Types of poetry

narrative: poems that tell a story

There was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.

ballads: narrative poem but can be put to music

Oh the ocean waves may roll,
And the stormy winds may blow,
While we poor sailors go skipping aloft
And the land lubbers lay down below, below, below
And the land lubbers lay down below.

epic: long poem about heroes

By the shore of Gitchie Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited. 

lyric: poem that can be sang like a song

I heard a fly buzz when I died;
The stillness round my form
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm.

sonnets:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,
Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest.

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 

odes: long poem to celebrate/say good thing about someone/something

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:

elegies: poem for someone who died

 

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds:

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such as, wandering near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The breezy call of incense-breathing morn,
The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,
The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
No children run to lisp their sire's return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share,

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the Poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:-
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Nor you, ye Proud, impute to these the fault
If Memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise,
Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death?

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre:

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page,
Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll;
Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood,
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood.

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
And read their history in a nation's eyes,

Their lot forbad: nor circumscribed alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined;
Forbad to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenour of their way.

Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd Muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply:
And many a holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.

For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing lingering look behind?

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
E'en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires.

For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonour'd dead,
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate, --

Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away,
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn;

'There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high.
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

'Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove;
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
Or crazed with care, or cross'd in hopeless love.

'One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,
Along the heath, and near his favourite tree;
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;

'The next with dirges due in sad array
Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne,-
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay
Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.'

free verse: poem with no rhythm or meter, but have other aspects of a poetry

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their
parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.

Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.

Assonance

Definition: refrain of vowels of two or more words.

Example: Do you like blue

Significance: It make the poem more interesting to read. (don't believe me, find a poem with assonance and read :] )

Meter

Definition: Pattern of rhythm/ stresses and unstressed syllables.

Example:

~      ~   /   ~    ~      /   ~    ~    /
From  the  centre  all  round  to  the  sea,
~   ~    /   ~    ~    /     ~    ~      /
I  am  lord  of  the  fowl  and  the  brute.

Significance: The pattern of rhythm make the poem easier to read and interpret 

 

(image - pattern)

Elegy

Definition:  a poem to grief/ moan for someone who died.

Example:
I have not lost my rings, my purse,
My gold, my gems-my loss is worse,
One that the stoutest heart must move.
My pet, my joy, my little love,
My tiny kitten, my Belaud,
I lost, alas, three days ago.

Significance: Elegy is a type of poem, which should be appreciate. Also, it's for someone who died, it's the writer feeling to that person.

Imagery

Definition: Language used to help readers visualize/imagine the scene of the poem.

Example: When Alex banged his head to the door, an eerie sound echoed the house.

Significance: It's important to  have imagery because it help the reader understand the poem/literature piece more. Also, it helps translate information more than just normal words ( or dead words).

Extended metaphor

Definition: Usage of metaphor throughout the poem

Example:
Charlie is a bomb.
He is waiting to explode.
The bomb is full of anger;
he has a short fuse.
He may go off at any time.

Significance: Metaphor are used to make the poem sound better. Using metaphor throughout the poem make it sound much better.

 (image - go forever)

Couplet

Definition: a pair of lines rhyme with each other in a poem having the same meter

Example:
He'd buy food in bulk that incredible in sizes
and then use his nose and reduces it to slices


Significance: it make the poem sound better and it's easy

Speaker

Definition: the point of view the poem is from (the voice of the poem

Example:
Why the school is harsh and complicated,
Will there be a better way learning school.
I hate school,
I hate my life.

Significance: share the feelings and point of view of the characters/writer.

Alliteration

Definition: repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of a series of words and/or phrases

Example: 

The sickly silence fell upon the patron of the game.

Significance: It help to boost imagery and help the reader to visualize the poem

Onomatopoeia

Definition: words which mean what they sound like

Example:
Bang! The bullet goes through the man's head, splashing his brains everywhere.

