Types of Poetry ♥

Narrative Poems: 

Poems that tell stories. 

Example: 

Lost Sailors All

Lines in the sand

from cutlasses drawn by seasoned hands

now lifeless sunsalt fingers at dawn. Gold,

bitten by yeast-weakened jaws once pearls

the sails unfurled in sunsets red

as blood too in the hold of wind.

And with the wind

that platter hope of peace they thought would come

now strains its sinews in approaching days.

Fine fools and fellows till the drink ran out

shaking dice in hour glasses, stretching

arms in tight-packed glances, lopping 

tall poppy abandon, painting the snapping canvas

crimson, over a creaking deck.

When night comes, with the fall of men

some sit battered by the bow,

stern eyes fixed to the gallows, the tallow

path of a wave-rocked lantern

hanging a rattling voice of chains,

clanking a hymn to the sea.

And then one day, with seaspray breath

one thought among them anchors on the breeze;

an unpicked seachest on a burning ship:

'Whose grasp is it that spins the wheel?

Who drives the wind?'

Ballads : 

A song or songlike poem that tells a story. It's often about love, betrayed, death. Ballads usually have a steady rhythm. 

Example: 

Ballata 5

Guido Cavalcanti (1255-1300)

Light do I see within my Lady’s eyes

And loving spirits in its plenisphere

Which bear in strange delight on my heart’s care

Till Joy’s awakened from that sepulchre.

That which befalls me in my Lady’s presence

Bars explanation intellectual.

I seem to see a lady wonderful

Spring forth between her lips, one whom no sense

Can fully tell the mind of, and one whence

Another, in beauty, springeth marvelous,

From whom a star goes forth and speaketh thus:

"Now my salvation is gone forth from thee."

There where this Lady’s loveliness appeareth,

Is heard a voice which goes before her ways

And seems to sing her name with such sweet praise

That my mouth fears to speak what name she beareth,

And my heart trembles for the grace she weareth,

While far in my soul’s deep the sighs astir

Speak thus: "Look well! For if thou look on her,

Then shalt thou see her virtue risen in heaven."

Epics: 

Long narrative poems, originally passed down by word of mouth, that tell about heroes. 

Example: 

Because the epic is too long , therefore I just write the example title of epic: " Beowulf"  

Lyric Poems: 

They do not tell stories but instead they express personal thoughts and feelings of the poet. 

Example:

Birdfoot's Grampa By Joseph Bruchac



The Old Man 


must have stopped our car 


two dozen times to climb out 

and gather into his hands 


the small toads blinded 


by our lights & leaping

live drops of rain.



The rain was falling, 


a mist around his white hair, 


and I kept saying, 


"You can't save them all, 


accept it, get in, 


we've got places to go."



But, leathery hands full


of wet brown life, 


knee deep in the summer, 


roadside grass, 


he just smiled and said, 


"They have places to go, too." 

Sonnets: 

A specific type of lyric poem that is always fourteen lines long and usually has a particular type of meter. 

Example: 

On the Grasshopper and the Cricket. 

by John Keats 

THE POETRY of earth is never dead:

  When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,

  And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run

From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;

That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead
        5
  In summer luxury,—he has never done

  With his delights; for when tired out with fun

He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.

The poetry of earth is ceasing never:

  On a lone winter evening, when the frost
        10
    Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills

The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,

  And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,

    The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills.

Odes:

Long, Lyric poems that written to celebrate a famous person, ordinary things, or a lofty ideas. 

Example: 

Ode to Thanks 

by Pablo Neruda

Translated by Ken Krabbenhoft  

Thanks
to the word
that
says thanks!
Thanks
to thanks,
word
that
melts
iron
and snow! 
The
world is a threatening place
until
thanks
makes
the rounds
from
one pair of lips to another,
soft
as a bright
feather
and
sweet as a petal of sugar,
filling
the mouth with its sound
or
else a mumbled
whisper.
Life
becomes human again:
it’s
no longer an open window.
A bit
of brightness
strikes
into the forest,
and
we can sing again beneath the leaves.
Thanks, you’re
the medicine we take
to
save us from
the
bite of scorn.
Your
light brightens the altar of harshness. 
Or
maybe
a
tapestry
known
to
far distant peoples.
Travelers
fan
out
into
the wilds,
and
in the jungle
of
strangers,
merci
rings
out
while
the hustling train
changes
countries,
sweeping
away borders,
then spasibo
clinging
to pointy
volcanoes,
to fire and freezing cold,
or danke,
yes! and gracias, and
the
world turns into a table:
a
single word has wiped it clean,
plates
and glasses gleam,
silverware
tinkles,
and
the tablecloth is as broad as a plain. 
Thank
you, thanks,
for
going out and returning,
for
rising up
and
settling down.
We
know, thanks,
that
you don’t fill every space-
you’re
only a word-
but
where
your little petal
appears
the
daggers of pride take cover,
and there’s a penny’s worth of smiles. 

Elegies: 

A poem of mourning usually for a famous person who had died. 

Example: 

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman 

   

   
   
O CAPTAIN! my   Captain! our fearful trip is done;
   
   


  
   
   
The ship has weather’d   every rack, the prize we sought is won;
   
   


  
   
   
The port is near, the   bells I hear, the people all exulting,
   
   


  
   
   
While follow eyes the   steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
   
   


  
   
   
    But   O heart! heart! heart!
   
   
         
  
   
   
      O   the bleeding drops of red,
   
   


  
   
   
        Where   on the deck my Captain lies,
   
   


  
   
   
          Fallen   cold and dead.
   
   


  
   
   
  
   
   


  
   
   


O Captain! my Captain!   rise up and hear the bells;
   
   


  
   
   
Rise up—for you the flag   is flung—for you the bugle trills;
   
   
  
  
   
   
For you bouquets and   ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
   
   


  
   
   
For you they call, the   swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
   
   


  
   
   
    Here   Captain! dear father!
   
   


  
   
   
      This   arm beneath your head;
   
   


  
   
   
        It   is some dream that on the deck,
   
   


  
   
   
          You’ve   fallen cold and dead.
   
   


  
   
   
  
   
   


  
   
   


My Captain does not   answer, his lips are pale and still;
   
   


  
   
   
My father does not feel   my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
   
   


  
   
   
The ship is anchor’d   safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
   
   


  
   
   
From fearful trip, the   victor ship, comes in with object won;
   
   


  
   
   
    Exult,   O shores, and ring, O bells!
   
   


  
   
   
      But   I, with mournful tread,
   
   


  
   
   
        Walk   the deck my Captain lies,
   
   


  
   
   
          Fallen   cold and dead.
 
Free-Verse Poems:
They do not follow a regular meter or rhyme scheme, but they do include the elements  of poetry. 
 
Example: 
I, too by Langston Hughes



I, too, sing America.  I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.  Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then.  Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed--  I, too, am America. 


   
   
 
  


   
 
Significant:  Knowing all the types of poetry, we can see the difference of them. We can able understand more about poetry. Now, I know that poems are not the same but they all give us the feelings.