Lesson: Reading and

writing poetry
(Conventional forms)
Read and analyze the sample poems
 Types of Poetry
1.Narrative Poem
2.Lyric Poem
3.Dramatic Poem
 Narrative Poem
is a poem that tells a story.
One of the oldest poetic formats, narrative poems can
be identified through various elements. They will include
at least one character, a 
plot with a beginning, middle and end, and sometimes a
conflict and resolution. Older forms of narrative poems
are also written in a specific meter, like iambic meters,
which adds rhythm and beat to the poem.
 The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and
weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a
tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this and nothing more."
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the
floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;-vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow-sorrow for the lost
 Lyric Poem
 is descriptive or expository in nature where the poet is concerned
mainly with presenting a scene in words, conveying sensory
richness of his subject, or the revelation of ideas or emotions.
 A lyric poem is short, highly musical verse that conveys
powerful feelings. The poet may use rhyme, meter, or other
literary devices to create a song-like quality.
William Wordsworth, "The World Is Too Much With Us"

"The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!"
 Dramatic Poem
• is a poem where a story is told through the verse
dialogue of the characters and a narrator.
• Dramatic poetry, also known as dramatic monologue,
is meant to be spoken or acted. Similar to
narrative poetry, dramatic poetry tells a story. You're
most likely to find dramatic poetry in the form
of dramatic (or even comedic) monologues or
soliloquies written in a rhyming verse.
 A Dream, by William Blake

Pitying, I dropped a tear:

But I saw a glow-worm near,
Who replied, "What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night?
SPECIFIC FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF
POETRY
1. Ballad
2. Ballade
3. Concrete Poetry
4. Epigram
5. Epitaph
6. Haiku
7. Limerick
8. Lyric
9. Ode
10.Sonnet
Ballad
a narrative poem written as a series of quatrains in which lines of iambic
tetrameter alternate with iambic trimeter with an xaxa, xbxb rhyme scheme with
frequent use of repetition and often including a refrain.

The “story” of a ballad can be a wide range of subjects but frequently deals with
folklore or popular legends. They are written in a straight-forward manner,
seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Most ballads
are suitable for singing: “Barbara Allen” is an example. Many of the oldest
ballads were first written and performed by minstrels as court entertainment.
• Folk ballads are of unknown origin and are usually
lacking in artistic finish. Because they are handed down
by oral tradition, folk ballads are subject to variations and
continual change.
• Other types of ballads include literary ballads, combining
the natures of epic and lyric poetry, which are written by
known authors, often in the style and form of the folk
ballad, such as Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci.”
La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad
 Ballade
• a French form, it consists of three seven or eight-
line stanzas using no more than three recurrent
rhymes, with an identical refrain after each stanza
and a closing envoi repeating the rhymes of the
last four lines of the stanza
Ballade Rhyme Scheme
The stanzas of a typical ballade follow the rhyme scheme "ababbcbC," where C is the refrain. The
rhyme scheme for the four-line concluding stanza, known as the envoi, is "bcbC," where C is again the
refrain. For instance, here's the third stanza of a ballade entitled "Ballade of the Optimist," by the poet
Andrew Lang. Note its ababbcbC rhyme scheme:
 Concrete Poetry
• also known as pattern poetry or shaped verse, these are poems that
are printed on the page so that they form a recognizable outline
related to the subject, thus conveying or extending the meaning of
the words.

• Pattern poetry retains its meaning when read aloud, whereas the
essence of concrete poetry lies in its appearance on the page rather
than in the words; it is intended to be perceived as a visual whole
and often cannot be effective when read aloud. This form has had
brief popularity at several periods in history.
 Epigram
• a pithy, sometimes satiric, couplet or quatrain
comprising a single thought or event and often
aphoristic with a witty or humorous turn of
thought.
Examples 0f Epigram
1. The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."
(Tacitus)
2. "Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often
convincing."
(Oscar Wilde)
3. "I can resist everything but temptation." - Oscar Wilde
4. "Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put and end to
mankind." - John F. Kennedy
5. "No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend."
(Groucho Marx)
Epigram in Poetry
Sonnet 76 (By William Shakespeare)

