Forms of Poetry
The word poem comes from the Greek word poēma, which was an early variant of poiēma meaning “fiction, poem,” originally from poiein, meaning “to create.” For such an ancient and widespread form of art, it’s interesting to note that the definition of poem originally meant “to create,” signifying how important poem examples are to human creativity.
A poem is a work of literature that uses the sounds and rhythms of a language to evoke deeper significance than the literal meanings of the words. There are numerous literary devices that may be found in any given poem, such as meter, rhyme, rhythm, symbolism, imagery, repetition, consonance, assonance, alliteration, enjambment, and so on. Furthermore, there are a number of different ways to classify a poem, such as analyzing its meter or finding it to be either blank verse or free verse.
Free verse
Free verse is a literary device that can be defined as poetry that is free from limitations of regular meter or rhythm, and does not rhyme with fixed forms. Such poems are without rhythm and rhyme schemes, do not follow regular rhyme scheme rules, yet still provide artistic expression. In this way, the poet can give his own shape to a poem however he or she desires. However, it still allows poets to use alliteration, rhyme, cadences, and rhythms to get the effects that they consider are suitable for the piece.
Features of Free Verse
- Free verse poems have no regular meter or rhythm.
- They do not follow a proper rhyme scheme; these poems do not have any set rules.
- This type of poem is based on normal pauses and natural rhythmical phrases, as compared to the artificial constraints of normal poetry.
- It is also called vers libre, which is a French word meaning “free verse.”
Blank verse
Blank verse is a literary device defined as un-rhyming verse written in iambic pentameter. In poetry and prose, it has a consistent meter with 10 syllables in each line (pentameter); where, unstressed syllables are followed by stressed ones, five of which are stressed but do not rhyme. It is also known as “un-rhymed iambic pentameter.”
Features of Blank Verse
- Blank verse poetry has no fixed number of lines.
- It has a conventional meter that is used for verse drama and long narrative poems.
- It is often used in descriptive and reflective poems and dramatic monologues — the poems in which a single character delivers his thoughts in the form of a speech.
- Blank verse can be composed in any kind of meter, such as iamb, trochee, spondee, and dactyl.
There are also many different recognized forms. The Following are the major forms of poetry.
- Sonnet
- Ode
- Elegy
- Ballad
- Lyric
- Epic & Mock Epic
- Idyll , Pastoral poetry & Satire
- Haiku, Limerick & Villanelle