I am a writer, and as such I find all forms of writing important; novels and essays and plays. However, the genre that is perhaps closest to my heart is poetry. A while back I wrote about why poetry is accessible, and why everyone should take the time to understand it. In this article, I would like to explore some of the different poetic forms, their requirements, and some of their most famous proponents.

1. The sonnet.

The sonnet is perhaps the most widely recognized poetic form. It consists of 14 lines of iambic pentameter (lines with ten syllables, with a short-long, short-long stress pattern). The Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet has a rhyme pattern of abba abba cde cde. The English sonnet’s rhyme scheme, on the other hand, is abab cdcd efef gg. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, an English sonnet, is a perfect example.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a)

Admit impediments. Love is not love (b)

Which alters when it alteration finds, (a)

Or bends with the remover to remove: (b)

O no; it is an ever-fixed mark, (c)

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken; (d)

It is the star to every wandering bark, (c)

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. (d)

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e)

Within his bending sickle's compass come; (f)

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e)

But bears it out even to the edge of doom. (f)

If this be error and upon me proved, (g)

I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)[1]

Take a look at the stress pattern: if THIS be ERR-or AND up-ON me PROVED (short-LONG, short-LONG…). With 14 syllables in a line, this makes perfect iambic pentameter. Sonnets are difficult to write, but they are definitely among the most well-known and well-established of poetic forms.

2. The haiku.

A trip to Japan for the next poetic form. Quite a bit simpler than the sonnet, the haiku has few technical requirements. It consists of three lines, the first and third having five syllables, and the second, seven. The topic is usually something to do with nature but is often also a meditation on life or philosophy. Here is an example by Basho, perhaps the best known writer of the haiku.

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond,

splash! Silence again. [2]

Notice the syllable count? Also quite evident is the natural theme: a frog and a pond. The philosophical element is hidden a bit more… I’ll let you meditate on that for a bit.

3. The ghazal.

This is one of my favorite poetic forms. Because the form is originally Persian, it is a bit different to write in English, and the rules are loose and not quite uniform. Somewhere between the haiku and the sonnet in terms of technical requirements, the ghazal includes five or more couplets (pairs of two lines) of more or less the same size. These couplets have a refrain, anywhere from the last word to the entire second line, which is repeated in each pair. The topic usually has to do with loss. The most famous writer of ghazals is Ghalib, though as he didn’t write in English, it is harder to see the form. Here is a ghazal by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, which regardless takes some liberties with the form:

I’ve noticed after a few sips of tea, the tip of her tongue, thin and red

with heat, quickens when she describes her cuts and bruises — deep violets and red.

The little girl I baby-sit, hair orange and wild, sits splayed and upside down

on a couch, insists her giant book of dinosaurs is the only one she’ll ever read.

The night before I left him, I could not sleep, my eyes fixed on the freckles

of his shoulder, the glow of the clock, my chest heavy with dread.

Scientists say they’ll force a rabbit to a bird, a jellyfish with a snake, even

though the pairs clearly do not mix. Some things are not meant to be bred.

I almost forgot the weight of a man sitting beside me in bed sheets crumpled

around our waists, both of us with magazines, laughing at the thing he just read.

He was so charming—pointed out planets, ghost galaxies, an ellipsis

of ants on the wall. And when he kissed me goodnight, my neck reddened.

I’m terrible at cards. Friends huddle in for Euchre, Hearts—beg me to play

with them. When it’s obvious I can clearly win with a black card, I select a red.

I throw away my half-finished letters to him in my tiny pink wastebasket, but

my aim is no good. The floor is scattered with fire hazards, declarations unread.[3]

Notice the eight couplets, which all end on some variation of the word “red.” The subject is also appropriate, as it focuses on an ended love affair. The ghazal is fun to work with because it gives you a theme and a word, but outside of that you can run with it.

4. The villanelle.

The villanelle is another fun poetic form. It generally uses iambic pentameter (remember this from the sonnet?), but this is not a hard and fast rule. The villanelle’s quirk, something like the ghazal’s, is that there are two rhyming refrains that are repeated in set places throughout the poem. The easiest way to explain the form is to use an example. Below is one of the better-known villanelles, by Dylan Thomas, a Welsh poet.

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

Old age should burn and rave at close of day; (b)

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

Though wise men at their end know dark is right, (a)

Because their words had forked no lightning they (b)

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

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright (a)

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, (b)

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

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, (a)

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, (b)

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

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight (a)

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, (b)

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

And you, my father, there on the sad height, (a)

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

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

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.[4] (refrain two) (a)

You can see that Thomas’s poem uses one of its two refrains at the ends of each stanza of three lines, and both of them at the ending stanza of four lines. His is written in iambic pentameter, though, as I mentioned, that is not necessary when it comes to writing villanelles. The beauty of this form is that if you come up with two really good refrains, the poem is almost half written already.

5. Bonus round: free verse.

This poetic form isn’t really a form at all, but rather the absence of form. Free verse is whatever you want it to be. The only things that distinguish it from prose are that it looks like a poem, with line breaks and structural organization, and that it uses the poetic language of sparse, exact words. Mary Oliver, one of my favorite poets, wrote a beautiful free verse poem titled “And Bob Dylan Too.”

“Anything worth thinking about is worth singing about.”

Which is why we have songs of praise, songs of love, songs of sorrow.

Songs to the gods, who have so many names.

Songs the shepherds sing, on the lonely mountains, while the sheep are honoring the grass, by eating it.

The dance-songs of the bees, to tell where the flowers, suddenly, in the morning light, have opened.

A chorus of many, shouting to heaven, or at it, or pleading.

Or that greatest of love affairs, a violin and a human body.

And a composer, maybe hundreds of years dead.

I think of Schubert, scribbling on a cafe napkin.

Thank you, thank you.[5]

As you can see, there is no rhyme or reason to Oliver’s poem. It is simply the words she wanted to write, organized into poetic structure, conveying what she wanted to say.

I hope I haven’t scared you off yet. Poetic forms are really very rewarding. Forcing yourself to write in forms can help you improve your work, because you have to be more careful about which words you use. In addition, some poems just take better to forms than to free verse. I firmly believe that Thomas’s poem has more impact because of its meter and rhyme scheme. Forms can give your poetry importance if you use them well enough, and with enough practice you will. So go, be well, and have fun with poetic forms.

[1] Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 116." Shakespeare Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2016. (rhyme scheme added)

[2] Basho, Matsuo. "Examples of Haiku Poems." YourDictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.

[3] Aimee Nezhukumatathil. "Red Ghazal." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.

[4] Thomas, Dylan. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." The Best Villanelles of All Time. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2016. (Annotations added)

[5] Oliver, Mary. "And Bob Dylan Too." Careening with Monica. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.