TYPES OF POEM

1. Lyric Poem: (1) Poetry that presents the deep feelings and emotions of the poet as opposed to poetry that tells a story or presents a witty observation. Sonnets, odes, and elegies are examples of lyric poems. William Wordsworth, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and William Blake are among the writers of lyric poetry. Shakespeare's sonnets are lyric poems, although his verse plays are not; they tell a story. Lyric poetry often has a pleasing musical quality. (2) Poetry that can be set to music. The word lyric derives from the Greek word for lyre, a stringed instrument in use since ancient times. (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms) Example: TIME AND LOVE William Shakespeare When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced The rich proud cost of out-worn buried age; When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed, And brass eternal slave to mortal rage. When I have seen the hungry ocean gain Advantage on the kingdom of the shore, And the firm soil win of the watery main, Increasing store with loss, and loss with store. When I have seen such interchange of state, Or state itself confounded to decay, Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate-That Time will come and take my Love away. --This thought is as a death, which cannot choose But weep to have that which it fears to lose. (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1515672&pageno=7)

2. Sonnet Form of lyric poetry invented in Italy that has 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme. The Italian Petrarchan sonnet consists of an eight-line stanza (octave) and a six-line

stanza (sestet). The first stanza presents a theme, and the second stanza develops it. The rhyme scheme is as follows: (1) first stanza (octave): ABBA, ABBA; (2) second stanza (sestet): CDE, CDE. The Shakespearean sonnet (also called the English sonnet) has three four-line stanzas (quatrains) and a two-line unit called a couplet. A couplet is always indented; both lines rhyme at the end. The meter of Shakespeare's sonnets is iambic pentameter (except in Sonnet 145). The rhyming lines in each stanza are the first and third and the second and fourth. In the couplet ending the poem, both lines rhyme. All of Shakespeare's sonnets follow the same rhyming pattern. (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms) Example: SONNET 1 William Shakespeare From fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty's rose might never die, But as the riper should by time decease, His tender heir might bear his memory: But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes, Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel, Making a famine where abundance lies, Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel: Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament, And only herald to the gaudy spring, Within thine own bud buriest thy content, And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding: Pity the world, or else this glutton be, To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee. (http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/1)

3. Ballad Lyric poem of French origin usually made up of three eight-line stanzas and a concluding four-line stanza called an envoi that offers parting advice or a summation. At the end of each stanza is a refrain. Each line of the poem contains about eight syllables. The rhyme scheme of the eight-line stanza is ababbcbc. The

rhyme scheme of the envoi is bcbc. "Ballade des dames du temps jadis" is an excellent example of the genre. (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms) Example: SIR PATRICK SPENS The king sits in Dumferling town, Drinking the blude-reid wine: "O whar will I get guid sailor, To sail this ship of mine?" Up and spak an eldern knicht, Sat at the king's richt knee: "Sir Patrick Spens is the best sailor That sails upon the sea." ...... Half o'er, half o'er to Aberdour It's fifty fadom deep, And there lies guid Sir Patrick Spens Wi' the Scots lords at his feet. (http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nap/Sir_Patrick_Spens.htm)

4. Ode In ancient Greece, a lyric poem on a serious subject that develops its theme with dignified language intended to be sung. It is a poem addressed to a person or thing, or written for some special occasion. (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms) Example: ODE TO NIGHTINGALE John Keats My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: 'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thine happiness, That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,

In some melodious plot Of beechen green and shadows numberless, Singest of summer in full-throated ease. ...... Forlorn! the very word is like a bell To toll me back from thee to my sole self! Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf. Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades Past the near meadows, over the still stream, Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep In the next valley-glades: Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled is that music: - Do I wake or sleep? (http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/odetoanightingale.html)

5. Narrative Poem Narrative Poetry is a poem that tells a series of events using poetic devices such as rhythm, rhyme, compact language, and attention to sound. In other words, a narrative poem tells a story, but it does it with poetic flair! Many of the same elements that are found in a short story are also found in a narrative poem. Some elements of narrative poetry are character, setting, conflict, and plot. (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms) Example: PAPAS FISHING HOLE Elisabeth D. Babin I place my tiny hand in his as we walk to Papas Fishing Hole. I hand him a wiggling night crawler fighting for his life. The deadly hook squishes through the worms head, and I watch the brown guts ooze out. Papa throws the poles long arm back and then forward. The line lands in a merky spot along the reedy shore.

