Types of Poems

Poetry is a literary genre that aims to evoke emotions using rhythm, imagery, and multiple figurative devices.

It covers a variety of writing and involves cheeky couplets and unforgettable song lyrics.

Through this genre, writers and poets can express their thoughts that can never be expressed through prose and essays.

When it comes to its types, there are multiple types of poetry. A few of them have very simple rules while others have very strict structures, making them very difficult to define.

However, their diversity makes them enjoyable to users🥰

But this is the very thing that most users still think all types of poems same. Hoping you are also one of them. But it is not at all……

To eliminate this misunderstanding, we write this blog for you.

In this comprehensive guide, we have discussed at least 11 different types of poems with examples.

As a surprising gift, in the end, we'll gift our readers who cherish poetry and poems an efficient solution. It will let them generate any type of poem in the blink of an eye.

So, read it carefully so that you will not miss any single part.

1. Sonnets: A Classic Poetry Form

If you are a student of English literature and like to research literature and its genre, you have probably heard the term sonnet. They are 14-line poems that follow specific patterns and rhyming schemes.

Let us explore some key features for their clear details.

• They are short forms and often consist of only 14 lines.
• Most sonnets follow either the Shakespearean (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG) or Petrarchan (ABBA ABBA CDE CDE) structure.
• They consist of iambic pentameter or ten syllables per line.
• Their themes are mostly love, beauty, mortality, nature, and time.

Example of Sonnet:

“William Shakespeare’s sonnet Shall I compare thee with summer days

John Milton’s Sonnet On his blindness

2. Acrostic: A Poem with a Hidden Message

This is also one of the most favorable types of poetry or poem in which the first letter of each line comes up with a specific message. These poems are often funny and explore the creativity of poets.

Below are some key features of this type of poem.

• Each first letter of the line spells out a word.
• Its length depends upon the quantity of words.
• Its rhyming scheme is always optional and enhances flow.
• Their themes are Hope, Friendship, and Dreams

Example of Acrostic:

“An Acrostic by Emily Dickinson named I Dwell in Possibility”

“An Acrostic poem named “Love” by John Read”

3. Ballad: The Storyteller’s Poetry

A ballad is a form of poetry that tells a specific story mostly those are tragedies.

They have a very simple lyrical style and are usually written in quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme or ABCB.

In the past, they were songs by singers passed down orally and have become a key part of folk culture.

Below are key features of a ballad.

• Its length varies but often consists of quatrains.
• They have a rhyming scheme of ABAB or ABCB, resembling some sonnets.
• A ballad uses a meter-like iambic tetrameter (four feet per line).
• The main themes are adventure, death, tragedy, and folklore.

Example of a ballad:

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge”

“John Keats’s La Belle Dame sans Merci”

4. Epic: A Long Story

An epic is considered a long narrative poem that tells the story of a hero’s or protagonist’ journey or the founding of a nation.

Such epics are used to describe the hero’s downfall through tragedy and its elements.

Below are some other key features of this epic form of poem.

• They are always very lengthy and often consist of thousands of lines.
• An epic uses formal language and its style is elevated.
• The themes are heroism, war, divine intervention, exploring cultural themes of that period.

Example of an Epic:

“The Odyssey by Homer”

The Aeneid by Virgil

5. Limerick: A Witty Poem

These are very short and nonsensical poems and are known for their playful, rhythmic structure and are typically light-hearted in tone.

Their playful tones make them a favorite type of poetry for both children and adults.

Unlike previous types, we also describe its key features also.

• It consists of only 5 lines.
• The rhyme scheme is AABBA, where the first, second, and fifth lines effectively rhyme with each other.
• This rhyme follows a pattern of an anapestic meter, with two short syllables followed by a longer stressed syllable (da-da-DUM).
• Their themes are very funny but with absurd tones.

Example of Limerick:

“Oliver Herford, ‘A Damsel, Seductive and Handsome”

"There was an Old Man with a nose by Edward Lear”

6. Haiku: A Japanese Tradition

A haiku is a very short form of poetry of Japanese tradition. It traditionally captures a moment in nature and evokes a deep emotional response using very simple words.

It's very famous for its rigid structure and often emphasizes a season or natural element. Below are some of its key features.

