Types of Poems

HaikuForm of poetry from JapanUsually about nature or animalsThree lines:

1st Line: 5 syllables2nd Line: 7 syllables3rd Line: 5 syllables

Haiku

LimerickForm of poetry from IrelandOften humorous Five linesRhyme scheme: AABBALines 3 and 4 are usually shorter

LimerickDa-dum, da-da-dum, da-da-dum,Da-dum, da-da-dum, da-da-dum,Da-dum, da-da-dum,Da-dum, da-da-dum,Da-dum, da-da-dum, da-da-dum!

LimerickThere was an Old Man with a beard,Who said, 'It is just as I feared!Two Owls and a Hen,Four Larks and a Wren,Have all built their nests in my beard!'

LimerickThere 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.

BalladA narrative, lyrical poemStanzas usually broken into quatrains (4

lines)Strong rhyme and rhythmRhyme scheme: ABCB

BalladA ballad stanza in a poem has lines as long as these. In measuring the lines we find we get both fours and threes.

Ballad‘The Ballad of Sally in our Alley’ Henry Carey Of all the Girls that are so smart There’s none like pretty SALLY, She is the Darling of my Heart, And she lives in our Alley. There is no Lady in the Land Is half so sweet as SALLY, She is the Darling of my Heart, And she lives in our Alley.

Free VerseFree from regular meter (rhythmic pattern)May or may not rhymeNo fixed line length

Free Verse‘What Is Poetry’ by John Ashbery

The medieval town, with friezeOf boy scouts from Nagoya? The snow That came when we wanted it to snow?Beautiful images? Trying to avoid

Ideas, as in this poem? But weGo back to them as to a wife, leaving

The mistress we desire? Now theyWill have to believe it

As we believed it. In schoolAll the thought got combed out:

What was left was like a field.Shut your eyes, and you can feel it for miles around.

Now open them on a thin vertical path.It might give us--what?--some flowers soon?

Sourceshttp://poetry.about.com/od/poeticforms/g/lim

erick.htmhttp://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/2401

20http://www.famousliteraryworks.com/

limericks.htmhttp://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/

174745http://www.poetryarchive.org/

poetryarchive/glossaryItem.do?id=8091http://www.brighthubeducation.com/high-

school-english-lessons/23750-writing-a-ballad-lesson-plan/