Reading Poetry;
Poetic Forms; Types of Poetry
Week 3-4
Reading Poetry:
• Don’t be intimidated; give yourself a chance to respond to the poems
• Enjoy the use of diction; use a dictionary if necessary
• Remember, “the expression of the idea is more important than the idea
itself” (Meyer, 23)
• Look at the physical body of the poem on the page; the start and end of
lines and punctuations
• Don’t be hasty; take your time
• You are going to read poems written by people from a culture other than
yours, cherish your culture and realize the difference. Remember to keep
an open mind and look for information on peculiar references online or in
books
• Turn to page 38 in Meyer’s for the steps
Why do we need to distinguish between
different forms of poetry?
• “A familiarity with some of the most frequently used fixed forms of
poetry is useful because it allows for a better understanding of how a
poem works”. (Meyer, 236)
• “An awareness of form also allows us to anticipate how a poem is
likely to proceed”. (Meyer, 236)
• Unlike prose, poetry is organized in lines and stanzas; knowledge of
forms leads to better understanding of the meanings of the poem.
Common Poetic Forms
• A stanza “consists of a grouping of lines, set off by a space, that usually has a set
pattern of meter and rhyme. This pattern is often repeated in other stanzas throughout
the poem” p.236
• “Stanzas share a rhyme scheme, the pattern of end rhymes. We can map out rhyme
schemes by noting patterns of rhyme with lowercase letters: the first rhyme sound is
designated a, the second becomes b, the third c, and so on” p.236
• Couplet, “it consists of two lines that usually rhyme and have the same meter; couplets
are frequently not separated from each other by space on the page” p.237
• Heroic couplet, “consists of rhymed iambic pentameter” p.237
• Tercet is “a three-line stanza. When all three lines rhyme, they are called a triplet”
• Terza rima: three-line rhyme scheme: aba, bcb, cdc, ded
• Quatrain “is a four-line stanza” and is the most common stanzaic form in the English
Language
• Ballad stanza: alternating eight- and six-syllable lines
Stanza
• “consists of a grouping of lines, set off by a space, that usually has a
set pattern of meter and rhyme. This pattern is often repeated in other
stanzas throughout the poem”. Although this pattern is typically
repeated, it can sometimes change. p.236
• A. E. Houseman’s “Loveliest of trees, the cherry now” in p. 236
consists of three stanzas that follow the same rhyme scheme pattern;
the same sound at the end of the lines in each stanza.
Rhyme Scheme
• “Stanzas share a rhyme scheme, the pattern of end rhymes. We can
map out rhyme schemes by noting patterns of rhyme with lowercase
letters: the first rhyme sound is designated a, the second becomes b,
the third c, and so on” p.236
I wandered lonely as a cloud
a
That floats on high o’er vales and hills, b
When all at once I saw a crowd, a
A host of golden daffodils; b
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, c
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. c
Couplet
• A Couplet “consists of two lines that usually rhyme and have the same
meter; couplets are frequently not separated from each other by space
on the page” p.237 Shakespeare uses rhyming couplets at the end of
his sonnets to emphasize the theme. This comes later in the discussion
about sonnets.
One science only will one genius fit; a
So vast is art, so narrow human wit: a
Not only bounded to peculiar arts, b
But oft in those confined to single parts. b
Heroic couplet
• A heroic couplet “consists of rhymed iambic pentameter” p.237
One science only will one genius fit; a
So vast is art, so narrow human wit: a
Not only bounded to peculiar arts, b
But oft in those confined to single parts. b
Tercet
• is “a three-line stanza. When all three lines rhyme, they are called a
triplet”
Whenas in silks my Julia goes, a
Then, then, methinks, how sweetly flows a
That liquefaction of her clothes. a
Next, when I cast mine eyes, and see b
That brave vibration, each way free, b
O, how that glittering taketh me! b
Terza Rima
• Three-line rhyme scheme: aba,
bcb, cdc, dad
• Robert Frost uses this scheme
in the first four stanzas in his
“Acquainted with the Night”,
the last stanza consists of a
couplet.
Example: Robert Frost’s “Acquainted with the Night”
I have been one acquainted with the night. a
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. b
I have outwalked the furthest city light. a
I have looked down the saddest city lane. b
I have passed by the watchman on his beat c
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. b
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet c
When far away an interrupted cry d
Came over houses from another street, c
But not to call me back or say good-bye; d
And further still at an unearthly height, a
One luminary clock against the sky d
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. a
I have been one acquainted with the night. a
Quatrain
• “is a four-line stanza” and is the most common stanzaic form in the
English Language. It can have various meters and rhyme schemes
such as aabb, abba, aaba, and abcb.
All in a hot and copper sky a
The bloody Sun, at noon, b
Right up above the mast did stand, c
No bigger than the Moon. b
This stanza of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner” shows this pattern a,b,c,b. this pattern makes the stanza it
appears in a ballad stanza which consists of alternating eight- and sixsyllable lines.
