An A-Z of Poetry Forms!
To kick start this week at projecteducate, we're starting off with a slightly lighter-hearted article listing just some of the poetic forms that exist out there. Lets be honest, there are hundreds and we can't list every single one. This is just a slice of the forms out there and if you are wishing to expand your understanding of different forms, do some research and don't take this as gospel!
Each form has a direct link to a site that describes the form in more detail, usually with examples too. I have also included some good examples from dA when I have found them.
Yes some of these link to wikipedia!
A
ABC- A poem where each word, line or stanza starts with the next continuous letter of the alphabet. Also known as an "Abcedarian"
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Acrostic- A poem where the first letter of every line spells a subject word the content refers to.
A L'Arora- 4 Stanzas of 8 lines with the scheme ABCDEFGF
Alliterisen- A 7 lined poem that relies on alteration and syllable count.
Alouette- A French based poem where each 6 line stanza follows a strict syllable and rhyme scheme. Often used in children's poems.
B
Ballad- A lyrical form with a narrative nature, often with a repeated refrain. Not to be confused with Ballade!
Ballade- From the same family as the Rondeau and the Virelai, this French form consists of three 8 lined stanzas with the rhyme scheme: ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC
Blank Verse- Of English origin, a poem that has identifiable meter, but no rhyme scheme. Commonly written in iambic pentameter.
Brevette- Brevity comes with its own form of poetry! This 3 line, 3 word poem consists of 2 nouns and a Verb.
Burlesque- A light-hearted form that takes a serious subject matter and parodies it with humorous tones.
C
Canzone- An Italian originated song based form it consists of 5 to 7 stanzas typically set to music, each stanza resounding the first in rhyme scheme and in number of lines (7 to 20 lines). The Canzone also inspired the sonnet. (Not to be confused with a very nice folded pizza, thats a Calzone!)
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Chant Royal- An extended version of the Ballade, the Chant royal has a rhyme scheme of ababccddede followed by and envoy of ddede
Clerihew- A short biographical poem consisting of 4 lines, structured AABB. (added by ThornyEnglishRose)
Concrete- A typographical arrangement of text conveying the meaning of the poem through its shape. Not to be confused with Visual Poetry (which isn't necessarily typographical) or writing on the road.
Contrerime- the "contrerime" is a quatrain with embraced rhymes (ABBA) and a cross-metric structure (usually 8-6-8-6), which gives the poem a sense of systematic imbalance. It was formalized and named by John Paul Toulet, who used in a number of poems, including his eponymous collection. (added by Exnihilo-nihil)
Crystalline- Similar to a haiku but with some distinct differences, the Crystalline is a 17-syllable poem.
D
Decuain- Written in iambic pentameter, each of the 10 lines have 10 syllables and follow one of three rhyme schemes. (see link)
Diamante- Similar to the Joseph's Star, but with stricter rules.
Dramatic Monologue- Like a performed monologue in a play, the dramatic monologue is written from the perspective of an individual as if they were speaking to an audience. The piece should be a standalone monologue with full characterisation (as in we should learn everything we need to in the piece, not rely on further commentary from the author).
E
Ekphrasis- A poem depicting a vivid scene or artwork as a whole.
Elegy- A poem of mourning, usually about a death of a person.
Epic- Originating from ancient poetry, the Epic is a narrative poem, usually telling the tale of a hero or event.
Epulaeryu- There is such thing as a form poem about food. OH YES!
F
Found- An arrangement of words, phrases, and even whole passages that are taken from other sources and re-framed as poetry. Can also be known as blackout poetry, where the visual format differs.
Free Verse- A poem with no strict rhyme or meter scheme or any other rules. Also known as "open" poetry.
G
Ghazal- From Arabic origins, a Ghazal uses couplets and a refrain and is traditionally about love, melancholy and longing.
Glosa- A Spainish fixed form where the introducing stanza (sometimes from another poem) is then responded and reflected in the continuing stanzas.
H
Haiku- A traditional Japanese poetic form consisting of 17 syllables in 3 phrased lines (5-7-5). The content is usually a reference to nature and considered a single moment or thought contained.
Harrisham- An Indian six lined poem with the rhyming scheme ababab. The last letter of the first word in each line is the first letter of the first word in the next line.
I
Indrisos- A poem consisting of four stanzas, the first two in terzains and the final two single lines (3-3-1-1)
J
Joseph's Star- A simple form where the syllable counts on each line are: 1,3,5,7,7,5,3,1 and once central aligned will create a diamond-like shape.
K
Kimo- An Israeli haiku where the syllable count is often 10-7-6
Kyrielle- A kyrielle is written in rhyming couplets or quatrains. Originally the phrase "Lord have mercy" would end each stanza, though in more modern forms a variant of this is more likely to be used.
L
Limerick- Limericks are a short form of poetry, made to have a humourous edge to them. They are comprised of five lines with an AABBA rhyme scheme.
Lipogram- Not necessarily a poetic form, but the concept to write with a missing letter, most commonly "e".
Luc Bát- A Vietnamese form alternating between 6 and 8 syllables each line. (added by ThornyEnglishRose)
M
Monostich/Monoku- A single lined poem or Haiku.
Monotetra- Each line in the 4-line stanza has 8 syllables and follows an AAAA BBBB (no limit on stanzas)
N
Nonfiction Poetry- Nonfiction poetry accomplishes the goal of a nonfiction piece but does it through poetry instead of prose. Nonfiction writing attempts to inform or instruct by conveying facts.
Nonet- A 9-lined poem where the first line has 9 syllables, the second 8 and so forth.
