Forms of Poetry

1

Forms of Poetry
2

• Diamante
• A Diamante is a seven-lined contrast poem set up
  in a diamond shape.
• Line 1 Noun or subject
• Line 2 Two Adjectives describing the first
  noun/subect
• Line 3 Three -ing words describing the first
  noun/subect
• Line 4 Four words two about the first
  noun/subect, two about the antonym/synonym Line
  5 Three -ing words about the antonym/synonym
• Line 6 Two adjectives describing the
  antonym/synonym
• Line 7 Antonym/synonym for the subject

3
Diamante Sample

• squaresymmetrical, conventionalshaping,
  measuring, balancingboxes, rooms, clocks,
  halosencircling, circumnavigating,
  enclosinground, continuouscircle

4

• Limerick
• A Limerick is a rhymed humorous or nonsense poem
  of five lines which originated in Limerick,
  Ireland.
• The Limerick has a set rhyme scheme of
  a-a-b-b-a with a syllable structure of
  9-9-6-6-9. (8-8-6-6-8)
• The rhythm of the poem should go as follows
  Lines 1, 2, 5 weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak,
  STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak
• Lines 3, 4 weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak,
  STRONG, weak, weak

5
Limerick Sample

• There was a large lady from Perth
• Who wanted to travel the earth
• But her wish was in vain
• For the door of the plane
• Was not wide enough for her girth.

6

• Quatrain
• A Quatrain is a poem consisting of four lines of
  verse with a specific rhyming scheme.
• A few examples of a quatrain rhyming scheme are
  as follows
• 1) abab
• 2) abba -- envelope rhyme
• 3) aabb
• 4) aaba, bbcb, ccdc, dddd -- chain rhyme

7
Quatrain

• Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
• In the forests of the night,
• What immortal hand or eye
• Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
•  
• -From William Blake's "The Tyger"

8

• Cinquain
• Cinquain is a short, usually unrhymed poem
  consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as
  2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines.
• It was developed by the Imagist poet, Adelaide
  Crapsey.
• Another form, sometimes used by school teachers
  to teach grammar, is as follows
• Line 1 Noun
• Line 2 Description of Noun
• Line 3 Action
• Line 4 Feeling or Effect
• Line 5 Synonym of the initial noun.

9
Cinquain

• Angels
• kind beyond words
• they protect and forgive
• and make feelings of blissfulness cherubim

10

• Tanka
• Tanka is a classic form of Japanese poetry
  related to the haiku with five unrhymed lines of
  five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables.
  (5, 7, 5, 7, 7)
• The 5/7/5/7/7 rule is rumored to have been made
  up for school children to understand and learn
  this type of poetry.

11
Tanka

• Subtle hints of spring
• In the wet bark of the tree
• Dew dripping from leaves
• Then runs down the russet trunk
• Pools round the roots and is drunk

12
Ode

• An Ode is a poem praising and glorifying a
  person, place or thing.

13
Ode on a Grecian Urn

• (excerpt)
• Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
  As doth eternity Cold Pastoral!     When old
  age shall this generation waste,         Thou
  shalt remain, in midst of other woe     Than
  ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
  "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
          Ye know on earth, and all ye need to
  know.
• Keats 1819

14

• Sonnet
• A Sonnet is a poem consisting of 14 lines (iambic
  pentameter) with a particular rhyming scheme
• Examples of a rhyming scheme
• 1) abab cdcd efef gg
• 2) abba cddc effe gg
• 3) abba abba cdcd cd
• A Shakespearean (English) sonnet has three
  quatrains and a couplet, and rhymes abab cdcd
  efef gg.

15
Sonnet

• HOW do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
• I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
• My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
• For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
• I love thee to the level of everyday's
• Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
• I love thee freely, as men strive for Right
• I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
• I love thee with the passion put to use
• In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
• I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
• With my lost saints, -I love thee with the
  breath,
• Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God
  choose,
• I shall but love thee better after death.
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning

16

• Villanelle
• A Villanelle is a nineteen-line poem consisting
  of a very specific rhyming scheme aba aba aba
  aba aba abaa.
• The first and the third lines in the first stanza
  are repeated in alternating order throughout the
  poem, and appear together in the last couplet
  (last two lines).

17
Villanelle

• Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age
  should burn and rave at close of dayRage, rage
  against the dying of the light.
• Though wise men at their end know dark is
  right,Because their words had forked no
  lightning theyDo not go gentle into that good
  night,
• Good men, the last wave by, crying how
  brightTheir frail deeds might have danced in a
  green bay,Rage, rage against the dying of the
  light.
• Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
  And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
  Do not go gentle into that good night,
• Grave men, near death, who see with blinding
  sightBlind eyes could blaze like meteors and be
  gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
• And you, my father, there on the sad
  height,Curse, bless, me now with your fierce
  tears, I pray.Do not go gentle into that good
  night,Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
• Dylan Thomas

18

• Free Verse
• Free Verse is an irregular form of poetry in
  which the content free of traditional rules of
  versification, (freedom from fixed meter or
  rhyme). In moving from line to line, the poet's
  main consideration is where to insert line
  breaks.
• Some ways of doing this include breaking the line
  where there is a natural pause or at a point of
  suspense for the reader.

19
Free Verse

• in just-
• in Just-
• spring       when the world is mud-
• luscious the little
• lame balloonman
• whistles       far       and wee
• and eddieandbill come
• running from marbles and
• piracies and it's
• spring
• when the world is puddle-wonderful
• the queer
• old balloonman whistles
• far       and       wee
• and bettyandisbel come dancing
•  from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
• it's
• spring
• and