Here are a few types of poems I thought you might be interested in. There are more, but I went with some common types that people enjoy writing more often. They range in difficulty. For more information about each, you can go to www.Google.com
Type | Definition | # of Lines | # Syllables Per line | Rhyme Scheme |
Haiku | An ancient form of Japanese poetry. Small in size | 3 lines | line one has 5 line two has 7 line three has 5 | none |
Limerick | Are funny and sometimes rude. They have a set rhyme. The subject is a short, pithy tale or description | 5 lines | none | AABBA |
Sonnet | A poem expressing a single, complete thought, idea or sentiment. There are two types: Petrarchan and Shakespearean | 14 lines | 10 (Iambic Pentameter) | Petrarchan Sonnet: ABBA, ABBA, CDECDE Shakespearean Sonnet: ABAB, CDCE, EFEF, GG |
Free Verse | A popular style of modern poetry. It has a great amount of freedom when it comes to number of lines, cadence, and rhyme (if any) | varies | varies | varies |
Villanelle | A short poem of fixed form, written in tercets, usually five in number followed by a quatrain. | 19 lines | varies | ABA for the first 5 tercets. Line 1 from the first tercet gets repeated in line 3 of tercets 2 and 4. Line 3 from tercet 1 gets repeated in line 3 of tercets 3 and 5. In the stanza 6 (the quatrain at the end), lines 3 and 4 are lines 1 and 3 from the first tercet in order). |
Blank Verse | Poetry written with a precise meter, often in iambic pentameter but doesn’t rhyme. | varies | 10 (Iambic pentameter) | none |
Sestina | A poem of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy, originally without rhyme, in which each stanza repeats the end words of the lines of the first stanza, but in a different order, the envoy using the six words again, three in the middle of the lines and three at the end. | 39 lines | Iambic pentameter is optional. Otherwise there is none. | Line 1: ABCDEF Line 2: FAEBDC Line 3: CFDABE Line 4: ECBFAD Line 5: DEACFB Line 6: BDFECA |
Tanka | A Japanese poem that means “short poem” | 5 lines | lines 1 and 3 have 5 syllables. All other lines have 7 syllables. | none |