Free verse poetry is a type of poem that doesn’t follow a regular meter or rhyme scheme. In essence, they provide some leeway for poets who don’t want to follow strict poetry rules. Free verse poems don’t necessarily lack structure, although unmetered. This poem type gained prominence in the 19th century.
Virelai is one of the three formes fixes and is a type of formal poem from medieval France. It thrives on short lines, a focus on rhyme, and is written entirely in nonets (nine-line verses). Note that the song and poem forms are related but slightly different.
Rimas Dissolutas is a troubaderic verse form in which verses rhyme with each other instead of having the lines of each verse rhyme internally. A poem in quatrains would have a rhyme scheme of ABCD ABCD, etc. Lines can be of any length but are generally isosyllabic while verses can be any number of lines.
The rondine is a French verse form from around the 16th century that traces its roots to the rondeau, joining a prestigious family of forms that are united by difficult rhyme schemes and heavy use of refrains. The rondine, for its part, is effectively just a shorter rondeau, at 12 lines instead of the usual 15.
The rondeau redouble is essentially a challenging “super rondeau” that extends the form out to 25 lines instead of 15. That, while also demands a tighter structure focused around rhymed quatrains instead of uneven verses, while still utilizing refrains. It was invented by the 16th-century French poet Clement Marot.
The rondelet, not to be confused with the rondel or short rondel, is a seven-line French poem form that utilizes a refrain three times despite its brevity. As a result, the real challenge of the form is often seeing how much the poet can fit within the limited space left behind between the refrains.
The rondel supreme (or rondel prime) is a variant of the shorter rondel. A rondel supreme is 14 lines, utilizing only two end sounds and a set of refrains that repeats at the end of each of its three verses. The form has been compared to a sonnet and even carries the nickname “the French sonnet.”
The rondel is a French verse form typically consisting of 13 octasyllabic lines and multiple refrains, though there are quite a few variants of the form. It is a descendant of the prolific rondeau, another older French form that also had an impressive amount of influence over formal poetry.
Rime couée is a French stanzaic verse form with six-line stanzas that each have a rhyme scheme of aabccb. The third and sixth lines are hexasyllabic while the rest of the lines are octasyllabic. This, paired with the rhyme scheme, puts a unique emphasis on the middle and end of each verse.
The quatern is a short quaternion (a poem divided into four parts) that employs a refrain that switches positions between each verse. The quatern is sixteen lines, cut up into quatrains that are each comprised of eight-syllable lines.
The lai is a French form utilizing nine-line verses that are further divided up, structurally, into three-line units. Each verse has an AABAABAAB rhyme scheme, while each three-line unit has a 5-5-2 syllable structure. This makes for a poem form that is demanding, but aesthetically pleasing when properly achieved.
Dizains are ten-line poems that usually retain ten syllables in every line, commonly in Iambic pentameter. They feature a strict ABABBCCDCD rhyme scheme that informally divides the poem up into two separate sections. The form got its start in France around roughly the 15th and 16th centuries.
The kyrielle is a stanzaic French poetic form comprised wholly of quatrains. The rhyme scheme can vary from poet to poet but is expected to be present, as is a refrain that will be featured throughout the entirety of the poem as the last line of every verse. Each line of a kyrielle is octosyllabic (eight syllables).
Huitains are eight-line poems that were mostly popular in 16th century Western Europe. They are usually credited to France and generally consist of the first eight lines of the longer ballade form, though there has been some historical experimentation with the rhyme scheme and line lengths of the huitain.
The dansa is a poem from the Old Occipital language, first introduced by the 13th century troubadours of southern France. It utilizes a quintain followed by multiple quatrains, repeating a refrain at the end of every verse. While originally lyric poetry, modern interpretations of the form often lack any definite meter.
The descort is an unusual poem form in which every line is expected to be different from every other line. This is commonly achieved through length and meter but can be taken to the extreme by having no two lines share the same end sound, syntax, or potentially even language.