Types of Poetry

Narratives: Poems that tell stories.

Examples: There once was a boy,

And Jack was his name.

His last name was 'Pot'

And his mum's was the same.

Jack Pot and his mum
Were as poor as could be.
With only a cow
To give milk for their tea.

"Jack Pot," said his mum
"Things really are bad.
We must sell the cow,
For she's all we have."

Ballads: songs that tells a stories about death, betrayal or love.
Example:
Ballad of a Broken Heart

Standing on one side of the bridge
You on the other
Burned at both ends
of the times we spent with one another
As the bridge slowly crumbles apart
A melody starts to play
The Ballad of the Broken Heart

Reminscing of a secret love affair
Wallowing in the pits of despair
This isn't the ending
Its a brand new start
As a melody begins to play
The Ballad of the Broken Heart

For a wounded heart time does not heal
Only gives it a better conceal
In the beginning like a flower our love arose
To end this chapter
The book will close

From within, the music will start
Hail! Sing, sing aloud to the melody
The Ballad of the Broken Heart

Epics: long narrative poems that talk about heroes.
Example:
Two Halves of One Heart
Two creatures once split a nation,
And there stood a torn creation:
To the North a Tiger paced,
Seeing things that no one faced.
A Dragon called the South it’s home,
There it stood, like the walls of Rome.
But war ever closer loomed
To bring the beasts to their doom.
But how can it be Civil when
Both sides shed blood, neither to win?
The Dragon fell, fire lost;
The Tiger roared at the cost.
Two became one and learned to fly! –
A Dragon with a Tiger’s eye.
Lyrics: poems that express one's feelings or emotions.
Example:
I close my eyes lightly whenever I feel lonely again
I no longer fear when your breath holds me
No one in the world can replace you
You are the only one in I’ll be there for you baby
You and I together, It’s just feels so right
Even though i bid you goodbye, to me this world is just you
You and I together, don’t ever let go my hands
even though i bid you goodbye, to me this world is just you
Just you and I
Forever and ever...
~ Translation from Korean  - You and I - Park Bom

Sonnets: Poems that are written with 14 lines in iambic pentameter
Example:


Odes: Lyrics poems that are written specific about something.
Example:

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight
                 To me did seem
            Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;--
             Turn wheresoe'er I may,
              By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

Elegies: Sad, sorrow poems that usually about a death of someone
Example: "Here Captain! dear father!/This arm beneath your head;/It is some dream that on deck,/You've fallen cold and dead."-"O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman.

Free Verse: Poems that don't follow the pattern of meter or rhyme scheme.
Example:

Fog by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Line

Definition: Words that line up in a line
Example:
I see a big fly
sitting on a pie,
My brother takes a big bite
and the fly vanishes out of sight!
Significance: Readers can get the ideas of what the author is saying in each lines. They know where to stop or pause easier. Without lines, the poem would give the readers a headache trying to find the same spot they were reading at.

Symbol

Definition: Something that represents something

Example:
  = peace
Significance: Symbols can express someone's feelings or meanings. The readers would be really entertained and they would remember it and use it in the future.

Onomatepoeia

Definition: Words that sound like the word you're describing.
Example:
Knock Knock!
Who's there?
Wendy.
Wendy who?
Wendy wind blows de cradle will rock.
Significance: The poem will sound more lively and readers want to continue to read. The readers can even use imaginary to imagine they are hearing the sounds that are being read.

Assonance

Definition: Repeating of vowels that sound the same
Example: “I lie down by the side of my bride”
Significance: It sounds fun to read, easy to remember, and is captivating for the readers. It sounds like the poet is trying to play with words.

Alliteration

Definition: When a poem begin with the same letter or sound between two or more words.
Example: 
Rain races,
Ripping like wind.
Its restless rage
Rattles like
Rocks ripping through
The air.
Significance: It's interesting when readers read it and is easier to remember while you just have to remember the sounds that is spoken.

Meter

Definition: A rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that is in lines of a set length.
Example:

      1.............2............. 3...............4..............5
When I..|..con SID..|..er HOW..|..my LIFE..|..is SPENT
       1.................2.............. 3..................4...................4
Ere HALF..|..my DAYS..|..in THIS..|..dark WORLD..|..and WIDE

Significance: Readers can enjoy the poem with the rhythm and is easier to remember because it's entertaining.

Elegy

Definition: A sad poem, mostly for funerals.
Example:

God saw you getting tired

When a cure was not to be.

So He wrapped his arms around you,

and whispered, “Come to me”.

You didn’t deserve what you went through,

So He gave you rest.

God’s garden must be beautiful,

He only takes the best

And when I saw you sleeping,

So peaceful and free from pain

I could not wish you back

To suffer that again.

Significance: To express one's emotions or feelings inside. The poet would be happier and relieved to express their emotions while the reader can relate themselves to the poem.

Couplet

Definition: A pair of lines that has the same meter and sometimes rhymes.
Example:
I have two cats, one mean and one nice.
They chased some mice.
Significance: It's easier to read & remember, and is really captivating.

Rhyme

Definition: A repeating of similar sounds at the end of each line.
Example:

I say yes and you say no
I say bye and you say hello
Butterfly's fly and penguins swim
Professionals lie and adventures go on whim
If you go up I go down
An emo to a happy clown
Girlie girls pink and fat ones brown
Smiles right side up and frowns up side down
A rainbow to a black plain thing
A monotone to an opera sing
A rainy cloud to a sunny day
Bright colors and something gray
A beginning to an ending
A broken heart and then something mending
Significance: It sounds funnier and captures the reader's attention. Also, it helps the readers to memorize the poem better with all the similar vowels.

