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Poetry
Learning ballads, free verse,
sonnets, haiku, odes, lyric poem
epic and limericks.
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Styles of Poetry
Poetry is an imaginative awareness of
experience expressed through
meaning, sound, and rhythmic
language choices so as to evoke an
emotional response.
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Subcategories
Ballads
Free Verse
Sonnets
Haiku
Odes
Limericks
Epic
Lyric Poem
Could play with music
Doesnt need rhythm
Certain number of lines
Certain number of
syllables
Extensive

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Getting Familiar with the terms:
Ballads
A narrative song with a recurrent refrain
A ballad is a poem usually set to music
A narrative poem composed of short verses,
intended to be sung or recited
Example: Untitled
Characteristics: stanza form, imagery

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Free Verse
Verse depending for its poetic effect upon
irregular rhythmical pattern, either absence or
irregularity of rhyme, and the use of cadenced
speech rhythms rather than conventional
verse forms
Characteristics: informal
Example: Wishing Well p 452 lit. bk


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Can you write in free verse?

Good Tips
rhythm or no rhythm
long or short
simple or complex

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Sonnets
A verse form consisting of 14 lines with a fixed
rhyme scheme
Rhyme scheme usually follows:
ababcdcdefefgg (Elizabethan, Shakespeare)
or abbaabba (Italian)
Characteristics: 14 lines, rhyme scheme
Example: How do I love thee?

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Odes
A lyric poem with complex stanza forms
A long, stately poem in stanzas of varied
length, meter, and form
Example: Alexanders Feast
Characteristics: lengthy, complex, no
conventional rhyme scheme


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Limericks
A limerick is a five-line poem with a strict form;
rhyme scheme usually aabba
Limericks are frequently witty or humorous,
and sometimes obscene with humorous intent
Example: Tim, Old Man in a Boat
Name your limerick!!
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Limerick
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Origin
The origin of the actual name limerick for this type of
poem is obscure.
Its use was first documented in the UK in 1898 (New
English Dictionary) and in the USA in 1902.
The name Limerick is predated by the work of Edward
Lear who published his first Book of Nonsense in 1845
and a later work (1872) on the same theme.
Lear wrote 212 limericks, mostly nonsense verse.
It was customary at the time for limericks to accompany
an absurd illustration of the same subject, and for the
final line of the limerick to be a kind of conclusion,
usually a variant of the first line ending in the same word.

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Example: Edward Lear's limericks.
There was a Young Person of Smyrna
Whose grandmother threatened to burn her;
But she seized on the cat, and said 'Granny, burn that!
You incongruous old woman of Smyrna!'
(Lear's limericks were often typeset in three or four
lines, according to the space available under the
accompanying picture.)
An interesting, and maybe somewhat dated aspect of
Lears limericks is his tendency to use the same word
at the end of the first and last lines, most often a place
name.

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Characteristics
Usually has comical effect and make fun of things
Has strict meter and always written in 5 lines
Rhyme: AABBA
Humorous tone, sometimes even vulgar or obscene
Via hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, puns and other
figurative devices
Last line of a good limerick contains a punch line or
heart of the joke.
88558
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Haiku
Haiku is a kind of Japanese poetry
Poetry that is three lines long. The first line is
five syllables, the second line is seven
syllables, and the third line is five syllables
long.
Examples: Baked Goodies, Falling on the
Ground, and Haiku Space.
Can you haiku?

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Write your haiku poem!

Good Tips
first line has five syllables
second line has seven syllables
third line has five syllables

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Epic Poem
Long narrative poem
Celebrating the adventures and achievements
of a hero
Deals with traditions, mythical or historical, of
a nation
See sample Tiddalick
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Lyric Poem
that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet.
The term lyric is now commonly referred to as the
words to a song. Lyric poetry does not tell a story
which portrays characters and actions. The lyric poet
addresses the reader directly, portraying his or her
own feeling, state of mind, and perceptions.


Dying
(aka I heard a fly buzz when I died )
by
Emily Dickinson
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.
Click the following link for the full version of Dying