Poetic Forms

Ballad
 Ballads, one of the earliest forms of literature, are
narrative songs.

 Traditionally passed down orally from generation

to generation, they are divided into two major
types: Folk Ballads which are meant to be sung
and Literary Ballads which are meant to be
printed and read.

 Major themes found in ballads include love,

especially unrequited love, revenge, courage,
and death.
 Ballad
 Ballads are usually tragic in tone and emphasize
the story rather than the setting or characters.

 Dialogue, refrains, and repetitions are common

elements in ballads.

 The ballad stanza is a quatrain with the second

and fourth lines rhyming.

 Musical ballads may or may not follow this

pattern, but most tell a story about a person, and
the story is often a touching one.
 Haiku and Tanka
 The Haiku form of Japanese poetry has 3
unrhymed lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables with a total
of 17 syllables. Originally the poems referred to
one of the seasons of the year, but now they are
written on topics.

 The Tanka is similar, except has 5 lines of

5,7,5,7,and 7 syllables, with a total of 31 syllables.
 Limerick
A Limerick is a poem(often
humorous) with five lines and a
sing-song rhythm .
Each Limerick has the following
typical rhyme pattern: a a b b a.
 Pantoum

 A Pantoum is a rhymed poetic form with stanzas

of four lines each, according to a set pattern.

 The unique line pattern is 1234, 2546, 5768, 7183.

 The rhyme scheme is a b a b, b c b c, c d c d, d

a d a.

 Begin with a basic idea and fit it into the scheme.

Shakespearean Sonnet
 The Shakespearean sonnet is a fourteen line poem.

 The format of a Shakespearean sonnet consists of three

quatrains (a four line stanza of verse) and ending in a
couplet (a two line stanza of verse).

 The rhyme scheme is as follows: abab cdcd efef gg.

 The first three quatrains of the poem set up a conflict

or situation for the poem which is usually resolved or
explained in the final couplet.

 The sonnet is written in Iambic Pentameter which is a

line of meter consisting of 5 stressed and 5 unstressed
syllables.
 Concrete Poetry
 Concrete Poetry is also known as Poetic
Pictogram.

 Concrete poetry is poetry that is arranged in lines

that form a shape or make a picture about the
subject.

 It is also sometimes called a shape poem.

 Lyric Poetry
 Lyric Poetry is short poetry is short poetry usually
expressing on emotion.

 Sonnets, elegies, odes, and songs are all

examples of Lyric Poetry.

 Elegy: a poem lamenting the death of a person

or a situation.

 Ode: Form a Lyric Poetry characterized by giving

praise or showing appreciation for a person,
place, thing, or idea.
 Free Verse
 Free Verse : Also called Verse Libre.

 Free verse is poetry without standard meter or

rhyme, but rhythmical arrangement of lines for
effect.
Figures of Speech
 Figures of Speech
 Figures of Speech: Use of arrangement of words
for specific effects.

 Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word.

 Connotation: This refers to the overtones

associated with a word, including emotions,
memories, ideas, and imaginative responses.

 Imagery: Language that appeals to the senses.

An image communicates a sight, sound, smell,
taste, or touch sensation.
Metaphor and Simile
 Metaphor: An implied comparison between
things basically not alike, but not using
comparison words such as like or as.

 Simile: A comparison between things basically

not alike , and using the word like or as.
 Personification/Symbolism
 Personification : is a kind of metaphor in which human
characteristics are given to non-human
things(creature/idea/object).

 Symbol: A symbol is an object, person, place, or

action that has a meaning of its own but also stands
for something beyond itself such as a quality, concept,
or value.

 Symbolism: means using a person, object, situation,

setting, or action to stand for something different or
more than what it is.

 Metonymy: Using a word to substitute for something

else closely associated with it(the White House for the
president).
Alliteration/Assonance/Hyperbole
 Alliteration: Repetition of beginning
consonant sounds in words(big, black
bear).
 Assonance: The repetition of vowel
sounds within words(road/toad).
 Hyperbole: An overstatement or
exaggeration(I died laughing).
 Paradox/Irony
 Paradox: Using words and phrases that seem
contradictory, but are actually true(love and
hate are intertwined).

 Irony: Involves a discrepancy, whether between

intention and words(verbal irony)or between
expectation and reality(irony of situation).