8 Types of Poetry :]

1. Narrative
Definition: A poem that tells a story
Example: "Paul Revere's Ride" and "Casey at the Bat" are narrative poems.

"He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides."~ "Paul Revere's Ride" (line 81-86)

2. Ballads
Definition: A song or songlike poem that tells a story.

Example: "The Dying Cowboy" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee" are ballads.

"'Twas once in the saddle I used to go dashing,
'Twas once in the saddle I used to go gay,
But I first took to drinking and then to card playing,
Got shot in the body and I'm dying today."
~ "The Dying Cowboy" (line 13-16)

3. Epic
Definition: A long narrative poem that tells stories of a heroic character who embodies the values of a society.

Example: "Beowulf" is the oldest surviving Anglo-Saxon epic.

"In the blackness of night, hunting monsters
Out of the ocean, and killing them one
By one; death was my errand and the fat
They had earned. Now Grendel and I are called
Together, and I've come. Grant me, then,
Lord and protector of this noble place,
A single request! I have come so far,
Oh shelterer of warriors and your people's loved friend,
That this one favor you should not refuse me-"
~ "Beowulf" (line 16-24)

4. Lyric
Definition: A poem that expresses the emotions or thoughts of a speaker.

Example: "A Word is Dead" and "The Word" both express the speaker's feelings about words.

"A word is dead

When it is said,
Some say.

I say it just
Begins to live
That day."
~ "A Word is Dead"

5. SonnetsDefinition: A fourteen-line poem, usually written in iambic p entameter.

Example: "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" is in the form of an Italian sonnet.

"The poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead."
~ "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" (line 1-4)

6. OdesDefinition: A lyric poem, rhymed or unrhymed, usually addressed to one person or thing.

Example: In "Odes to Thanks", Pablo Neruda praises the word "thanks."

"A bit of brightness
strikes into the forest,
and we can sing again beneath the leaves.
Thanks, you're the medicine we take
to save us from
the bite of scorn."
~ "Odes to Thanks" (line 20-25)

7. Elegies

Definition: Poems of mourning, often about someone who has died.

Example: "O Captain! My Captain!" is an elegy on the death of President Abraham Lincoln.

"O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up- for you the flag is flung, for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning."
~ "O Captain! My Captain!" (line 9-12)

8. Free verse
Definition: Poetry without a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

Example: "I Hear America Singing" is a famous poem written in free verse.

"I hear America singing, the varies carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat,
the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck."
~ "I Hear America Singing" (line 1-4)

20. Lines :]

Definition: A single line of words in a poem.

Example:
I see a big fly
sitting on a pie,
My brother takes a big bite
and the fly vanishes out of sight!

Significance: Lines are somehow familiar to a stanzas. Lines in a stanza seperate the ideas that were written by the author.

19. Symbols :]

Definition: Something that represents something else

Example:
Peace- dove
Bald eagle- the United States
Star of David- Judaism
Cross- Christianity

Significance: a Symbols make things easier to keep in mind but symbols in literature are very personal and surprising. For example: a sweater symbolizes the grandmother's love and caring.

18. Onomatopoeia :]

Definition: Words that represent the sounds.

Example:
Roof- Dog,
Meow- Cat,
Moo- Cow,
Quack- Duck,
ZzZzz- Sleeping

Significance: Onomatopoeia makes sounds easier to memorize in a form of words.

17. Assonance :]

Definition: The repetition of vowel sounds in words that are near each other.

Example: From the molten golden notes.

Significance: Assonance is basically almost the same as alliteration. But assonance can be more humorous when it is spoken.

16. Alliteration :]

Definition: The repetition of consonant sounds in words that are near each other.

Example:
"The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright-
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night."
-"The Walrus and the Carpenter"

Significance: Alliteration is an important part of a poem. It can be seen as tongue twisters for kids to learn a certain group of difficult letters.

15. Meter :]

Definition: A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

Example:
u / u / u / u / u /
Iambic: Shall I compare thee to a summers day

Significance: Meter brings emotions to the readers. It also stresses important words in a poem.

14. Elegy :]

Definition: A poem that is written about a loss of a person.

Example: "O Captain! My Captain!" was written about the death of President Abraham Lincoln.

Significance: Elegy is an important figure of speech. It contains a lot of emotions in the poem and is very meaningful.