Fixed-form Verse Types:
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Sonnet
Villanelle
Sestina
Epigram
Limerick
Haiku
Elegy
Ode
Parody
Picture Form
Sonnet
• The Italian sonnet or the Petrarchan sonnet divides into two parts. The first
eight lines (the octave) typically rhyme abbaabba. The final six lines (the
sestet) may vary; common patterns are cdecde, cdcdcd, and cdccdc.
• Often, the octave presents a situation, an attitude, or a problem that the sestet
comments upon or resolves.
• Example John Keat’s “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”, page 239.
Sonnet
• The English Sonnet or the Shakespearean sonnet. It is organized into
three quatrains and a couplet, which typically rhyme abab cdcd efef
gg. This scheme is more suitable to English poetry because English
has fewer rhyming words than Italian which uses abbaabba
• With using these four parts, the English sonnet has more flexibility
about where thematic breaks can occur. The most pronounced break or
turn, however, comes with the concluding couplet.
• Example Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”,
page 241.
Villanelle
• It consists of nineteen lines of any length divided into six stanzas: five
tercets and a concluding quatrain.
• The first and third lines of the initial tercet rhyme; these rhymes are
repeated in each subsequent tercet (aba) and in the final two lines of
the quatrain (abaa)
• It creates haunting echoes that resonate in the readers’ minds
• Example: Dylan Thomas’ “Don’t Go Gentle into that Good Night”,
page 247.
Sestina
• It usually does rhyme, it’s more demanding than the villanelle.
• It consists of thirty-nine lines of any length divided into six six-line
stanzas and a three-line concluding stanza called an envoy.
• The difficulty lies in repeating the six words at the ends of the first
stanza’s lines at the ends of the lines in the other five six-line stanzas
as well. Those words must also appear in the final three lines, where
they often resonate important themes.
• The words appear central in contributing to the meaning of the poem
• Example: Algernon Charles Swinburne’s “Sestina”, page 249.
Epigram
• It’s a brief, pointed, and witty poem.
• Epigrams are typically polished bits of compressed irony, satire, or
paradox.
• Examples: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “What Is an Epigram?”A. R. Ammons’ “Coward”
Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s “Theology”, page 252.
Limerick
• It’s light and humorous. It consists of five lines rhyming aabba.
• Lines 1,2, and 5 contain three feet, while lines 3 and 4 contain two.
• Example Carolyn Wells (1862-1942)
A tutor who tooted the flute a
Tried to teach two young tooters to toot. a
Said the two to the tutor, b
“Is it harder to toot, or b
To tutor two tooters to toot? a
Haiku
• A brief fixed form borrowed from the Japanese.
• It consists of seventeen syllables organized into three unrhymed lines of
five, seven, and five syllables.
• Owing to language differences, English translations of haikus are
approximated. Japanese haikus exist in time (Japanese syllables have
duration).
• The number of syllables in our sense isn’t as important as the duration in
Japanese.
• Projects intense emotion or vivid image of nature which leads to a spiritual
insight in Japanese.
• Examples: Matsu Basho’s “Under Cherry Trees”, page 254.
Elegy
• The word elegy has been used to describe a lyric poem written to
commemorate someone who is dead
• Elegy, the word, is also used to refer to a serious meditative poem
produced to express the speaker’s melancholy thoughts
• Elegies no longer conform to a fixed pattern of lines and stanzas, but
their characteristic subject is related to death and their tone is
mournfully contemplative.
• Example: Ben Johnson’s “On My First Son”, page 255.
Ode
• An ode is characterized by a serious topic and formal tone
• Odes are lengthy lyrics that often include lofty emotions conveyed by
a dignified style
• Typical topics used in odes include truth, art, freedom, justice, and the
meaning of life
• Example: John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”
Parody
• It is humorous imitation of
another, usually serious work.
• Parodies can take any fixed or
open form because parodists
imitate the tone, language,
and shape of the original
• It usually deflates the subject
matter to make the original
seem absurd
• Example:
Shall I compare thee to a bale of hay?
Thou art more dusty and far less neat.
Rough winds do toss thy mop about, I'd say,
Which looks far worse than hay a horse would eat.
Sometime thy squinty eye looks into mine
Through stringy, greasy hair that needs be trimm'd,
And ne'er a horse had such a stench as thine,
As though in stagnant sewers thou hast swimm'd.
Thy disgusting image shall not fade;
This my tortured mind and soul doth know.
O, I should love to hit thee with a spade;
And with that blow I hope that thou wouldst go.
So long as I can breathe, my eyes can see,
And I can run, I'll stay away from thee.
Picture Form
• Poets arrange their lines into particular shapes to organize typography
into picture forms of what they describe
• Example: Michael McFee’s “In Medias Res”, page 263.