. ..... The fish doesnt have a chance, I yell. I know. I know. I know, he says. (http://www.pflugervilleisd.net/curriculum/ela/grade9/documents/Narrative_Poetr y_Lesson.pdf)

6. Epic Poem Long poem in a lofty style about the exploits of heroic figures. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, as well as the Old English poem Beowulf, are examples of epics. (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms) Example: BEOWULF (Prelude) LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped, we have heard, and what honor the athelings won! Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes, from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore, awing the earls. Since erst he lay friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him: for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve, till before him the folk, both far and near, who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate, gave him gifts: a good king he! ...... no hero 'neath heaven, -- who harbored that freight! (http://www.beowulfepic.com/prelude.html)

7. Limerick A limerick is a short humorous poem invented by Edward Lear. It has 5 lines The first, second, and fifth lines have 3 beats, and the third and fourth lines have 2 beats. The rime scheme is aabba. The first line nearly always begins: There was an old man / young lady / young man, etc. of Rome / Khartoum / Niger, etc. (Murphy: 1972) Example:

LIMERICKS Edward Lear There was an Old Man who supposed, That the street door was partially closed; But some very large rats, Ate his coats and his hats, While that futile old gentleman dozed. There was a Young Lady of Portugal, Whose ideas were excessively nautical: She climbed up a tree, To examine the sea, But declared she would never leave Portugal (http://www.itsbullfrog.com/guests/lear/limericks.htm)

8. Elegy A somber poem or song that praises or laments the dead. Perhaps the finest elegy in English literature is Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms) Example: LYCIDAS John Milton Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, And with forc'd fingers rude Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear Compels me to disturb your season due; For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer. Who would not sing for Lycidas? he knew Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme. He must not float upon his wat'ry bier Unwept, and welter to the parching wind, Without the meed of some melodious tear. ......

Thus sang the uncouth swain to th'oaks and rills, While the still morn went out with sandals gray; He touch'd the tender stops of various quills, With eager thought warbling his Doric lay; And now the sun had stretch'd out all the hills, And now was dropp'd into the western bay; At last he rose, and twitch'd his mantle blue: To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new. (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173999)

9. Nonsense Poem A nonsense poem is a poem that does not make any logical sense when read. It is enjoyed for its sound, rhythm, sense of fun, and for its pure nonsense. (Murphy: 1972) Example: THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT Edward Lear I The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above, And sang to a small guitar, 'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are, You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!' (http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/pussy.html)

10. Epigram Wise or witty saying expressing a universal truth in a few words. Following are examples of epigrams from Shakespeare: ~ There's small choice in rotten apples.The Taming of the Shrew: Act I, Scene I. ~ A goodly apple rotten at the heart, O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!The Merchant of Venice: Act I, Scene III.

~ They are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing.The Merchant of Venice: Act I, Scene II. ~ How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.The Merchant of Venice: Act V, Scene I. ~ Every cloud engenders not a storm.Henry VI, Part III: Act V, Scene III. Words pay no debts.Troilus and Cressida: Act III, Scene II. ~ O! it is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.Measure for Measure: Act II, Scene II. (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms)

11. Satire Literary work that attacks or pokes fun at vices and imperfections; political cartoon that does the same. Satire may make the reader laugh at or feel disgust for the person or thing satirized. The TV program Saturday Night Live often uses satire to expose abuses and follies. (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms) Example: THE DUNCIAD Alexander Pope Book I The Mighty Mother, and her son who brings The Smithfield muses to the ear of kings, I sing. Say you, her instruments the great! Called to this work by Dulness, Jove, and Fate; You by whose care, in vain decried and cursed, Still Dunce the second reigns like Dunce the first; Say how the Goddess bade Britannia sleep, And poured her spirit oer the land and deep. In eldest time, eer mortals writ or read, Eer Pallas issued from the Thunderers head, Dulness oer all possessed her ancient right, Daughter of Chaos and eternal Night: Fate in their dotage this fair idiot gave, Gross as her sire, and as her mother grave, Laborious, heavy, busy, bold, and blind, She ruled, in native anarchy, the mind.

...... So when Joves block descended from on high (As sings thy great forefather Ogilby) Loud thunder to its bottom shook the bog, And the hoarse nation croaked, God save King Log! (http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Classic%20Poems/Pope/the_dunciad_book_the_firs t.htm)

12. Blank Verse Blank Verse is Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse is often unobtrusive and the iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of ordinary speech. William Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse. (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms) Example: Excerpt from Macbeth William Shakespeare Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. (http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/07-blank-verse.htm)

13. Heroic Couplet Two successive end-rhyming lines in iambic pentameter. Following is an example: What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things (Lines 1 and 2, The Rape of the Lock, by Alexander Pope) (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html#Literary%20Terms)