Types of Poems

1
Types of Poems
2
Couplet
Couplet
Couplet

• Poems with 2 rhyming lines
• TRIPLET

(9) It filled the can, it covered the
floor, (9) It cracked the window and blocked the
door, (7) Pizza crusts and withered
greens, (7) Soggy beans and tangerines,

• Poems with 3 rhyming lines

3
Cinquain

• Poem with 5 lines and 22 syllables total (looks
  like a Christmas tree)
• 1st line 2 syllables
• 2nd line 4 syllables
• 3rd line 6 syllables
• 4th line 8 syllables
• 5th line 2 syllables

4
Alternate Cinquain

• 1st line 1 word subject
• 2nd line 2 describing words (adjectives)
• 3rd line 3 ing words (verbs)
• 4th line 4 word phrase about the subject
• 5th line synonym for the subject (1 word)

5
Haiku

• Japanese poem
• 17 syllables total
• 3 lines long
• Topic usually nature/season
• Line 1 5 syllables
• Line 2 7 syllables
• Line 3 5 syllables

6
Acrostic

• 1st letter in each line of the poem spells the
  subject vertically

Cats purr loudly Active at night, Tackle my
toes.
7
Ballad

• Narrative rhyming poem (tells a story)
• Often put to song/music

8
Elegy

• Poem of grief and mourning

9
Epic

• Long, heroic, narrative poem (does not have to
  rhyme)
• Example The Odyssey

10
Sonnet

• 14 line poem
• Shakespeare wrote many
• Shakespearean sonnets followed the rhythm of
  iambic pentameter (U /)
• Rhyme scheme
• a,b,a,b,c,d,c,d,e,f,e,f,g,g

11
Free Verse

• A fluid form of poetry which conforms to no set
  rules (does not have to rhyme or follow any other
  poetry rules)

12
Limerick

• A light or humorous poem made of 5 lines
• Lines 1,2, and 5 rhyme lines 3 and 4 rhyme
  (rhyme scheme a,a,b,b,a)
• Lines 1,2 and 5 are longer
• Lines 3 and 4 are shorter

13
Nursery Rhyme

• A short poem for children that rhymes and is
  handed down in folklore

14
Concrete

• A poem that takes the shape of the topic it is
  about