13. Couplet :]

Definition: Two lines in-a-row of poetry that rhyme.

Example:
"From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm waves on a stern and distant shore;"
...

Significance: Couplets make a poem more humorous. Shakespeare uses couplets in his plays to give for a more serious purpose and to give closure to a speech.

12. Rhyme :]

Definition: The repetition of vowel sounds and sounds following them in words that are near each other in a poem

Example:
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on this shirt;
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

Significance: Words that rhyme make a poem more intersting and also make it sound more like a song.

11. Rhymth :]

Definition: A musical quality created by the repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Example:
"The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the seen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee."
-"The Destruction of Sennacherib"

Significance: Rhymth is very important in a poem because it creates a musical poem out of a regular one and it is also very easy for readers to memorize.

10. Personification :]

Definition: Things that are appeared as humans.

Example: The rumor of my friend that will be leaving is traveling our the school very quickly.

Significance: Poets use personification to make the readers think about the poems easily and it is also easier to relate them as each other.

9. Speaker :]

Definition: A narrator or a character of a poem.

Example:
In my heart, I will always love you.
In my soul, you live forever.
My soul will one day join you,
and we'll always be together.

The author of this poem would be an adult, but he/she could have written it based on someone else's feelings.

Significance: The speaker shows his/her feelings and thoughts in the poem. The speaker also helps the readers to connect to the poem based on their own experiences.

8. Tone :]

Definition: A technique that a poet use to make a mood of out of poem.

Example: He used many exciting words in his poem, which made it extremely enjoyable to read.

Significance: Tones can help the readers to understand the author's thoughts and feelings about the poem. It somehow brings the readers straight to the mood of a poem very easily and also gives the readers a feeling of that poem.

7. Interpretation :]

Definition: An explanation of something.

Example: People interpret things in different perspectives.

Significance: Interpretation is essential because there are many points of views that come from different people. Every single person has a different taste at different things. That can also be applied to poems. Every person looks at a poem differently, they also have different interpretations of a poem than others.

6. Simile :]

Definition: A comparison between two unlike things by using words such as like or as.

Example: I run as fast as a rabbit.

Significance: Simile turns a poem into a more enjoyable poem. There can be hilarious similes which makes the readers more excited to read the poem. Also, simile drifts a reader's image of a certain line to another and it gives that reader a chance to experience new things.

5. Extended Metaphor :]

Definition: A metaphor that extends through the whole poem.

Example:
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

"And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

"I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me."
~Emily Dickinson

Significance: An extended metaphor makes a poem more interesting. When you repeat many things in your poem, the readers will pause while reading it and spend a moment thinking about it. When thinking about the lines, the readers might discover the hidden meaning behind these lines.

4. Metaphor

Definition: When comparing one thing to another without using "like" or "as".

Example:
My boyfriend is my knight in shining armor.

Significance: Poets use metaphor to give a certain sentence with a deeper meaning. They also use it without being straight-forward.

3. Stanza :]

Definition: A group of lines that are set up as a unit, normally 3 or more. Usually have an internal pattern of rhymes.

Example:
The fire in the sky
the savior of darkness
the only thing you can't look at directly

The bright circle
shaped like a ball
that no once can kick

The hottest thing in the world
that no one can touch or go close to
the predator of rain

Significance: Applying stanza to a poem makes it look more interesting and clear.

2. Imagery :]

Definition: Imaginary pictures that evoke our senses.

Example:
Jack Frost on the window sill
White drops are falling down
White blankets on the ground
It's not black it's white
White mist is passing

Significance: Ordinary poems are spoken to express feelings and thoughts. Meanwhile, imagery helps the readers to get the meaning of the poem in a simple way by making them exploit their senses.

1. Poetry :]

Definition: Poetry is a kind of art that can be written or spoken. It is used by words to express emotions rather than the meanings of the words. Poetry can also be shown through images. It usually rhymes and is written to capture a reader's imagination and thoughts.

Example:
The days were so crazy,
That people think we're high.
And days were so bored.
We laugh so hard we cry!
All the inside jokes,
And saying "remember when.."
We'll always be best friends. (:

Significance: Poetry is significant because it is composed to express feelings and to contain much deeper thoughts. It is also very essential in Language Arts because it is a piece of writing that has really rich meanings.