FORMS OF POEMS

Home Writers Corner Framed? Iambics Haiku Tanka Sonnets

KENNING Figurative stock phrase in Norse and Anglo-Saxon poems. Example: whale-road, the sea. Equivalent to stock epithet "wine-dark sea" as in Greek epics.

ACROSTIC Initial letters of lines spell a name or title as in Ben Jonson's prefaces to THE ALCHEMIST and VOLPONE

ALPHABET Also built on 1st letters of lines - here, the alphabet. Try poems consisting of 2-word lines starting with A B, C D, ending with Y Z.

ALLITERATION
Repeating initial consonants as in tongue twisters. List groups of these and of combined consonants such as "br".
Repetition of same sounds at the beginning of adjacent words. Alliteration annually ails animals around Alabama.

IAMBICS Pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
IAMBIC PENTAMETER 5 pairs of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable as in begin, belong, forget

The milkmaid fell among the angry cows
Whatever's right, he said, and smiled
Whatever did you mean? The mermaid said
The cat crept low behind the speckled bird
His earring sparkled in the candle light
The night began with soft enchanting sighs

PANTOUM Lines 2 and 4 of verse become Lines 1 and 3 of next verse

IRONY
1. Say one thing but mean another; contradiction
2. Something unexpected instead of what's expected

FREE VERSE verse without meter

BLANK VERSE unrhymed verse

SESTINA 39 lines all ending in one of 6 words chosen in advance

ASSONANCE same thing, with vowels

ONOMATOPOEIA sound words. Buzz, whine, clatter, etc

ALLUSION (fellow, poets) 

ANTIHIMERA One part of speech used for another. 
Examples: Dogging somebody's footsteps or Catch of the day.

APHORISM short, witty statement

ECHOING or prevailing idea keep readers' minds on the subject

EROTEMA rhetorical question e g Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

Synonymous and antithetical parallellism

PARTIAL RHYME
Near rhyme (less, best) eye rhyme (wind, kind) 
assonance (tank, last) consonance (bad, good)

PUNS
Paranomasia - words sounding alike
Antanaclasis - same word used differently
Syllepsis - same word literally and figuratively

STANZAS
Terza Rima - 3 lines with linking rhymes: aba, bcb, cbc, etc.
Rime Royale - 
Ottava Rima - 

Anapestic and trochaic verse - 
Spenserian - 
Exotica - foreign imports
Ballade - 3 octets rhyme ababbcbc then an envoi 
     (final stanza of dedication or summary)
Rondeau Example stanzas of 5, 3, 5 lines use same 2 rhymes throughout
Roundel similar structure as Rondeau but fewer lines
Villanelle 2 rhymes, 2 refrains in 5 tercets and a quatrain
STYLE can be formal, informal, colloquial

HAIKU
Originally Japanese. 1st line, flash. 2nd line, recognition. 3rd line, afterthought. 3 lines: 1st line 5 syllables, 2nd line 7 syllables, 3rd line 5 syllables, total 17 syllables. Lines should make sense, not just cut off from end of one line to the next. EXAMPLE by 1500s Japanese poet Moritake.

The falling flower
I saw drift back to the branch
Was a butterfly.

TANKA
More Japanese poems. 5 lines. Lines 1, 3 have 5 syllables. Lines 2, 4, 5 have 7 syllables. Total 31 syllables.

SONNET
Italian root word for "little song". Total 14 lines. poems forms named after two famous sonnet writers, Shakespeare and Petrarch.

Shakespearean (English) form [of rhyme] A B A B 1st quatrain (4 lines) C D C D 2nd quatrain E F E F 3rd quatrain GG couplet.

PETRARCHAN (Italian) form A B B A A B B A octave C D E C D E or C C D C C D or C D C D C D sestet.

Reading and Understanding Poems

Read a poem with pencil in hand. Mark it; write in margins; react; get involved. Circle important, striking, or repeated words. Draw lines to connect related ideas. Mark difficult or confusing words, lines, passages. Read through the poem several times silently and aloud.

