Fixed Verse Forms of Poetry
There are many types of fixed verse forms. I have listed some below.
Cinquain: 5 lines of free verse; usually 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, syllables each
Clerihews: a humorous pseudo-biographical quatrain, rhymed as 2 couplets, the line uneven length, more or less in rhythm of prose; the name of the subject usually ends the 1st, sometimes 2nd line; humor is whimsical rather than satiric
Limerick: very structured poem, usually humorous & composed of 5 lines, in a aacca rhyming pattern; beat must be anapestic (weak, weak, strong) with 3 feet in lines 1, 2, & 5 and 2 feet in lines 3 & 4
Pantoum: the 2nd & 4th line of 1 quatrain becomes the 1st & 3rd line of the following quatrain; 1st line of poem is always the last; can be rhymed, metered, unrhymed, unmetered, and # of lines is not fixed
Lai: 5 syllabled couplets separated by 2 syllable line; lines must all rhyme with one another; # of lines in each stanza is fixed at 9; # of stanzas is not fixed and each stanza has own rhyme pattern
Villanelle: 19 lines of Iambic Pentameter, divided into 5 stanzas or 3 lines of trecets and the final stanza has a quatrain; 1st & 3rd lines of the 1st trecet become the alternating final lines of the rest; the 1st & last line of the 1st trecet become a couplet at the end; all 2nd lines of each stanza must rhyme with each other
Kyrielle: written in quatrains, and a refrain is syllabic; each quatrain finishing with the same line, phrase, or word
Sonnet: a lyric poem of 14 lines, following one or another of several set rhyme-schemes
3 most common types of a Sonnet:
1) Elizabeth/Shakespearean: 3 quatrains, and a couplet rhyme scheme is usually abab cdcd efef gg
2) Italian/ Petrarchan: consists of 8 lines and a sestet; rhyme scheme usually abbaabba cdecde
3) Spensarian: rhymes ababbcbc cdcdee
Free Verse: based on irregular rhythmic cadence or the recurrence, with variations, of phrase, images, and syntactical patterns rather than the conventional use of meter rhyme may or may not be present
Ghazal: lyric poem consisting of thematically autonomous couplets, unified by rhyme and meter
Terza Rima: syllables are accentuated and usually Iambic Pentameter any number of trecets; lines 1 & 3 rhyme and line 2 sets the rhyme for next stanza; poem usually ends up with a couplet and so ideally suited to sonnet form
Rubaiyat: 4 lines that can be of tetrameter or pentameter form; lines 1, 2, & 4 rhyme and line 3 is used to interlock the next stanza and make it into Rubaiyat
Rondel: 13 lines and forms around 2 rhymes; the refrain is set up in the 1st 2 lines of the 1st stanza
Rondeau: refrain must be 1st couple of words, half or the full 1st line in 1st stanza; 2nd & 5th lines rhyme with the 1st line; 3rd & 4th lines sets up own rhyme; 2nd stanza has 4 lines rhyming following pattern aabR and final stanza is rhyming scheme of aabbR; meter is usually considered 8 syllables.
Sestina: 7 stanzas with the 1st 6 stanzas having 6 lines, the 7th having 3 lines; there's a very precise pattern to follow for the rest of the form; please click on this link to find out the rest of the pattern and see an example of the Sestina
Sample
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