Forms of Poetry

There are three main types of poetry:

 Narrative poetry tells a story, using elements such as plot, characters, and setting.
 Lyric poetry has a musical quality and expresses the feelings of a single speaker.
 Dramatic poetry presents a dramatic situation and the speech of a character.
Within these broad categories, there are many specific forms of poetry. Some examples are:
 An epic poem is a long narrative poem that tells about a larger than life hero.
 A ballad is a song-like narrative poem that often deals with adventure and romance. Most ballads
use rhyme, meter, four-line stanzas, and a refrain—a repeated line or group of lines.
 An ode is a long, formal lyric poem. Odes often honor people, events, and nature.
 Free verse is poetry that does not use a regular meter. Instead, the poet uses any rhythm and line
length that suits the poem’s meaning.
 A haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that consists of seventeen syllables arranged into three
unrhymed lines. The first and third lines have five syllables, and the second line has seven
syllables. A haiku tries to capture a “snapshot” of nature.
 A limerick is a humorous five-line poem with a specific meter and rhyme scheme: aabba

In order to determine meaning, sometimes paraphrasing is the best way to start.

 Start by rereading each line, phrase by phrase, verse by verse.

 Look up any words you don’t know and think about the connotations of the words the poet used.
 Focus your attention on any difficult lines.
 Ask yourself, “Does this paraphrase make sense in relation to the rest of the poem?”
 “Does it express the poet’s meaning?”
Example:
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
 Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs₁ of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen₂ came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
1 seraphs a kind of angel
2 kinsmen relatives
Describe Somebody by Jacqueline Woodson Paraphrase each line of poetry
List all examples of sound devices
Today in class Ms. Marcus said
Take out your poetry notebooks and describe somebody.
Think carefully, Ms. Marcus said.
You’re gonna read it to the class.
I wrote, Ms. Marcus is tall and a little bit skinny.
Then I put my pen in my mouth and stared down at the words.
Then I crossed them out and wrote
Ms. Marcus’s hair is long and brown.
Shiny.
When she smiles it makes you feel all food inside.
I stopped writing and looked around the room.
Angel was staring out the window.
Eric and Lamont were having a pen fight.
They don’t care about poetry.
Stupid words, Eric says.
Lots and lots of stupid words.
Eric is tall and a little bit mean.
Lamont’s just regular.
Angel’s kinda chubby. He’s got light brown hair.
Sometimes we all hang out,
play a little ball or something. Angel’s real good
at science stuff. Once he made a volcano
for science fair and the stuff that came out of it
looked like real lava. Lamont can
draw superheroes real good. Eric—nobody
at school really knows this but
he can sing. Once, Miss Edna took me
to a different church than the one
we usually go to on Sunday.
I was surprised to see Eric up there
with a choir robe on. He gave me a mean look
like I’d better not
say nothing about him and his dark green robe with
gold around the neck.
After the preacher preached
Eric sang a song with nobody else in the choir singing.
Miss Edna started dabbing at her eyes
whipering Yes, Lord.
Eric’s voice was like something
that didn’t seem like it should belong
to Eric.
Seemed like it should be coming out of an angel.

Now I gotta write a whole new poem

‘cause Eric would be real mad if I told the class
about his angel voice.
Haiku by Yosa Buson Paraphrase each line of poetry
List all examples of sound devices
O foolish ducklings,
you know my old green pond is
watched by a weasel!

____________________________________

After the moon sets,

slow through the forest, shadows
drift and disappear.

Haiku by Matsuo Basho

An old silent pond…
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.
 “Annabel Lee,” “Describe Somebody,” and Two Haiku
1. Complete the following chart
Which form of Explain why using examples.
poetry is this?

“Annabel Lee”

“Describe
Somebody”

Two haiku

2A. Which poems tell a story?_______________________________________________________________________________________

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2B. How does the presence or absence of rhyme affect the mood and tone of the narrative poems?
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3. How does the form of the haiku contribute to the feeling that the poems create?
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