“So all my best is dressing old words new,

Spending again what is already spent:
For as the sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.”
 Epitaph
• a brief poem or statement in memory of someone who is
deceased, used as, or suitable for, a tombstone inscription;
now, often witty or humorous and written without intent of
actual funerary use.
• An epitaph and a eulogy have a similar function, which is to pay
tribute to the dead. However, they are also different, as an epitaph is
a brief and concise commemorative inscription engraved on the
tombstone of a dead person; while a eulogy is a spoken or piece
written in praise of a dead person, usually given at the funeral. A
eulogy may also be used for a living person, as it incorporates
stories, anecdotes, and memories of the individual. An epitaph, on
the other hand, is just an honoring poem or an inscription written on
the tombstone.
William Shakespeare’s Epitaph
“Good friend for Jesus’ sake forebeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.”
Oscar Wilde’s Epitaph
Wilde’s epitaph is inscribed on his gravestone in a
very sentimental verse. It reads:

“And alien tears will fill for him,

Pity’s long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always mourn.”
 Haiku
• a Japanese form of poetry consisting of three unrhymed lines of five,
seven, and five syllables.
• Deeply imbedded in Japanese culture and strongly influenced by Zen
Buddhism, haiku are very brief descriptions of nature that convey
some implicit insight or essence of a moment.
• Traditionally, they contain either a direct or oblique reference to a
season.
 Because of the haiku form’s brevity as well as fixed 
verse and syllabic pattern, it leaves little room for
anything more than the presentation of a single and
focused idea or feeling. Therefore, haiku poems are
allusive and suggestive, calling upon the reader to
interpret the meaning and significance of the words
and phrases presented.
Lightning in the Sky (Matsuo Basho)
What I thought to be
Flowers soaring to their boughs
Were bright butterflies.
 Limerick
• a light or humorous form of five chiefly anapestic verses of which lines one, two and
five are of three feet and lines three and four are of two feet, with a rhyme scheme of
aabba.
• A limerick is a poem that consists of five lines in a single stanza with a rhyme scheme
of AABBA. Most limericks are intended to be humorous, and many are considered
bawdy, suggestive, or downright indecent. The subject of limericks is generally trivial
or silly in nature. Most limericks are considered “amateur” poetry due to their short
length and relatively simplistic structure. However, this does not take away from
reader enjoyment of this literary device. Limericks follow anapestic meter, which
consists of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed, third syllable.
Lines one, two, and five feature three anapests and lines three and four
feature two anapests.
Edward Lear, a nineteenth century British poet, is perhaps the
most well-known writer of limericks–though he did not originate
this poetic form. As a nod to the genre “literary nonsense,” Lear
published a collection of 117 limericks in 1846, entitled A Book of
Nonsense. Lear intended his limerick poetry to be humorous and
silly, while still adhering to the strict structure of this literary
device. Here are some examples of limericks made popular by
Edward Lear:
Examples of Limericks by Edward Lear
There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a Bee;
When they said, ‘Does it buzz?’
He replied, ‘Yes, it does!’
‘It’s a regular brute of a Bee!’
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared! —
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard.”
Here is an example of an appropriate version from
1902 by Dayton Voorhees:

There once was a man from Nantucket

Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.
 Lyric
• Derived from the Greek word for lyre, lyric poetry was originally designed to
be sung. One of the three main groups of poetry (the others being narrative
and dramatic), lyric verse is the most frequently used modern form,
including all poems in which the speaker’s ardent expression of a (usually
single) emotional element predominates. Ranging from complex thoughts
to the simplicity of playful wit, the melodic imagery of skillfully written lyric
poetry evokes in the reader’s mind the recall of similar emotional
experiences.
• A lyric poem is short, highly musical verse that conveys powerful feelings.
The poet may use rhyme, meter, or other literary devices to create a song-
like quality.
 Ode
• any of several stanzaic forms more complex than the lyric,
with intricate rhyme schemes and irregular number of
lines, generally of considerable length, always written in a
style marked by a rich, intense expression of an elevated
thought praising a person or object. “Ode to a
Nightingale” is an example.
 Sonnet
• a fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter with a prescribed rhyme scheme;
its subject was traditionally love. Three variations are found frequently in
English, although others are occasionally seen.