.

Haiku
Haiku is a three line Japanese verse form. The first and third lines each have five syllables. The second line has seven syllables.

Example:
An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again. The Old Pond
Remember:
First Line: 5 syllables Second Line: 7 syllables Third Line: 5 syllables

Free Verse
Free verse poetry is defined by its lack of strict

structure
It has no regular meter, rhyme, line length or stanza

pattern

Example:
I Dream'd in a Dream by Walt Whitman

I DREAM'D in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth, I dream'd that was the new city of Friends, Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led the rest, It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words.

Lyric
Lyric poetry expresses the thoughts and feelings of a

single speaker, often in musical verse

Example:
At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea, The typist home at teatime, clears her breakfast, lights Her stove, and lays out food in tins.

Ballads
Ballads are song-like poems that tell a story They often deal with romance and adventure

Example:
'Twas Friday morn when we set sail, And we had not got far from land, When the Captain, he spied a lovely mermaid, With a comb and a glass in her hand.
Oh the ocean waves may roll, And the stormy winds may blow, While we poor sailors go skipping aloft And the land lubbers lay down below, below, below And the land lubbers lay down below. The Mermaid

Concrete
Concrete poems are shaped to look like their subjects The poet arranges the line to create a picture on the

page

Examples:

Limerick
Limericks are humorous, rhyming, five line poems

with a specific rhythm and rhyme scheme

Example:
There once was a clover named Kate, Who sat on the edge of a plate, The fancy folk dined, On foods of all kind, Then tossed her at quarter past eight.

Rhyming couplets
Rhyming couplets are pairs of rhyming lines They are usually of the same meter and length

Example:
By itself:

Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though
Combined in a poem:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall; Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses and all the King's men Couldn't put Humpty together again!