Introduction to Poetry
Rhymes, Devices, Forms, and Types
Rhyme
 Rhyme is the repetition of terminal sounds in
two or more words.
 Rhyme scheme is the pattern of end rhymes in
a poem. Each new rhyme in a stanza is
represented by a different letter of the
alphabet.
For example, in a four-line poem in which
every other line rhymes, the rhyme scheme
is abab. In a six-line poem with every two
lines rhyming, the rhyme scheme is
aabbcc.
Types of Rhymes and Devices
 End rhyme: occurs at the ends of lines of poetry. It
is the most common type of rhyme.
 Example: Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
 Internal rhyme: occurs within a line of poetry.
 Example: While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
 Slant rhyme: occurs when words include similar,
but not identical sounds. Also called near rhyme,
half rhyme, or off rhyme.
 Example: bone and moon; ill and shell; soul and all
Types of Rhymes and Devices
 Consonance: words that have similar consonant
sounds, but different vowel sounds.
 Example: chitter and chatter; pick and sack; spoil and
spill
 Assonance: words that have repetition of similar
vowel sounds, but are not rhyming words.
 Example: all and awful; feed and meal; lake and plain
 Alliteration: the repetition of one initial consonant
sound, in more than one word.
 Example: gray, geese, and grazing; weak and weary
Types of Poetry Forms
 Form: While poetic devices are important in poetry, the
structure of a poem is often its most distinctive
characteristic. Poems are written in stanzas, or groups of
lines.
 Fixed Form: a poem that may be categorized by the pattern of
its lines, meter, rhythm, or stanzas; a style of poetry that has set
rules.
 Free Form: a poem that has neither regular rhyme nor regular
meter. Free verse often uses cadences rather than uniform
metrical feet.
 Blank verse: a poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter,
a pattern of five iambic feet per line. An iambic foot is one
unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
Narrative Poetry
Narrative poem: A
poem that tells a
story.
Usually longer than the
lyric styles of poetry
because the poet
needs to establish
characters and a plot.
Lyric Poetry
Lyric poem: A highly
musical verse that
expresses the thoughts,
observations, and feelings
of a single speaker.
Usually written in first person
point of view
Does not tell a story
Sonnet
 Sonnet: A fourteen-line lyric
poem, usually written in
rhymed iambic pentameter.
 Sonnets use an end rhyme
scheme.
 A Shakespearean sonnet
consists of three quatrains
(four lines) and ends in a
couplet (pair of lines). It has
the following rhyme scheme:
 ABABCDCDEFEFGG
Sonnet Example
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.