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)