Types of Poetry

Creative Writing

Genres of Poetry

Narrative Poetry- a narrative poem is one that tells a story. Types of narrative poetry include ballads and epics. (Think of Homer… not the guy from The Simpsons!)Lyric Poetry- a highly musical verse that expresses the emotions of the speaker. Common types are sonnets, odes, free verse and elegies.Dramatic poetry- a dramatic poem is a verse that relies heavily on dramatic elements such as monologue, or dialogue. Two types of dramatic poetry are dramatic monologue and soliloquy.

Formal Verse

• Set patterns of rhythm and rhyme– i.e. Beowolf

• Based on scansion (the counting of stresses and syllables) and set verse pattern.

• Sometimes, a rhyme scheme matters, but not always.

Meter

• The rhythmical patter of a piece• English verse is made of rhythmical units

called feet. A foot is made up of weakly stressed (˘) and strongly stressed (/) syllables.

• Meter is based on the number of feet in each line.

Poetry has feet?

Type of Foot Pattern Example

Iamb, or iambic foot ˘ / afraid, the sky

Trochee, or trochaic foot / ˘ freedom, heaven

Anapest, or anapestic foot ˘ ˘/ in a flash, to the dark

Dactyl, or dactylic foot / ˘ ˘ feverish, go and ask

Spondee, or spondaic foot / / baseball

Pyrrhee or pyrrhic foot ˘ ˘ unbelievable

Lines

• Monometer = one foot• Dimeter = two feet• Trimeter = three feet• Tetrameter = four feet• Pentameter = five feet• Hexameter = six feet

Playing With Feet

• See your worksheet.

Rhyming Patterns

• Couplet = aa bb cc dd, etc.• Tercet (Triplet) = aaa bbb ccc ddd, etc.• Quatrain = abab cdcd efef,

etc.• Terza Rima = aba bcb cdc ded, etc.

Shakespearean Sonnets

• This sonnet has the simplest and most flexible pattern of all sonnets, consisting of 3 quatrains of alternating rhyme and a couplet:

• a b a bc d c de f e fg g

Sonnet 141In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,For they in thee a thousand errors note;But ’tis my heart that loves what they despise,Who in despite of view is pleased to dote.Nor are mine ears with thy tongue’s tune delighted,Nor tender feeling to base touches prone,Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invitedTo any sensual feast with thee alone.But my five wits, nor my five senses, canDissuade one foolish heart from serving thee,Who leaves unswayed the likeness of a man,Thy proud heart’s slave and vassal wretch to be.Only my plague thus far I count my gain,That she that makes me sin awards me pain.

Group Sonnets

• Write a sonnet with your group (of 3 or 4) by alternating lines.

Blank Verse

• Unrhymed iambic pentameter • Shakespeare’s language (from the plays)

Transition

• Twentieth Century• Likened to the transition from ballet to

contemporary dance• Started with Emily Dickinson & Walt Whitman• Loosened forms

Free Verse

• Loosened rhythms• Rhymes set askew• Took on the rhythms of ordinary speech• Practiced by poets who first taught

themselves the rigors of earlier periods, of formal verse.

Concrete poem is written in a shape that adds meaning to the poem.

I propose

• …that you begin to play with sound and rhythm.

• …that you imitate what you like; imitation, which has been called the sincerest form of flattery, is also the most teaching form of play.

• …that you begin by writing poems about the subjects that matter to you.