Types Of Poetry

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We'd like to recognize some of the internet sites that have provided us with definitions and examples of the various poetic forms listed in this particular section of JPiC Forum....

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An ABECEDARIUM (also known and refered to as the Abecedarian) is a poem having words or stanzas beginning with successive letters of the alphabet. The most common examples are seen as didactic poetry for juveniles of the "A is for Apple" variety, but a skilled...

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An Acrostic or Name Poem one in which the first letter of each line spells a word, usually using the same words as in the title. Example by Edgar Allen Poe: An Acrostic Elizabeth it is in vain you say "Love not" — thou sayest it in...

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The ALEXANDRINE is a line of poetry that has 12 syllables and derives from the French who don’t believe their language is stressed. As such, their poetry is syllabic, and the alexandrine is a twelve-syllable line. COUPLETS are any two lines working as a...

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AMPHIGORY poetry is usually nonsense verse of any amount of lines, especially in the case of nonsense parodies. Silliness and wit are the main goals of the amphigory poem; something that amuses whilst requiring the least bit of inside knowledge. Example by...

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Attributed to Balint Balassi, the BALASSI STANZA is a nine-line stanzaic form where the lines are grouped in three-line sets with syllable counts 6, 6, and 7. The first two lines in the set is a couplet. The third, longer line carries the main rhyme in the third,...

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The BALLAD is a short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain. Any form of story may be told as a ballad, ranging from accounts of historical events to fairy tales... Ballads are written in straight-forward verse. Most ballads are...

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The BALLADE -- not to be confused with the ballad -- is particularly associated with French poetry of the 14th and 15tth centuries. A French verse form, the ballade is usually made up of three stanzas of seven, eight, or ten lines and a shorter final stanza (an envoi)...

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Blank Verse is said to have been introduced into English by William Surrey. Blank Verse is poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Being oftenly unobtrusive, the iambic pentameter form resembles the rhythms of ordinary speech. William Shakespeare...

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The BRACE OCTAVE is an eight-line stanzaic poem that uses the following rhyme scheme: abbaabba or abbacddc. Example by W.B. Yeats excerpt from Two Songs from a Play I saw a staring virgin stand Where holy Dionysus died, And tear the heart out of...

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CARPE DIUM poetry is originally derived from the Latin "carpe dium" which literally means "seize the day." So this type of poetry is all about the here-and-now & living for today. Often the poem is based on convincing one's desire to make love to...