Fixed Form Poetry

1. Fixed Form Poetry An Exploration of Types

2. Villanelle • 19 lines • 6 stanzas with 5 tercets and 1 quatrain • Repeating lines (1, 6, 12, 18 and 3, 9, 15, 19) • Rhyme established in 1sttercet is repeated throughout poem

3. Sestina • 39 lines • 6 six-line stanzas and a three-line stanza (envoy) • Words which end 1st stanza must: • End all other stanza’s lines • Appear in concluding envoy

4. Epigram • Brief, pointed, and witty poem • No prescribed form • Polished pieces of irony, satire, or paradox

5. Limerick • Light and humorous • 5 mostly anapestic (unstressed, unstressed, stressed) lines • Rhyme aabba • Lines 1, 2, and 5 have three feet • Lines 3 and 4 have two feet

6. Haiku • Originally a Japanese style • 17 syllables • 3 unrhymed lines • 5, 7, 5 syllables • Present an intense emotion or vivid image (especially of nature)

7. Elegy • In classical literature, alternating hexameter and pentameter lines • Currently, a lyric poem written to honor someone who is dead • Tone is often mournfully contemplative

8. Ode • Serious topic an dformal tone • No prescribed pattern • Lengthy lyrics with lofty emotions • Frequent use of apostrophe in an ode

9. Picture Poem • A poem that has a visual structure which is important to what they are about • Also known as concrete poem

10. Parody • Humorous imitation of a (typically) serious work • Mimic’s original style typically, but in a mocking way • Connected to satire (a comical text meant to make a point)