Poetry Examples

Haiku

A three line poem consisting of 17 syllables.

Line 1 has 5 syllables, Line 2 has 7, and Line 3 has 5.

Haiku poems are traditionally about nature.

Examples:

Spring is in the Air

by Kaitlyn Guenther

Spring is in the air

Flowers are blooming sky high

Children are laughing

Night and Day

by Mattie M.

The stars are shining

they will shimmer and they'll glow

until the sun shines

Cinquain

Five-Line Diamond Shaped Poem

Line 1: 1 NOUN-A

Line 2: 2 related ADJECTIVES

Line 3: 3 descriptive GERUNDS (verb + -ing)

Line 4: 1 complete, related SENTENCE

Line 5: 1 NOUN-B (a synonym of NOUN-A)

Spider

Furry, black

Climbing, spinning, weaving

They make an intricate web

Tarantula

Triangles

Pointy edges

Revolving, rotating, angling

Triangles are all different.

180o

Limerick

Five Lines

1,2,5 rhyme

3,4 rhyme and are shorter than the other three

There once was a frog named Pete

Who did nothing but sit and eat.

He examined each fly

With so careful an eye

And then said, "You're dead meat."

There was a Young Lady whose eyes,

Were unique as to color and size;

When she opened them wide,

People all turned aside,

And started away in surprise.

---Edward Lear

Free Verse--Unrhymed Poetry

Loneliness

A lifetime

Of broken dreams

And promises

Lost love

Hurt

My heart

Cries

In silence

Dunes

Dunes of sand

on the beach.

Sarah walks on them

and watches the ocean.

Dunes of hay

beside the barn.

Papa makes them for Sarah

because she misses Maine.

Acrostic Poem

An acrostic poem uses the letters in a topic word

to begin each line. All lines of the poem should

relate to or describe the poem.

Example:

Shines brightly

Up in the sky

Nice and warm on my skin

Diamante

Seven-Line Diamond Shaped Contrast Poem

Line 1: one noun as the subject

Line 2: two adjectives describing the subject

Line 3: three participles (ending in -ing) telling about the subject

Line 4: four nouns (the first two related to the subject and the last two related to the

opposite)

Line 5: three participles telling about the opposite

Line 6: two adjectives describing the opposite

Line 7: one noun that is the opposite of the subject

Diamante Examples:

Baby

wrinkled tiny

crying wetting sleeping

rattles diapers money house

caring working loving

smart helpful

Adult

Title of Poem

Author's Name

_________________

_____________, ___________

_______________, ______________, _______________

_______________, ______________, _______________, _______________

_______________, ______________, _______________

_______________, _____________

__________________

Two-Word Lines

A four line poem with each line having only two words. Each line describes the title of

the poem.

Fun

Bikes racing;

Balls batting;

Skateboards swishing;

Hoops twirling.

Noise

Bells, yells;

Waves, raves;

Sports, snorts;

Clouts, shouts

Quatrains

A Four-Line Poem

Two Styles:

a a b b (lines 1 and 2 rhyme; lines 3 and 4 rhyme)

a b a b (lines 1 and 3 rhyme; lines 2 and 4 rhyme)

Rhyming lines should have about the same number of syllables.

Examples:

There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile;

He found a crooked sixpence again a crooked stile;

He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,

And all lived together in a little crooked house.

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man,

Bake me a cake as fast as you can;

Pat it and prick it, and mark it with a T,

Put it in the oven for Tommy and me.

Combining Quatrains to form longer poems

Example:

A Bird

A bird came down the walk,

He did not know I saw;

He bit an angleworm in halves

And he ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew

From a convenient grass,

And then hopped sidewise to the wall

To let a beetle pass.

--Emily Dickinson

Sneaky Poem

Line 1: word related to the subject

Line 2: adjective plus noun about subject

Line 3: two action words

Line 4: descriptive phrase

Line 5: subject

Oval

Unpredictable path

Spiraling, flashing

It's an odd shape

Football.

Steel

Hesitant smile

Binding, grinding

Sparks off of teeth

Braces

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonants

Betty Botter bought some butter,

But, she said, the butter's bitter;

If I put it in my batter

It will make my batter bitter,

But a bit of better butter

Will make my batter better.

So she bought a bit of butter

Better than her bitter butter,

And she put it in her batter

And the batter was not bitter

So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck

If a woodchuck could chuck wood?

A woodchuck would chuck as much as he would chuck

If a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Five-Senses Poems

Usually five lines long, one for each senses (see, touch, taste, smell, feel), but sometimes an extra

line is added.

Problems

Problems are black.

They sound like children crying.

They taste of castor oil

and smell like spinach.

They make you feel unwanted.

Friendship

Friendship is bright yellow

It sounds like singing in harmony,

and tastes like chocolate chip ice cream.

Friendship smells like sweet cotton candy,

and it looks like two peas in a pod.

Friendship makes you feel like you can

accomplish anything, anything in the whole

world.

An Autobiographical Poem:

Nursery Rhyme Examples:

Simple Simon

Simple Simon met a pieman,

Going to the fair;

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

Let me taste your ware.

Says the pieman to Simple Simon,

Show me first your penny;

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

Indeed I have not any.

Georgie Porgie

Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,

Kissed the girls and make them cry.

When the boys came out to play,

Georgie Porgie ran away.

Story Poems:

A poem that tells a story. Two examples include Casey at Bat and The

Night Before Christmas

Casey at the Bat--A Story Poem

By Ernest Lawrence Thayer

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;

The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,

And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,

A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest

Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;

They thought, "If only Casey could but get a whack at that —

We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat."

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,

And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake;

So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat;

For there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,

And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;

And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,

There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;

It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;

It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,

For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;

There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile lit Casey's face.

And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,

No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt.

Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.

Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,

Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,

And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.

Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped —

"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one!" the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,

Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore;

"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted some one on the stand;

And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;

He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;

He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew;

But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said "Strike two!"

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!"

But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.

They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,

And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer has fled from Casey's lip, the teeth are clenched in hate;

He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.

And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,

And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;

But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas--A Story Poem

By: Clement C. Moore

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.

A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"