Types of poetry in literature

Hey, what do “Dead poets’ society” and a dead poet have in common? … Give up? They live unapologetically. Okay, this bad joke does actually belong to me. Let’s try another one. Have you ever seen what frustrated poets do to their students? … It’s truly horrifying! It’s like bringing back a dead Shakes peer.

Okay, before I get out of hand let’s take some lessons on the types of poetry in literature so that we can decorate them with some genius lyrics that could even help your songwriting.

There are 168 types of poetry in literature, here are just a few for your perusal while the rest of the list will be left in a link at the bottom of this post.

1) Soliloquy

Yes, soliloquy and not Loki there is a big difference there. Loki is the dude who goes to buy cough syrup for his Thor throat and soliloquy is a type of poetry in literature.

I am very unapologetically running lines of jokes that just won’t let my fingers leave the keyboard.

This type of poetry in literature is one where the poet speaks to themselves. It’s the inner thoughts that are expressed, that which the reader/audience may not know.

Example

“To be or not to be”

William Shakespeare

2) Haiku

Nope, it’s not what poets call hiking. Haiku originated in 17^th century Japan. These are stanzas/tercet (just 3 lines) with a 5/7/5 syllable count. They do not rhyme.

Example

Over the wintry

Forest, winds howl in rage

With no leaves to blow.

 

Over the Wintry by Natsume Sōseki

3) Free verse

Writers and or poets can write whatever they wish to write whether it rhymes or not. It doesn’t have consistent metrical patterns or flow.

She calls me tofu

Because I am so soft,

easily falling apart.

 

I wish I were tough

and full of fire, like ginger-

like her.

 

A Suitcase of Seaweed and other poems by Janet Wong

4) Sonnet

The origin of the sonnet was in 13 century Italy and is only associated with love. The sonnet consists of 14 lines traditionally but not in this day in age. Sonnets often rhyme.

 

Example

 

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 dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest 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.

 

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? by William Shakespeare

5) Blank verse

This is poetry written with iambic pentameter. This poem doesn’t rhyme and comes with a set of rules around the syllables per line (consistent meter in 10 syllables). It is said that Shakespeare used blank verse for high-status characters and prose for lower status characters.

Example

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

Mending wall by Robert Frost

6) Epic poems

When I think of epic poems in the types of poetry in literature I think of heroes, gods, like really moral, supernatural or superhuman forces. This is lengthy, and narrative style poetry. A type of poem where one can feel the characters or adventure be it fiction or non-fiction.

Example

Between two worlds life hovers like a star,
‘Twixt night and morn, upon the horizon’s verge.
How little do we know that which we are!
How less what we may be! The eternal surge
Of time and tide rolls on, and bears afar
Our bubbles; as the old burst, new emerge,
Lash’d from the foam of ages; while the graves
Of Empires heave but like some passing waves.

Don Juan by Lord Byron

7) Acrostic

This is a poem where the first letter in each line creates a word. This poem reveals two messages so to speak. Acrostic poems in types of poetry in literature can rhyme or not.

Example

Revolting rhymes

Oompa-Loompas

Angry farmers

Lazy aunts

Dangerous witches

Dream blower

Adventurous animals

Horrible headteacher

Lickable wallpaper.

Roald Dahl

8) Villanelle

Another old form of poetry from the different types of poetry in Literature. It comes from France and is made up of 19 lines; two rhyming sounds, a lot of repetition. This is a very structured poem. It consists of 5 three-line stanzas and a final quatrain, first and third lines of the stanza repeating; alternating. This poem has a strict rhyming pattern.

Example

Do not go gentle into that good night, (refrain 1)

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. (refrain 2)

 

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night. (refrain 1)

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. (refrain 2)

 

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night. (refrain 1)

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. (refrain 2)

 

Do not go gentle into that goodnight by Dylan Thomas

9) Rhymed poetry

This poem in the types of poetry in literature was the number one choice for me when I started writing poetry over 24 years ago, but it gets harder to write any type of poem especially when one challenges themselves against their last best poem. Let’s face it, … how shall I put it into words? Even writers run out of words unexpectedly.

Example

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the trav’ller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often thro’ my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

‘Tis your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the trav’ller in the dark,
Tho’ I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

The star by Jane Taylor

10) Narrative poem

In the types of poetry in literature, I am certain you might have heard this poem even in songs I remember the first time I heard a narrative poem in a song, I think you might remember that song too. I can’t get the name … ever since, there have been others who hit the top charts with a narrative poem style in music lyrics.

These poems just tell a story and rhyming is optional. Narrative poems or story poems are the oldest form of literature from the types of poetry in literature.

Example

———A simple Child,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?

I met a little cottage Girl:
She was eight years old, she said;
Her hair was thick with many a curl
That clustered round her head.

We are seven by William Wordsworth

11) Elegy

Yes, this type of poem in the types of poetry in literature can leave one with an allergy, these poems are often sad and written about death, yet the endings of these poems come with hope. This poem doesn’t have any rules.

Example

What on Earth deserves our trust?
Youth and Beauty both are dust.
Long we gathering are with pain,
What one moment calls again.
Seven years childless marriage past,
A Son, a son is born at last:
So exactly lim’d and fair,
Full of good Spirits, Meen, and Air,
As a long life promised,
Yet, in less than six weeks dead …

Epitaph by Katherine Philips

Here is the full list of 168 types of poems in literature.

You can also have a look at the Types of poetry in literature short video.

Drop us a comment below and follow us or share this article on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook.

In the next article, we will look at tips for writing a screenplay.

Yours sincerely,

T. Dench Patel