This document provides examples and descriptions of different forms of poetry, including limericks, diamante poetry, cinquains, free verse, ballads, sonnets, and bio poems. A limerick is a five line humorous poem with a rhyming structure. Diamante poetry shows change through contrasting words at the beginning and end. Cinquains follow a specific format with line counts and some rhyming. Free verse has no set pattern and expresses ideas through rhythm. Ballads tell stories through repeated refrains and various stanza structures. Sonnets are fourteen line poems that can be Italian or Shakespearean in form. Bio poems describe a person in specific lines.

1. Forms of poetry6th grade advanced reading

2. Example

3. LimerickFive-line poem that tells a funny or silly story.Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme.Lines 3 and 4 rhyme and are usually shorter than the other lines.Line 5 refers back to line 1.

4. Another example

5. Diamante PoetryDiamante poetry shows change. The beginning line and the last line are opposites or contrasting words. It is written in the shape of a diamond.

6. ExampleLight,Sun, Bright,Happy, Confident, Joyful,Care free, Smiling, Masking ,Melancholy,Poignant, Sad, Depressed,Heartbreaking, Scary,Dark

7. CinquainA limerick is a rhyming, humorous, and often nonsensical five-line poem. The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme (forming a triplet), and have the same number of syllables. The third and fourth lines rhyme (forming a couplet), and have the same number of syllables. Tip: When writing your own, it may be helpful to begin with, “There once was a….”

8. ExampleTreeSturdy, TallClimbing, swinging, playingFun among the branchesMaple

9. Free Verse Expresses an idea, story, or feeling in rhythmic form. It has no particular pattern, and may or may not have rhyming phrases.Free verse doesn’t have a specific pattern. In free verse, it is the rhythm and the language used to express an idea that makes the poem.Without set rules, you are free to decide where to break your form into stanzas, what (if any) rhyming scheme you use, and even your style of grammar.

10. Example: I Dream'd in a DreambyWalt Whitman I DREAM'D in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth, I dream'd that was the new city of Friends, Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led the rest, It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words.

11. Free Verse

12. Free Verse Picture StreetTime will reveal everything I want to know now. I wish time was just the name of a street.I’d drive a black car up and down time.I’d be happy. - Beau W.

13. Ballad Ballad Poems are poems that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. A ballad is often about love and often sung. A ballad is a story in poetic form. Sometimes a lesson is told in the last phrase.A ballad can have any number of stanzas (group of lines), and generally follows an ABCB rhyme scheme.

14. Examplehttp://www.silentwords.com/BalladPoems/puzzle.htmlhttp://www.cswnet.com/~erin/child.htm#ballads

15. SonnetA lyric poem (poetry that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings, often in a songlike style or form) of 14 lines. 2 types of sonnets (distinguished by rhyme scheme)Italian – broken into two parts; the octave (8 lines) and the sestet (6 lines) Octave rhyming pattern is abbaabbaSestet rhymes cdecde

16. Sonnet Continued Shakespearean Sonnet Consists of three quatrains (4 lines poem) and a couplet (2 line poem)Rhyme scheme – ababcdcdefefgg

17. Examples http://www.sonnets.org/

18. Bio Poem A poem about a person. It is not a poem about yourself; it is about someone else you know or someone you have studied.(Refer to page 10 in your packet for guidelines)

19. Example (1)Scout(2) Tomboy, brave, intelligent, loving (3) Sister of Jem(4) Lover of justice, chewing gum, reading, and Alabamasummers(5) Who feels outrage when her dad is maligned, happiness when school is over, and fright on a dark Halloween night.(6) Who needs her dad's acceptance, Jem's loyalty, and Dill's admiration(7) Who gives friendship easily, black eyes to cousins, and sassy words to Calpurnia(8)Who fears Boo's dark house, owls in the night, and giving her open palms to the teacher(9) Who would like to see all mockingbirds sing freely whether they are creatures of flight, shy neighbors, or kind handymen(10) Resident of Maycomb, Alabama(11) Finch