Poetry can express thoughts and emotions in freeing and insightful ways that prose simply cannot. For those who have never dipped their toes into the poetry waters, however, writing one can feel downright intimidating. There are so many rules! Rhyming is hard! Their meanings are so impenetrable!
But fear not, writers—everyone has a poet inside themselves, waiting for a chance to create. If you’re ready to take the plunge, read on for some forms and styles (complete with examples) that may help you get started on your own poetry journey.
Free Verse
Let’s start with the most forgiving of the poetry styles, shall we? Free verse is exactly that—you’re totally free to write what you want in whatever form you want. Break lines where you want, use as many syllables as you’d like, write about any subject that comes to mind, use any rhythm that strikes you, and rhyme only if you feel like it.
Sounds easy! So how does it differ from prose? Keep in mind that poetry always has some sort of rhythm to it. Free verse doesn’t dictate what kind of rhythm you should have, but it still needs to be there.
Check out this example:
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass …
—excerpt from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”
Haiku
Now we move on to a similarly easy style of poetry—but one where simplicity comes from having strict rules instead of no rules. Haikus are often taught in school as an introduction to poetry precisely because they are short and have very straightforward rules.
They are usually about nature and always contain seventeen syllables over three lines: five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second, and five syllables in the last line. That’s it! Haikus really force you to be exact with your language since you have such limited syllables, which means they can be a great warm-up when writing longer poems or even just getting the creative juices flowing before you dive into writing prose.
Here’s an example:
In the twilight rain
these brilliant-hued hibiscus—
A lovely sunset
—Matsuo Bashō’s “In the Twilight Rain”
Concrete Poetry
This type of poetry is also called shape poetry and simply means that the poem’s subject is reflected in the physical shape of the text within it, driving home the poet’s meaning and adding a bit of a visual punch to the words.
Concrete poetry is ideal for visual artists and those interested in experimenting with the power of both words and images. These can be as silly or as serious as you want, and they can be a lot of fun to create. The text from the excerpt below, for example, is made to resemble wings (such as those on an angel) that symbolize the poem’s topic of ascension and heaven.
Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:
With thee
O let me rise
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.
—excerpt from George Herbert’s “Easter Wings”
Villanelle
These next poetry styles can be a bit more challenging but are still completely doable with some time and patience. The villanelle, for instance, is always nineteen lines broken down into five tercets (three-line stanzas) with a concluding quatrain (four-line stanza).
Here’s where it gets a bit tricky: The first line of the first tercet is repeated as the last line of the second and fourth tercets; the third line of the first tercet is repeated as the last line of the third and fifth tercets; and the first and third lines of the first tercet are then repeated again as the last two lines of the last quatrain. This means that two of your lines will be repeated multiple times throughout the poem, which gives extra weight and meaning to them—so make sure they’re essential to your message.
Here’s an example:
They are all gone away,
The House is shut and still,
There is nothing more to say.
The winds blow bleak and shrill:
They are all gone away.
Nor is there one to-day
To speak them good or ill:
There is nothing more to say.
Why is it then we stray
Around the sunken sill?
They are all gone away,
For them is wasted skill:
There is nothing more to say.
There is ruin and decay
In the House on the Hill:
They are all gone away,
There is nothing more to say.
—Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “The House on the Hill”
Sonnet
Now that you’ve warmed up a bit, it’s time to tackle the poetic form favored by William Shakespeare himself: sonnets. There are two common types: Petrarchan (aka Italian) and Shakespearean (aka Elizabethan). Both contain fourteen lines and iambic pentameter.
A quick note: Iambic pentameter means there are ten syllables per line, consisting of five iambs. An iamb is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (so each line would rhythmically sound like “da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM”).
Petrarchan sonnets are broken up into an octave (eight-line stanza) followed by a sestet (six-line stanza) and have a rhyme scheme of either ABBA ABBA CDECDE or ABBA ABBA CDCDCD. Shakespearean sonnets are broken up into three quatrains followed by a couplet (two-line stanza) and have a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. This is the strictest of the forms in this post but can be a great challenge to puzzle out both meaning and structure in your words.
Example:
When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heav’n with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate.
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
—William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29
Andrea Moran lives outside of Nashville with her husband and two kids. She’s a professional copywriter and editor who loves all things books. Find her on LinkedIn.