The Poem's Basic Subject - Consider its title carefully. What does it tell you about the poem's subject, tone, and genre? What does it promise? After reading the poem, return to the title. Consider further its relationship with the poem. What is your initial impression of the poem's subject? Ask, "What is this poem about?" Return to this question throughout your analysis. Be precise. Aim for more than just a vague impression of the poem. What is the author's attitude toward the subject? What is the poem's basic situation? What goes on in it? Who's talking? To whom? Under what circumstances? Where? About what? Why? Is a story being told? Is something tangible or intangible described? What specifically can you point to in the poem to support your answers? Because a poem is highly compressed it may help you unfold it by paraphrasing the poem aloud, moving line by line through it. If the poem is written in sentences, what's the subject of each one? The verb? The verb's object? What a modifier refers to? Untie syntactic knots. Is the poem built on a comparison or analogy? If so, how is the comparison appropriate? How are the two things alike? How different? What is the author's attitude toward his subject? Serious? Reverent? Ironic? Satiric? Ambivalent? Hostile? Humorous? Detached? Witty? Does the poem appeal to a reader's intellect? Emotions? Reason?

The Poem's Context - Are there allusions to other literary or historical figures or events? How do these add to the poem? How are they appropriate? What do you know about this poet? About the age in which he or she wrote this poem? About other works by the same author?

The Poem's Form - Consider the poem's sound and rhythm. Is there a metrical pattern? If so, how regular is it? Does the poet use rhyme? What do the meter and rhyme emphasize? Is there any alliteration? Assonance? Onomatopoeia? How do these relate to the poem's meaning? What effect do they create in the poem? Are there divisions within the poem? Marked by stanzas? By rhyme? By shifts in subject? By shifts in perspective? How do these parts relate to each other? How are they appropriate for this poem? How are the ideas in the poem ordered? Is there a progression of some sort? From simple to complex? From outer to inner? From past to present? From one place to another? Is there a climax of any sort? What are the form and genre of this poem? What should you expect from such a poem? How does the poet use the form?

The Poem's Word Choice - One way to see the poem's action is to list its verbs. What do they tell you about the poem? Are there difficult or confusing words? Even if you're only slightly unsure about a word's meaning, look it up in the dictionary. If you're reading poetms written before the 1900s learn to use the Oxford English Dictionary, which tells how a word's definition and usage have changed over time. Be sure that you determine how a word is being used as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb to find its appropriate meaning. Also consider various possible meanings of a word. Be alert to subtle differences between words. A good poet uses language very carefully. As a good reader you in turn must be equally sensitive to the implications of word choice.

What mood is evoked in the poem? How is this accomplished? Consider the ways in which not only the meanings of words but also their sound and the poem's rhythms help to create its mood. Is the language in the poem abstract or concrete? How is this appropriate to the poem's subject? Are there any consistent patterns of words? For example, are there several references to flowers, or water, or politics, or religion in the poem? Look for groups of similar words. Does the poet use figurative language? Are there metaphors in the poem? Similes? Is there any personification? Consider the appropriateness of such comparisons. Try to see why the poet chose a particular metaphor as opposed to other possible ones. Is there a pattern of any sort to the metaphors? Is there any metonymy in the poem? Synechdoche? Hyperbole? Oxymoron? Paradox? A dictionary of literary terms is helpful. Ask about the poem, "So what?" What does it do? What does it say? What is its purpose?

WRITING PROCESS

Pre-writing - planning your essay

Outline - brainstorming, write your topic sentence and arrange your ideas in logical order.

Topic ________________
Thesis statement ________________
     First major point supporting it _______________
         Examples or facts supporting point __________________
         Examples or facts supporting point __________________
         Examples or facts supporting point __________________
     Second major point supporting it _______________
         Examples or facts supporting point __________________
         Examples or facts supporting point __________________
         Examples or facts supporting point __________________
     Third major point supporting it _______________
         Examples or facts supporting point __________________
         Examples or facts supporting point __________________
         Examples or facts supporting point __________________
Conclusion _________________