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| Acrostic | simple poems in which each the first letter of each line forms a word or phrase (vertically). An acrostic poem can describe the subject or even tell a brief story about it. |
| Ballad | tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. A ballad is often about love and often sung. A ballad is a story in poetic form. |
| Blank Verse | written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Often unobtrusive, the iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of |
| Cinquain | a five-line poem that describes a person, place, or thing. |
| Concrete | pattern or shape poetry, the typographical arrangement of words is as important in conveying the intended effect as the conventional elements of the poem, such as meaning of words, rhythm, rhyme and so on. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has evolved to have distinct meaning of its own, because the words themselves form a picture. |
| Villanelle | originally French, didn't appear in English until the later 1800's. 19 lines long Only uses two rhymes |
| Couplet | any two lines working as a unit, whether they comprise a single stanza or are part of a larger stanza. Shakespearean, or English, sonnets end with a couplet. The couplet can be a very lonely stanza, minimalistic. |
| Epic | long, serious poems that tell the story of a heroic figure. Some of the most famous epic poems are the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer and the epic poem |
| Free Verse | composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern. |
| Haiku | a Japanese poem, originating in the sixteenth century and reflecting on some aspect of nature and creating images, composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. |
| Limerick | short sometimes bawdy, humorous poems of consisting of five Anapaestic lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another. Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other. |
| Lyric | often a sonnet or an ode, expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. The term is now commonly referred to as the words to a song. This poetry does not tell a story which portrays characters and actions. Addresses the reader directly, portraying his or her own feeling, state of mind, and perceptions. |
| Narrative | includes different types of poetry such as Ballads, Epics, and Lays; All of these examples are different kinds some of which are the length of a book |
| Ode | long poems which are serious in nature and written to a set structure. |
| Rap | a relatively “new” form of poetry although not everyone recognizes it as such. Like traditional poetry, uses figurative language, especially similes and metaphors. Rhythm and rhyme are key components. |
| Quatrain | a stanza or poem of four lines. Lines 2 and 4 must rhyme. Lines 1 and 3 may or may not rhyme. Rhyming lines should have a similar number of syllables. |
| Sonnet | English (or Shakespearean) ones are lyric poems that are 14 lines long falling into three coordinate quatrains and a concluding couplet. Italian (or Petrarchan) ones are divided into two quatrains and a six-line sestet. |
| Tanka | a Japanese style of poetry containing five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the rest of seven. This is the oldest type of poetry in Japan. |
| Tercet or Triplet | any three lines of poetry, whether as a stanza or as a poem, rhymed or unrhymed, metered or unmetered. The haiku is one o these, but it is rarely a complete poem in itself. This form has Italian roots. |