• They have only 3 lines with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5.
• They are used to evoke natural and fleeting moments.
• Such poems focus on simplicity and brevity.
• Structures are very rigid which makes it a challenge for poets to work with them.

Example of Haiku:

“A summer river being crossed by Yosa Buson”

“An old silent pond by Matsuo Basho”

7. Ode: A Poem of Praise

An ode is a type of poetry that expresses deep feelings for anyone and expresses admiration or respect for any specific noun.

Traditionally, Odes were linked with Greek and Roman poetry. Later on, they continued to evolve over time.

Below are some key features that explore them.

• Their lengths are not fixed but they are considered long poems.
• They are written in very serious and reflective tones.
• Beauty, love, nature, death, or a person's accomplishments are the main themes.
• The language used in Odes is full of two literary devices metaphors and symbolism.

Example of an Ode:

“Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats”

“The light of a candle” by Chiyo-ni

8. Free Verse: The Poem Without Rules

Free verse poetry lacks specific rhyme and meter. This type of poetry lets poets express their thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ideas freely.

It lets poets work and experiment with form, structure, and language to create a unique and personal expression.

Below are its further key features.

• Poets are not restricted to following any specific rhyme or meter.
• This type focuses more on the flow of language.
• Personal experiences, love, hate, and nature are the main themes of free verse poems.
• They let poets line breaks, spacing, and punctuation in creative ways.

Example of Free verse poem with no fixed structure:

“Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes

9. Villanelle: A Repetitive Poem with a Twist

It is a highly structured poem that is famous type because of its repetitive nature. It is a very challenging and rewarding poetic form to write.

Poets express different ideas and themes using repetitive lines again and again.

Below are its few key features

• It’s a poem of 19 lines in total that is divided into 5 tercets (three-line stanzas) and a final quatrain (four-line stanza).
• The rhyme scheme is ABA for the tercets and ABAA for the quatrain.
• Longing, loss, and deep emotional connections

Examples of Villanelle:

Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

10. Sestina: A Complex Poem of Repetition

A Sentina is a highly structured form of poetry that mainly relies on a set of patterns and repetitive words.

It is the most famous form because of its mathematical precision and very challenging for poets to master.

Below we enlisted its features to explore it further

• This poem has 39 lines that are divided into 6 stanzas.
• The final e stanzas are used to sum up and reflect the theme of the poem.
• They explore the themes of loss, love, and time.

Examples of Sestina:

“Sestina by Elizabeth Bishop”

“Sestina by Ezra Pound”

11. Concrete: A Visual Poetry

Concrete is a visual type of poetry that often uses the physical shape of the written text to express specific meanings.

It emphasizes the visual arrangement of words and text and is seen as a blend of art and poetry.

Below are described key features of Concrete poems:

• The shape of the poem itself is an element of meaning.
• They consist of no specific rhymes and meters.
• Words, letters, or lines are arranged to form pictures and symbols

Examples of Concrete poems:

“Easter Wings by George Herbert”

“The Mouse's Tale by Lewis Carroll”

How To Generate Such Types Of Poems in Your Own Words?

Many people dream of writing a poem, but sometimes you have to struggle for finding the right words to use it in poetic language.

And sometimes, you know how to write but struggle to find new ideas to express your feelings and emotions.

In this situation, you can get help from an AI poem writer to overcome your writer's block.

Using such AI-based tool allows you to generate a poem of the desired length by simply entering the words you are going to write about.

To help you out, we built AI Poem Generator that can generate all types of poems in your words in seconds with a single click.

Our poem generator lets you select any specific type of poem you want to generate described in the previous sections.

For reference, you can see the below images.

Given input to generate a poem:

Generated poem using AI Poem Generator:

Conclusion

Poem and poetry is a literary genre that is used to explore different ideas, emotions, and feelings of poets and writers. There are multiple types of poetry such as Sonnets, Odes, Free verses, etc, and each of them has different writing styles.

People Also Ask

1. What are the three main types of poems?

Narrative, Lyrical, and Dramatic poetry are three main types of poetry.

2. What is a 7-line poem called?

A 7-line poem is called a “Septet”.

3. Which type of poetry has no specific structure?

Free verse is a type of poetry or poem that has no specific structure and sometimes rhyming schemes.