O
Ode- A lyrical form written as a dedication to a person or object. There are three typical types of odes: the Pindaric, Horatian, and Irregular. (see link)
Ottava Rima- An Italian originating poem with a rhyme scheme of ABABABCC.
P
Pantoum- A pantoum, unlike most traditional fixed forms, has no set line limit. It consists of numerous four-line stanzas in ABAB format with the second and fourth line of each repeating as the first and third line of the next stanza. (added by TheSkaBoss)
Petrarchan- A form of Sonnet from Italian origin with a scheme of ABBAABBA CDECDE
Q
Quadrilew- A form with an ABAB rhyming scheme, but alternating syllable counts
R
Renga- A genre of Japanese collaborative poetry that consists of at least two ku or stanzas, and usually many more. The opening stanza of the renga, called the hokku, became the basis for the modern haiku form of poetry.
Rondeau- from French origins, a Rondeau is a 15-line poem with two different rhymes (AB), varying in pattern in each stanza (see link for full details)
S
Scifaku- A Science Fiction Haiku that follows the same principals as a haiku but the themes explore scifi, fantasy and horror etc.
Senryu- A form of Haiku, Senryu uses humour and satire to examine human society.
Sestina- A ridiculously complex form, with wonderful results. The Sestina originates from the 12th century and have continued their popularity throughout time.
Slam- A modern poetry form, slam poetry is a fast paced form of spoken word poetry, often performed in a live competition.
Sonnet- Often considered a Shakespearean form, the English sonnet comprises of a scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and often written in Iambic Pentameter.
Snot SonnetYour patience pray, my suffering friend,
I hope you will indulge me if you please.
I say there is no finer pleasure than
The orgasmic rapture of a sneeze.
What other nasal expatriation
Evacuates our swollen passages
Of the itchy, slimy inhalations
Gath'ring windblown pollen's ravages?
Of course, it is for education
That I diagnostically besmear
A perfectly tunèd emanation,
Eau de parfum, "Garbage Barge at Pier."
How else would I invoke those permutations
Of such liberating sternutations?
Sonnets by fyoot
Spoken Word- Based on the dada and beat poetry that emerged in the 1960's. The style is focussed on the sound of words as much as the content, and not always written down in full due to the spontaneous quality of the performance.
T
Tanaga- A type of Filipino Poem. It is considered a dying form. It consists of four lines, each line with seven syllables (7-7-7-7). Normally, Tanaga are not given titles, similarly to Haikus- but one can opt to give a title. Although Tanaga is intended for the Filipino language, it can be written in other languages such as English. In fact, it is highly encouraged. (added by PizzaPotatoNBacon)
Tanka- A Japanese poetry form consisting of a syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7
Terza Rima- An Italian rhyming poem where each 3-lined stanza has a continuous chain in the rhyming: A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D. (added by TheSkaBoss)
Terzanelle- A hybrid of a Villanelle and Terza Rima
Tritina- A miniature sestina! (added by TheSkaBoss)
ElisabethElisabeth
I'll have you know that I said "no".
I said no, but he did it to me, anyway.
Then he took me down, and shut it all out.
That iron door keeps all light out
I want a better life for my children, but no—
That iron door gets in the way.
I know they think I've run away
But it's been 24 years since I've been out
And there is only one thing that I really know:
He's a sadist, he's a monster—and there is no way out.
Triolet- A poem structured of 8 lines with the rhyme scheme: ABaAabAB
U
V
Vedas- A range of Indian form poetry, often chanted in repetition, metric, unrhymed and written in variation. (added by neurotype-on-discord)
Villanelle- A non narrative fixed form of 19 lines- consisting of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain.
Visual- Now this gets a bit confusing... on dA, "Visual poetry" has seemed to represent a collaboration of a poem and image together to compliment the content of both. Beyond dA, Visual is similar to concrete poetry, where the visual text arrangement is significant to the content, but unlike concrete poetry isn't exclusive to the text (i.e. a series of images or the structure of the poem not necessarily creating the picture alone). Any further conversation on the definition of this is welcome!
W
X
Y
Yadu- Originating from Burma, the Yadu consists of three stanzas of 5 lines and a "Climbing" rhyme scheme (see link)
Z
Zanila Rhyme- A minimum of 3 stanzas, this form has a rhyme scheme of abcb and a syllable count of 9/7/9/9.
NB: With most Eastern formed poetry (i.e Haiku, Renga) you don't necessarily have to be strict with the syllables. Through language, Eastern versus Western syllables don't accurately match- so you can actually be as brief as you like with these forms, its more about the content than the syllable counts. However, it is really important to be super familiar with the rules and form before you go exploring
Additional Resources!
These links are sources where I got my info from. Some of them have even more forms than what I have listed!
Poetry Soup- Forms of Poetry Has an alphabetised glossary of poetic forms and termology.
Shadow Poetry- A poets resource- An extensive list of different poetry forms as well as a fantastic resource of famous poetry, and poetry for beginners.
Shadow Poetry- A poets resource- An extensive list of different poetry forms as well as a fantastic resource of famous poetry, and poetry for beginners.
Project DFC form chart 2012- A list of the forms used in :devproject-dfc: with some wonderful details as to what each form is.
The Poet Garret recommended by ShadowedAcolyte)
And the ever faithful Wikipedia
Questions for you!
1. Which forms have you read before?
2. Which forms have you tried to write before? How was the experience? (You may link ONE piece if you like)
3. Are you going to try any of these forms now following this article?
4. Are there other forms not included here we should add? (Please provide info/links so I can just copy/paste!)
5. Have you ever tried to create your own fixed form? Share your experience!