SEAN-O-VISTA

The Different Types of Poems

Below is a list of some of the most common types of poetry, their main characteristics, and famous examples of each. Familiarize yourself with these different styles and see if any spark your imagination!

1. Sonnet

Sonnets are practically synonymous with Shakespeare, but there are actually two different kinds of this famous poetic form. Having originated in 13th century Italy, the sonnet usually deals with love and has two common forms: the Petrarchan (named for its famous practitioner, the poet Petrarch) and the Shakespearean (also known as the English sonnet). Each type contains 14 lines but comes with its own set of rules.

Petrarchan Sonnet

Characteristics and Rules:

-2 stanzas
-Presents an argument, observation, or question in the first 8 lines
-Turn (or “volta”) between 8th and 9th lines
-Second stanza answers the question or issue posed in the first
-Rhyme Scheme: ABBA, ABBA, CDECDE

Shakespearean Sonnet
-3 quatrains (4 lines each) and a couplet (2 lines)
-Couplet usually forms a conclusion
-Rhyme scheme: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG

Example of a Sonnet:

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

2. Villanelle

Villanelles have even more specific rules than sonnets. Luckily, many of the lines are repetitions, but this means you’ll have to take care to make those lines meaningful.

Villanelle Characteristics and Rules
-19 lines
-5 stanzas of 3 lines each
-1 closing stanza of 4 lines
-Rhyme scheme: ABA, ABA, ABA, ABA, ABA, ABAA
-Line 1 repeats in lines 6, 12, and 18
-Line 3 repeats in lines 9, 15, and 19

Example of a Villanelle:

“The Waking” by Theodore Roethke

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.

3. Haiku

You might remember writing a few of these back in grade school, because not only are these poems short, but they can be very fun to write.

The haiku originated in 17th century Japan. Although they usually refer to nature, the only real rule applies to the number of syllables in each line, so you can let your imagination run wild with this one.

Haiku Characteristics and Rules
-3 lines
-Line 1 contains 5 syllables
-Line 2 contains 7 syllables
-Line 3 contains 5 syllables

Example of Haiku:

By Richard Wright:

Whitecaps on the bay:
A broken signboard banging
In the April wind.

4. Ekphrastic Poems

Ekphrastic poems don’t really have specific rules, but they do speak of another work of art.
Ekphrasis comes from the Greek word for “description,” and that’s exactly what this poem should do: vividly describe a painting, statue, photograph, or story. One famous example is found in the Iliad, where Homer refers to Achilles’ shield.

Example of Ekphrastic Poetry:

Another example is Honor Moorman’s “Staring at the Night,” which refers to Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, Starry Night:

Perhaps
he too
once stood
just here
head tilted
eyes licking
the orangey
crescent moon
exploding stars
flaming cypress
swirling silver sky
his imagination
suspended
in the silent city
beneath quaking
black mountains
secret recesses
of a tender
growing night
Van Gogh
whispering
to his soul
with furious
brushstrokes
as I cannot
with this
trickle
of words
he will
never
read.

5. Concrete Poems

Concrete poetry is designed to take a particular shape or form on the page. Poets can manipulate spacing or layout to emphasize a theme or important element in the text, or sometimes they can take the literal shape of their subjects.

Example of Concrete Poetry:

“The Altar” by George Herbert was intended to resemble a church altar:

A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,
Made of a heart and cemented with tears;
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workman’s tool hath touch’d the same.
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow’r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame
To praise thy name.
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.

6. Elegy

The elegy is another type of poem that lacks particular rules, but it usually is written in mourning following a death. They can be written for a particular person, or treat the subject of loss more generally.

Example of an Elegy:

One famous example of an elegy is Walt Whitman’s “O Captain, My Captain,” which Whitman wrote following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln:

O Captain! My Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

7. Epigram

Epigrams are short, witty, and often satirical poems that usually take the form of a couplet or quatrain (2-4 lines in length).

Example of an Epigram
An example of this wit is provided by Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

Sir, I admit your general rule,
That every poet is a fool,
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.

Epigrams are not exclusive to poetry. They are also commonly used as literary devices and in speeches. John F. Kennedy’s famous quote, “Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind” is one such example.

8. Limerick

Limericks are humorous poems that have a more distinct rhythm. Their subject matter is sometimes crude, but always designed to offer laughs.

Limerick Characteristics and Rules
– 5 lines
-2 longer lines (usually 7-10 syllables)
-2 shorter lines (usually 5-7 syllables)
-1 closing line to bring the joke home (7-10 syllables)
-Rhyme scheme: AABBA

Examples of Limericks:

There once was an old man of Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
His daughter, called Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

—Anonymous

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill can hold more than his beli-can.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week
But I’m damned if I see how the heli-can.

—Dixon Lanier Merritt

9. Ballad

Ballads usually take a narrative form to tell us stories. They are often arranged in quatrains, but the form is loose enough that writers can easily modify it.

Ballad Characteristics and Rules
• Typically arranged in groups of 4 lines
• Rhyme scheme: ABAB or ABCB

Examples of Ballads:

“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe (first two stanzas):

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

Some songs fit the ballad definition and have been passed down today. See this excerpt from the Irish ballad “Danny Boy”:

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer’s gone, and all the flowers are dying
‘Tis you, ‘tis you must go and I must bide.

10. Epitaph

An epitaph is much like an elegy, only shorter. Epitaphs commonly appear on gravestones, but they can also be humorous. There are no specific rules for epitaphs or their rhyme schemes.

Examples of Epitaphs:

From William Shakespeare’s gravestone:

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves by bones.

“Epitaph” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Heap not on this mound
Roses that she loved so well:
Why bewilder her with roses,
That she cannot see or smell?

She is happy where she lies
With the dust upon her eyes.

11. Ode

Odes address a specific person, thing, or event. The ode is believed to have been invented by the ancient Greeks, who would sing their odes. Modern odes follow an irregular pattern and are not required to rhyme.

Example of an Ode
“Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken’d earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Free Verse

Free verse is exactly what its name implies. There are no rules, and writers can do whatever they choose: to rhyme or not, to establish any rhythm. Free verse is often used in contemporary poetry.

Example of a Free Verse Poem
“Washed Away” by Katherine Foreman

Nothing’s changed except me and the facts
And the sadness I didn’t mean to start.
But it feels different now you’ve said
It’s wrong, and I still can’t see your point.
And I think as water runs over my hands that
That’s really all there is or can be.
The gold is wearing off the infamous ring
And something wears away from around my heart.

Tips for Writing Poetry

Still need a little extra nudge to get started? There’s no better way to learn than by reading some great poetry.