The joining form
Forms of Poetry
Acrostic Ballad Cinquain Diamante Elegies Freeverse haiku limerick sonnet quatrain Acrostic An Acrostic poem is usually written with words or possibly a message describing the subject of the poem. It is generally used with young children when teaching them to read and write. Children are taught to use their own names and find words starting with the letters of their names that describe themselves. This type of poem can be fun to play with and may possibly teach you something about yourself. Ballad Usually, a Ballad poem is a song that tells a story. The songs are generally about a hero and are passed down through time. Ballads can be read or sung unlike being read like a blank verse poem. Blank Verse is a simpler form of poetry. Blank verse doesn’t have rhyming schemes and doesn’t have many boundaries other than the fact that they are in iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a five beat poetic line with five iambs on each line. Iambic pentameter is the most common rhythm in English poetry. Cinquain A fine lined poem with no rhyming scheme is a Cinquain. A Cinquain has five lines with different words on each line. The first line has only one word while the second line has two words. The third line has three words and the fourth line has four words. The last and final line has only one word and ends the poem. Cinquains also have another written form which is written in syllabic meter. It starts with two syllables on the first line, four syllables on the second line, six syllables on the third line, while the last line returns to two syllables. Diamante Diamante is another un-rhyming poem written with seven lines. This poem is written with one word on the top line. The second line includes two adjectives describing the first word. Three words that end in “ing” are on the third line; they describe: the first word. The fourth line includes four words; the first two words describe the first word of the poem and the last two words describe the last word of the poem. There are three more words ending in “ing” on the fifth line that describe the last word of the poem. The sixth line has two adjectives that describe the last word of the poem. The last line of the poem includes only one word which is the last word of the poem. Elegies Elegies are generally written in a sad tone, sometimes about a death. Elegies are written switching between hexameter and pentameter lines. Hexameter is a verse line of six feet. It is measured in six metrical feet and is usually in the same or related meter. Pentameter lines are lines made of five units of rhythm with either stressed or unstressed syllables. Freeverse Free verse is the most common form of poetry. There are no rules or restrictions with free verse. Free verse encourages poets to write what they feel without having to rhyme or use line schemes. It can be easier to start out with free verse when first writing poetry. Not having to follow a scheme allows the poet to write whatever comes to them, to play with it, and turn it into a poem. Haiku The haiku form of poetry is one of the most well known forms. Haikus consist of three unrhymed lines with syllabic meter. The first line of the poem has 3 syllables, the second line has seven syllables and the last line has five syllables. This type of poetry allows the poet to play around with words and ideas. Limerick A limerick poem has five lines with a rhyme scheme. The first line explains the situation and the second line tells us what happened. Both the third line and the fourth line tell what went wrong. The last line tells the readers of the significance. Sonnet The sonnet form of a poem has fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter. A sonnet is written about love, religion or some other serious concern. Quatrain A quatrain poem consists of four lines written with a rhyming scheme. Quatrains are commonly written in stanza form. Stanza form is a number of lines that form a separate part of a poem. Many poems that are written in stanza form have the same number of lines and the same rhyme scheme.
Acrostic
Ballad
Cinquain
Diamante
Elegies
Freeverse
Haiku
Limerick
Sonnet
Quatrain
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