Forms of Poetry

The Haiku

From the Japanese culture

Combines form, content, and language

Themes often focus on nature, feelings or experiences

The Haiku

Structure consists of 3 lines, with 5 syllables in the first and third line and 7 syllables in the second line

Haikus do not rhyme

The challenge in a haiku is to paint an image in the reader’s mind with only 17 syllables

The Haiku

An old silent pond…

A frog jumps into the pond,

Splash! Silence again.

By Basho

The Haiku

Over the wintry

Forest, winds howl in rage

With no leaves to blow.

By Soseki

The Limerick

A five line poem named after an Irish town

Limericks are meant to be funny, with the last line containing the punch line or heart of the joke

Rhythm is especially important in a limerick

The Limerick

The limerick has a rhyme scheme of

AABBA

The first, second, and fifth lines all rhyme and must contain 3 beats

The third and fourth lines rhyme and must contain 2 beats

The Limerick

A flea and a fly in a flue

Were caught, so what could they do?

Said the fly, “Let us flee.”

“Let us fly,” said the flea.

So they flew through a flaw in the flue

The Limerick

There once was a pauper named Meg

Who accidentally broke her leg

She slipped on the ice

Not one, but thrice

Take no pity on her, I beg

The Villanelle

Poetry with a complicated structureUtilizes rhyme and repetition to create

rhythm and build meaning.

19 line poem made up of five tercets (3 line stanzas) and a final quatrain (4 line stanza)

The Villanelle

The villanelle has a complicated rhyme scheme that incorporates repeated lines throughout the poem

A1BA2 ABA1 ABA2 ABA1 ABA2 ABA1A2

A1 and A2 are lines that are repeated exactly in various parts of the play and that rhyme with the other A lines

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

by Dylan Thomas

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,

Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.