Definitions and Examples

What does it all mean? Poetic Terms: Form: The organization of a poem, usually describing its rhythm, rhyme structure or syllable count.  Specific definitions of different forms are given below. Verse: The grouping of lines in a poem.  Haiku, senryu, limericks, and sonnets are one verse (one group of lines); however, you may choose to have a limerick with multiple verses, as in my sample poem "Ode to a Shrimp Tail".  Rhyming poems can have as many verses as you wish! Poetic Forms: Haiku/Senryu: 3 lines, unrhymed, with 5-7-5 syllables in the lines.  Haiku typically deal with nature or natural elements and senryu with human nature (often humorously). Examples: Haiku Shadows flicker past rain-stung windows, reflected in each glist'ning drop Senryu Woman, fairer sex... lie we invented so men do the dirty work. Limerick: 5 lines, rhythmic and usually humorous.   Example: The limerick's great for a laugh, describing a gag of a gaffe their rhythm and rhyme are truly sublime - let me write one in your behalf! For another example, see "Ode to a Shrimp Tail" on my "Samples" page. Rhyme: Any combination of rhyming lines, any length, any style. Example 1: Happy Birthday!  Please excuse the fact that this is late... You see, I lost my calendar with each important date. It turned up only yesterday all grass-stained, bent, and marred - I really don't know how it ended up in my back yard. I hope it was a happy one and you ate lots of cake! I promise you, next year I will not make the same mistake. Example 2: Slight brush of skin and this spirit is lifted out of the desert where memories drifted; hill upon mountain of demons and lies all disappear in a flash of your eyes. Gently you banish my fear and frustration; breathing you, finding my soul's elevation! Freedom in floating and love in a glance - harmony, passion combine in our dance. For another example, see the poem I wrote for my sister's wedding on the "Samples" page. Sonnet: 14 lines, rhymed, any subject.  The sonnet is most often linked to Shakespeare - here's one of his most famous: Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:        So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,        So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. As you can see, line 1 rhymes with line 3, and 2 with 4; line 5 rhymes with line 7, and 6 with 8; and so on.  The final two lines rhyme and serve to conclude the poem.  My poem "Negating Duality" (found on the samples page) is of this type.   For an example of another type, the Italian Sonnet, please see "Shakespeare's Nightmare" on the samples page. Villanelle: 19 lines, rhymed, any subject.  The villanelle has a very strict form and can be somewhat obsessive, using the first and third lines again and again throughout the poem.  It's perfect if you want to discuss one topic in detail (like love, a philosophy, or a specific event) but doesn't work as well for humor (though it can be done).   The poem "Do not go gentle into that good night" is a great example of this form (read it here). The terzanelle, invented by Lewis Turco, is slightly less obsessive, as it uses different repeated lines throughout the poem.  The terzanelle allows for more development of a particular subject.  Turco's poem "Terzanelle in Thunderweather" is a perfect example (read it here). *To order a villanelle or terzanelle, please select "Poem - Sonnet" from the drop-down list (and payment options), but specify in the "details" box.