Discover poem types. From Abecedarian to Madrigal to Zéjel.
Start here: Poem Types’ Overview
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.
Idylls are short poems about rural living, but Theocritus’s original idylls were quite long by the standards of modern poetry. This is generally seen as a synonym for pastoral. When the two are differentiated, it is accepted that “idyll” will then refer to poems directly inspired by Theocritus’ writing.
The waka is a type of Japanese poem form consisting of a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable structure. The poet is generally expected to divide waka into two distinct sections, usually signified in English by a hard stop of some kind, such as a period or semi-colon. This division is between the first three lines and the final couplet.
The snam suad is an eight-line Irish poem form with an aabcdddc rhyme scheme. It has exactly 24 syllables (three per line) and generally attempts to follow Irish traditions such as cywddydd (harmony of sound) and the inclusion of dunadh (a type of refrain).
The toddaid is one of the 24 codified Welsh meters. This particular poem form consists of uneven couplets with lines of ten and nine syllables, featuring unusual rhyme schemes that utilize a technique called gair cyrch, ultimately resulting in staggered rhymes that feel exotic to English readers and writers.
The viator is a refrain-based poem type created by the Canadian poet Robin Skelton. It uses a refrain on the first line that becomes the second line of the second stanza, the third line of the third, and so on. The poem ends on the refrain, such that the number of lines per verse and number of verses per poem is equal.
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.
Bucolic poems, depending on perspective, are either a subcategory of pastoral poems OR a synonym for pastoral. (It’s a bit of a gray area.) The most noteworthy examples of bucolic verse tend to idealize rural living as an aesthetic rather than as a lifestyle, with more appeal for the upper class.
The Tripadi is a verse form from the Bangladesh region of India, dating back to roughly the 10th century. The form is usually written in tercets, with either an 8-8-10 syllable structure or a less common 6-6-8 structure. The first two lines of each tercet are expected to rhyme.
The Than-Bauk is a Burmese tercet utilizing climbing rhyme. It consists of three tetrasyllabic lines with a single rhyme that starts on the last syllable of the first line, then on the third syllable of the second line, and finally on the second syllable of the last line. Than-Bauks are usually witty or humorous.
The trimeric is a product of the digital age and can be traced back to Dr. Charles A. Stone (which seems to be a pseudonym). It’s a short poem with just thirteen lines in a 4/3/3/3 pattern. Most of the lines in the initial quatrain become refrains in the tercets, with only the first line of the poem being unrepeated.
The trenta-sei is a fairly young poetic form from 20th-century poet John Ciardi. It consists of six heroic sestets (verses featuring both a Sicilian quatrain and heroic couplet). It also utilizes cascading refrains that are all established in the first verse. This form is unusually complex for its region and era.
Schuttelreim is primarily considered a German poetic device, but as of the 19th century there have been couplets specifically centered around it. A schuttelreim involves taking the last two words of a line and swapping the initial consonant sounds, ending up with a new phrase for the next line.
The stornello is an Italian verse form dating back to at least the 15th century. The most common modern interpretations list it as a tercet form in which all three lines rhyme, with hendecasyllabic lines. There are other interpretations of the form from older time periods, including a couplet form still seen in Sicily today.
The somonka is a type of Japanese poem that actually consists of two shorter poems called tanka, a brief 31-syllable form, with somonka usually being exchanged by lovers or between two poets. Generally speaking, the first tanka is a love poem to the second person and the second tanka is the lover’s response.
Soledad is a minor verse form from Spain consisting of just three lines, though longer versions utilizing multiple tercets can be written. Each line of the poem will be eight syllables and each verse will have an internal axa rhyme scheme, in which ‘x’ represents an unrhymed syllable.