Poetic Forms and Terms

Lyrical poetry is poetry that has a musical quality and is very emotional. It can rhyme, have assonance, and alliteration.  

Example:

He told me

That we couldn't be

I asked him why

And he had to fly

Away forever

The above poem is very emotional and rhymes, thus making it a lyrical poem.

The original poem

Narrative Poetry is poetry that tells a story. Below and to the right are examples of narrative poetry.

Example:

They stood there,

looking at the criminal

When he pounced

No! Calls were useless

And as my love drew his last breath

he said

It is a lie

As he met his maker

I looked down at him and felt a pain

And I knew at that moment that I lived my life in vain

 Haiku- A Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines. The lines are composed as follows:

Five Syllables

Seven Syllables

Five Syllables

(Left)Figure 1: This is an example of a Haiku poem about Winter and where the frogs disappear too.

 http://www.storyboardtoys.com/gallery/DeanLarge.jpg 

Free Verse- A poem composed of variable, usually unrhymed lines having no fixed metrical pattern.

In simpler words it is a poem that has no formal format. 

(Right)Figure 2: This is the perfect example of a free verse poem. It doesn't follow any of the basic rules of poetry. 

http://media.photobucket.com/image/poems/MICHOACANA-01/POEMS.jpg (it has been edited due to an unsavory word)

 (Above)Figure 3: http://kashaw97.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/concrete-poem-001.jpg   

(Above)Figure 4:http://www.schools.pinellas.k12.fl.us/educators/tec/tondreault/rainbow.gif

Concrete- A poem that forms a picture of the topic or follows the contours of a shape that is suggested by the topic. 

These two poems (to the left) are concrete. Figure  3 is in the shape of a pacifier. Figure 4 is in the shape of a rainbow. Both of these poems are in the shape of their theme.

Rhyme

 A word agreeing with another in terminal sound:

Find is a rhyme for mind and womankind. 

Alliteration

to begin with the same letter; the commencement of two or more words of a word group with te same letter:

 Apt, Alliteration's Artful Aid

Lovely Lilah Loves Lollipops

 Using words to form mental images, figures, or likeness of things:

Ex 1:

The lush green grass, lovely animals, and beautiful sunset was too much to take in in just one sitting, I was going to come back again.

Ex 2:

Her frail face lined with age

Her mouth seemed to form a frame

around her steep nose and to her golden eyes

where she held her deepest prize

Repetition

 The act of repeating the words to create a dramatic effect:

I could feel my body aching, aching with the pain

I could feel my body crying, crying from the hurt

 Assonance

is also called the vowel's rhyme; rhyme in which the same vowel sounds are used with different consonants in the stressed syllables of the rhyming words:

penitent, reticence

Symbol

Something used to represent something else. Common symbols and there meanings are:

The Dove: peace

The Heart: love

All seeing eye: inner vision, higher knowledge

For more symbols visit: http://www.crossroad.to/Books/symbols1.html