Example of opening sentence - by Blake Stok, a.k.a Mr Blake

Significance: Sometimes just describing the sound isn't enough. The author describe the sound of a the gun shot (without telling the reader it's the sound of a gun shot)as loud and scary, but the reader might think of the sound of an earthquake since his he think of loud and scary is the sound of an earthquake, not a gun shot.

Symbol

Definition: A thing which symbolize another something else (things/person/ideas)

Example: a four leaves clover symbolize luck; #13 symbolize bad luck

Significance: 1st) It can help the poet make some message / idea hidden; 2) people also have to infer what do the symbols mean and when they think about it, they're interest about the poem and they also have to actually read the poem to know what's hidden

Yin Yang symbolize harmony

Lines

Definition: A verse of poetry

Example:

By day the bat is cousin to the mouse.
He likes the attic of an aging house.
His fingers make a hat about his head.
His pulse beat is so slow we think him dead.
He loops in crazy figures half the night
Among the trees that face the corner light.          => 10 lines
But when he brushes up against a screen,
We are afraid of what our eyes have seen:
For something is amiss or out of place
When mice with wings can wear a human face.


Significance: It's important to have lines so the ideas can be easily divided

rhythm

Definition: the beat/pattern of sound in a poem created when you read the poem out loud (also found in songs)

Example:
What are words
If you really don't mean them
When you say them
What are words
If they're only for good times
Then they don't
When it's love
Yeah, you say them out loud
Those words, They never go away
They live on, even when we're gone

What are words - Chris Medina

Significance: Rhythm make the poem sound more lively when reading out loud, and also make it intertesting for people to read.

Rhyme

Definition: similiar sound, usually at the end of the lines

Example:
By day the bat is cousin to the mouse.
He likes the attic of an aging house.

 Significance: rhyming help the poem to be more interesting and sound more ... colorful.

Tone

Definition: The high and low pitch of the sound you made when reading / singing / talking outloud.

Example:
When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
'Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
'Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

Just the way you are - Bruno Mars

Significance: When reading outloud a poem with tone, you give it more feeling and emotion which make it interesting

Interpretation

Definition: the way people understand things

Example: romeo & juliet
Girl: people can die for their love :]
Boy: move on!!! why should we (boys) die when the girls did not?

Significance: Poems/Literature pieces have many themes and messages. Some people will understand the piece in one way, and learn the messages. Meanwhile, others  will understand the piece another way, and learn other messages.

Stanza

Definition: A division / paragraph of a poem

Example:

I see a big fly

sitting on a pie.

My brother takes a big bite

and the fly vanishes out of sight

Significance: With long poems, stanza are required so that audiences wouldn't be tired reading the poems, and also to divide ideas .

Personification

Definition: adding human traits/actions to a nonhuman thing.

Example: The volcano roared, before it destroyed the whole village.

Significance: personification help making the poem more interesting to read, and visualized.

Metaphor

Definition: Directly comparing two things without using connecting words.

Example: Charlie is the coach. He's the soul of the team.

Significance: Comparing thing help to better understand poem. Not using connecting words would make it more difficult to guess the meaning of the metaphor. The reader wouldn't know for sure if it means "look like", "smell like", "act like", etc.

Simile

Definition: Compare one thing to another indirectly by using connecting words: like, as,etc

Example: Joe just shaved his head. He look like a monk

Significance: When you comparing things, you make schema. This make it more interesting, easier to understand and easier to remember.

Poetry

Definition: A kind of literature that often is presented in a column with rows. It can include rhythmic, rhyme, imagery, and figures of speech and is often used to to express emotions are telling stories.


Example:
Yes! No! My turn signal wasn’t working,
So I asked for help from a friend.
"Stand behind the car," I said.
"Let’s get this problem to end." "When I turn the signal on,
If it’s working, let me know."
I hit the blinker and then I heard:
"Yes! No! Yes! No! Yes! No!"

Significance: Like other kinds of literature, we should read them, get out information from them, get the message they conveyed, and appreciate what they told you.