Find Your Poetry Style

As a free verse poet I wanted to broaden my writing, so I decided to take a look at the different styles of poetry.  There is a time in every artist life when we must develop new knowledge. Poetry is pretty diverse and there are many different styles and many different ways to teach those styles. So I mustered up the courage and I tried out different styles of poetry. 

In this article we will cover ten different styles of poetry. We will look at acrostic, cinquain, Letter, Triolet, Toungue Twisters, Couplet, ghazal, Quatrain, Epiphany, Limerick. Now let us try your pen at these different styles.

Acrostic Poetry

An acrostic poem has to be one of the simplest poems that I found to write. You start with putting the letters of the word you have chosen for your subject down the side of your page. Then you go to each letter and think of a sentence that starts with that letter. Here is an example of a acrostic poem that I have written in this format.

RoseMarie

Reflections
of life

On passion shores

Surrender myself to thee

Embraced by warms arms

Moonlight lovely my Rose

A toast to our Life

Rose my destiny

Intimate moments and melodies

Endless love begins with you RoseMarie

Cinquain poetry is fun and it allows one to be creative. A cinquain is a five line poem. It follows this pattern



Line 1:

one word

(subject or noun)

Line 2:

two words

(adjectives) that describe line 1

Line 3:

three words

(action verbs) that relate to line 1

Line 4:

four words

(A complete sentence) that relates to line 1

Line 5:

one word

(synonym of line 1 or a word that sums it up)

Cinquain poetry was invited in America by Adelaide Crapsey. A young poet who died to soon. She contracted tuberculosis and died at the age of 36. Below is an example of a Cinquain poetry written by me.

Husband

faithful, strong

Caring, compassionate, courageous

A hero among boys

-Friend

A French verse form of eight lines with this rhyme scheme:

A

B

a - Rhymes with 1st line.

A - Identical to 1st line.

a - Rhymes with 1st line.

b - Rhymes with 2nd line.

A - Identical to 1st line.

B - Identical to 2nd line

Examples of triolet Poem can be found in the late 13th century and were usually about love. Take for example the following that I have written.

Wind beneath my wings

Misty eye memories of you come to mind

You are the wind beneath my wings

So much of you I thought I would forget

Misty eye memories of you come to mind

I see the shadow of your silhouette

A hold of you I forever cling

Misty eye memories of you come to mind

You are the wind beneath my wings

Toungue twisters were they made for no other reason than to twist your tongue? Short little poems like the traditional one of Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore told a story. Let me try this.

Juvenile Jacob James jokes joyfully jumping jacks

Johnny Jiggs joins Jacob and they jump jacks

Jiving joyfully Jacob and Johnny jump jacks

Couplet

A couplet is a pair of lines of poetry that are usually rhymed. Some poems, like the famous “The Night Before Christmas,” were written entirely in couplets. The shortest stanza is the couplet. Alexander Pope, in the 18th century perfected a form of heroic couplet.

Then share thy pain, allow that sad relief;

Ah, more than share it, give me all thy grief.

- Alexander Pope

Below is an example of another couplet written by me.

If a man fears love, if he fears
what is still unknown

Then he will live his life old and alone.

A poem of five to fifteen couplets. It shares a rhyme and a refrain. This form of poetry can be traced back to seventh-century Arabia. Here is a ghazal of mine.

To man who fears love

If a man fears love, if he fears what is still unknown

then he will live his life old and alone



When his sorrow he can not awaken and he is forsaken

He will have no choice but to face tomorrow alone



Only through love do we give, do we open our hearts and live

But for man who does not see, he shall sit alone



When the nights are cold and he has no one to hold

He will feel half dead, for he is alone



For everyday he lives, everyday he refuses to give

He comes one day closer to dieing alone



Walking through the valley of his own grief, time is a thief

For tomorrow he will die old and alone





Epiphany poem

A moment of epiphany is when your eyes are opened to something in life that you were previously blind to. Epiphany: A sudden revelation of truth inspired by a seemingly trivial incident. The term was widely used by James Joyce in his critical writings, and the stories in Joyce's Dubliners are commonly called "epiphanies."

Here is an example of an epiphany poem that I have written.

When life becomes a peaceful death

Watching you die

Sitting at your bedside

wiping your brow

whispering the words

God is with you now

I'll be ok Momma

just go to sleep



I held tight to your hand

You said goodbye with your eyes

A calmness now over your body

passing over,

I watch you find eternal rest



I was now awakened ,acquainted

for the first time in my life

with the meaning of life and

how peaceful was death

The above poem was about the passing of my mother. Notice how my eyes were open at that last breath ,when I realized that death wad not a frightening thing.

Limericks are suppose to be funny therefore you can be as silly as you like. Popular limericks go back to the 1800's with Edward Lear nursery rhyme, "Hickory, Dickory, Dock," It is a form of light verse containing five lines, in which the l st , 2 nd , and 5 th lines rhyme and the 3 rd and 4 th lines rhyme.

Let me try it

There once was a dumb blond named meg

Whose brain was liked fried eggs

One day walking in spiked heals

She slipped on some banana peels

Now she has a broken leg

They were poems that were written in the form of letters. Emily Dickinson, a creative poet of the 19th century used this style of writing. Here is a poem that I have written in the form of a letter.

Perfumed letter for my love

Oh my dear sweet love, I received your letter today.

Oh how I miss thee.

The nights are cold and lonely without you.

I do await your arrival home soon.

The days of winter have been long and lonesome.

I look out my window, seeking a sign of spring.

I await the return of the sweet sound of the hummingbird.

When I think of her soft melody, I think of you.

You exist my love in my dreams at night.

I savor the taste of your last kiss.

You are so far away my love, but not far from my heart.

I must go now my love as father is coming.

I will write you again soon.

Until we can again be together, tuck my letter under your pillow.

I have scented it with my favorite perfume.

Love, your precious Rose 

 
Quatrain Poetry

A Quatrain is a poem consisting of four lines of verse with a specific rhyming scheme.


Dreams of you take flight

In the early morning light

My heart whispers softly love

Sunrise holds secrets dreamed of

The first line rhymes with the second ( flight and light)

and the third line rhymes with the fourth line (Love and of )

In my next article we will look at more styles of poetry. In the mean time try your hand at these and be sure to send me some of your results.

Copyrighted © Rose DesRochers 2005

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