Rhythm

Definition: The beat in a poem
Example:

Music is part of my everyday life,
it's the one thing that makes me feel alive.
No matter what it could be,
all music influences me.

Music teaches me everything I do,
After hearing the words, you know it suits you.
Without music I don't know what I would do,
when I'm feeling bad it's the only place I can go to.

Music is my life, my desire,
As I listen, it builds me higher.
No matter what kind, rock, country, or rap,
you can't convince me that any of it is crap.

Whatever you're feeling, whether its happy, sad or fear,
just turn it up and listen to what you hear.
To me music could never go wrong,
I could listen to it all day long.

Significance: It's interesting and fun while reading a rhythm poem. It sounds a lot like music, which people like to listen to.

Personification

Definition: To describe a non-human object by using human actions to describe it.
Example: The lightning danced across the ocean.
Significance: The poem would be more interesting and readers can imagine it while reading.

Speaker

Definition: The person who is talking/ transmitting the message to you in the poem
Example:

a friend is like a flower,
a rose to be exact,
Or maybe like a brand new gate
that never comes unlatched.
A friend is like an owl,
both beautiful and wise.
Or perhaps a friend is like a ghost,
whose spirit never dies.
A friend is like a heart
that goes strong until the end.
Where would we be in this world
if we didn't have a friend.
Significance: It sounds a lot like someone is talking to you directly when you read a poem like this. It makes it more fun to read.

Tone

Definition: how the poem sounds when readers are reading it.
Example:
Little cullud Rastus come a-skippin’ down de street,
A-smilin’ and a-grinnin’ at every one he meet;
My, oh! He was happy! Boy, but was he gay!
Wishin’ “Merry Chris’mus” an’ “Happy New-Year’s Day”!
Wishin’ that his wishes might every one come true—
And—bless your dear heart, honey,—I wish the same to you!
Significance: It brings emotions and feelings to the poem as it is read aloud. It also makes the poem more entertaining and interesting with the right kind of voice.

Interpretation

Definition: To explain or analyze someone's artwork
Example:
A true friend like you...
Warms you with her presence
A true friend like you...
Trusts you with her secrets
A true friend like you...
Remembers you in her prayers
A true friend like you...
Is always special!

The poem talks about the author is expressing his/her feelings about her true friend
Significance: Helps readers to understand the poem more

Simile

Definition: A figure of speech that compares 2 things using like or as.
Example: The kitten is soft like a pillow.
Significance: It helps the author describe it easier to help the readers understand it in entertaining and interesting ways.

Extended Metaphor

Definition: A type of metaphor that describes and compare 2 things over and over until the stanza ends.
Example:

Bat

My son is a bat.
His eyes blink when darkness comes.
His body stirs with life.
His limbs gorge with blood
as he sets out through the cave of night
his roof the stars
the moon a big white eye watching.
Attracted by the false lights
he mingles with his batty friends
weaving in and out of nightclubs
endless parties
each other’s places
till sensing the sudden ebb
of darkness
he flutters home
a cloaked Dracula
to the hollow of his room
where he will sleep all day

Significance: Readers also understand even more when reading it. The poem is useful to the readers because it makes them understand the object that they don't know even deeper.

Metaphor

Definition: A figure of speech that compares 2 different things directly without using: like or as
Example: She's an angel whenever she smiles.
Significance: Helps reader to understand deeper and imagine what's the author trying to say. If the readers don't understand something, they can visualize that thing that they do not know.

Stanza

Definition: a paragraph in a poem or a group of lines. There are many types of stanzas.
Example:

A

Shiny

Little star

Burned bright

Full of glowing light

Spreading joy to the night

Christmas time!

Significance: You can seperate your ideas and help readers to pause for a little. That helps them to understand better. The readers wouldn't get confuse with they're reading.

Imagery

Definition: The senses (sight, smell, touch, hear, taste) that you imagine when reading a poem.
Example:

When I asked dad for twenty bucks,

He said, “Let’s make a deal.

I’ll give you money only if

You eat a healthy meal.”

I found him sitting on the couch before I went to bed.

I look into his tired eyes

And this is what I said:

“I finished all my vegetables.

The carrots tasted great!

I ate the piece of celery

That mom put on my plate.

The egg plant was delicious

And the string beans were divine.

The peppers were fantastic

And the broccoli was fine.

The giant baked potato

Was the highlight of my night.

The juicy red tomato filled my belly with delight.”

My dad said he was proud of me

And handed me the cash.

I hope he doesn’t find out

All this food is in the trash!

Significance: We can use our 5 senses to read the poem. We can understand it more clearly and better. Through words, we can imagine a picture and know the meaning of the poem. If we don't visualize a picture in our mind, it's hard to understand it.

Define Poetry

Definition : A written or spoken art that express one's emotionals, feelings, or thoughts using senses, figures of speech and imagery.
Example:
BANG! BANG!
He shot me down~
BANG! BANG!
I hit the ground~
BANG! BANG!
That awful sound~
BANG! BANG!
My baby shot me down~
Significance: Poetry is also similar to music. It has rhythm, and it rhymes. It shows the feelings of the person that wrote it and you can share it with other people.