Poetry Learning

Lyric Poetry: The most common type – the word lyric comes from lyre, a harplike instrument played by ancient Greek Poets during recitals or shorter poems. Today, lyric means any short poem. The haiku, Japanese form, is one of the shortest types of lyric poetry. 17 syllables arranged in 3 lines. The first has 5 syllables, second 7 and third 5. Here is a Haiku of Japanese Poet Issa translated by Australian poet Harold Stewart, two lines of 10 syllables each:

In these degenerate later days, I stare
Astounded cherry blossoms everywhere!

The Ode is a serious, elaborate lyric full of high praise and noble feeling. Many odes mark important public event. Classic ode, also called the Pindaric ode or choral ode, was developed and Ancient Greeks. It consist of three parts. First two parts, the strophe and antistrophe, have same pattern of rhyme. The third part, the epod, has a different pattern. Most odes later developed which consist of stanzas with the same pattern of rhythm and rhyme. 

The elegy, a common lyric, is a meditation on life and death. Mourning of friend or famous person. The Sonnet is 14 line lyric with certain pattern of rhyme and rhythm. Many sonnets are love poems . Other lyric forms include the limerick, rondel, triolet and villanelle. 

Narrative Poetry : Tells stories. Two main forms are Epics and Ballads.
Epics: These are long poems with most epics describing the deeds of heroes in battle or conflicts between human beings and natural or divine forces. Many epics also tells us of the origin or history of people. The oldest surviving form of poetry, Epics were composed during the 700s B.C.Iliad and the Odyssey were the two most famous epics in Western Literature and scholars have a point of their say as these two works are traditionally attributed to the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad describes events in the last year of the Trojan War, which was fought between Greece and the City of Troy. The Odyssey tells of the adventures of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, on his return home after having fought for Greece in the Trojan War.
Ballads: They tell shorter stories about a particular person. Many Ballads in English Literature describe Robin Hood adventures, a legendary outlaw who stole from the rich people and gave to the poor. Some ballads date back to 1300s. 

Dramatic Poetry : Tells stories like narrative poems. But in dramatic poetry, the poet  lets one or more of the story’s characters act out the story. Many plays are written as dramatic poetry. If the dialogue of a play rhymes, has repeating rhythms, or features about distinct poetic elements, the play is considered to be dramatic poetry. William Shakespeare, the English playwright is famous for being a dramatic poet. Robert Browning wrote many poems in dramatic monologue, in which the story is told in the words of only one character. 

( For more on Elements of poetry, please come back soon as I have yet to work on this)

LIMERICK : A form of humorous verse. It takes it’s name from the city of Limerick, Ireland. No one knows how or where the form originated. It became known after Edward Lear made the form popular with his first “A Book of Nonsense (1846). The Limerick is a poem of five lines, with strong beat and rough anapaestic rhythm (i.e. de-de-DUMM). It is written in Poulter’s measure, a Folk Metre that consists of 13 beats. The first two lines rhyme with the fifth, the third line rhymes with the fourth.