Poetry (Part 1)

Narrative: In simple terms narrative poetry tells a story much like a short story or even novel. Narrative poetry includes a setting, characters and a plot. Unlike the short story and novel, however, narrative poetry uses rhyming words to help tell the story.

Epic: Epic poetry is very much like a narrative; however, the epic poetry provides a much more lengthy and detailed accounting of the character’s adventures.

Ballads: A ballad is similar to a narrative but it tells a story more through music with four to six line stanza and then a refrain (chorus). The refrain can be repeated several times in a ballad to invoke emotion or a mood.

Lyric: Lyric poetry is somewhat similar to a ballad as it uses music, but this type of poetry does not tell a story. Rather, it merely expresses the author’s feelings by creating vivid images. Lyric poetry does not have to rhyme. It is also a rather short poem.

Haiku: This is a type of Japanese poetry. It is very structured. It consists of only three lines and seventeen syllables. The first line MUST have exactly five syllables while the second line must have seven syllables. Finally, the third and last line will have five syllables. Most Haiku poetry refers to the elements of nature.

Concrete: Concrete poetry has more to do with its visual design. In other words, rather then writing the poem line by straight line, the poem can be written in the shape of a heart or a diamond or a fish, really, whatever shape or design the author wishes to present. The shape or design will generally deal with the theme or subject of the poetry.

Free Verse: Free verse poetry is written in an irregular pattern rather than a regular, rhythmical pattern. It may contain lines of several different lengths and it does not have a rhyming scheme.

Alliteration: This type of poetry is when the first consonant is repeated in a series of words. An example would be: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”