List of poetic forms

Main article: Poetry

As there are literally hundreds of poetic forms in the English language, this list may always be incomplete. Until the 19th century most were verse forms, mostly imported from Europe; since then, English has added many new forms of different kinds, from poetric traditions around the world. Where applicable, each form has its origin in place and time given. Rather than have two separate lists, one for verse and one for non-verse, the list also indicates which are verse forms.

About Poetry
Poetry • Outline • Explication
Literature
Theme • Plot • Style Character • Setting • Voice Writer • Writer's block
Poetic diction
Imagery • Figures of speech Metaphor • Simile Homeric simile Personification • Pathetic fallacy Synecdoche  • Metonymy Conceit • Extended metaphor Allegory • Motif • Symbol Pun • Double entendre Ambiguity • Idiom
Sound
Alliteration • Assonance Consonance • Rhyme Repetition • Refrain Onomatopoeia
Prosody
Line • Enjambment • Caesura Foot • Meter • Verse • Stanza
Verse forms
Epic • Narrative • Lyric • Ode Dramatic monologue • Ballad Blank verse • Heroic couplets Sestina • Sonnet • Villanelle List of poetic forms
Modern poetry
Free verse • Prose poetry Haiku in English • Tanka
Much, much more ...
Collaborative poetry Glossary of poetry terms How to - topics
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A

1. Abecedarius, Hebrew, 6thBC
2. Acrostic
3. Alexandrine, verse
4. Aubade, medieval

B

1. Balassi stanza, Hungarian, 16th
2. Ballad stanza, verse
3. Ballade, French, 14th, verse
4. Balliol rhyme, English, 19th
5. Blank verse, English, 16th, verse
6. Burns stanza, Scottish, 17th, verse

C

1. Canzone, Sicilian, 13th, verse
2. Carmen figuratum, concrete
3. Caudate sonnet, Italian, 16th, verse
4. Cento, Roman, 3rd
5. Chant Royal, French, 14th, verse
6. Cinquain, American, 20th, syllabic
7. Clerihew, English, 20th
8. Common meter, verse
9. Couplet, verse
10. Curtal sonnet, English, 19th

D

1. Demi-sonnet, American, 21st
2. Diamante, American, 20th, concrete
3. Double dactyl, American, 20th, verse
4. Dramatic monologue, English, 19th

E

1. Eclogue, Roman, 1stBC, verse
2. Ekphrastic poetry
3. Elegiac couplet, Ancient Greek, 7thBC, verse
4. Elegiac stanza, England 18th, verse
5. Elegy
6. Englyn. Welsh
7. Epic poetry
8. Epigram, Roman, 1st

F

1. Flarf, American, 20th

G

1. Ghazal, Arabic, 6th
2. Glosa, Spanish, 14th
3. Gogyoka, Japanese, 20th

H

1. Standard Habbie, Scottish, 17th, verse
2. Haiku, Japanese, 19th
3. Hainteny, Malagasy
4. Heroic couplet, English, 14th, verse
5. Hokku, Japanese, 17th

I

1. Idyll, Ancient Greek, 3rdBC

J

1. Jintishi, Chinese, 5th

K

1. Kyrielle, French, 14th

L

1. Lay, French, 12th
2. Lanterne, American, 20th
3. Limerick, English, 17th, verse
4. Lune, American, 20th
5. Lushi, Chinese, 5th

M

1. Minnesang, German, 12th

N

1. Nonet
2. Nonnet

O

1. Octave
2. Octet
3. Ode
4. Onegin stanza, Russian, 19th, verse
5. Ottava rima, Italian, 14th, verse

P

1. Pantoum
2. Pantun
3. Paradelle
4. Pastoral
5. Pastourelle
6. Pentina
7. Petrarchan sonnet
8. Poulter's Measure
9. Prose poetry

Q

1. Quatorzain
2. Quatrain
3. Quintain
4. Quinzaine

R

1. Renga, Japanese
2. Renku, Japanese
3. Rhyme royal
4. Rictameter
5. Rondeau
6. Rondel
7. Rondelet
8. Roundel
9. Roundelay
10. Ruba'i, Persian,
11. Rubaiyat quatrain, English, 19th, verse

S

1. Sapphic stanza, Ancient Greek,
2. Saturnian meter
3. Senryu, Japanese
4. Sestet
5. Sestina
6. Shakespearean sonnet, English, 16th, verse
7. Sicilian octave
8. Sijo, Korean, 14th
9. Sirventes , Occitan, 13th
10. Sonnet, Occitan, 13th, verse
11. Spenserian stanza, English, 16th, verse
12. Spenserian sonnet, English, 16th, verse
13. Spoetry, 21st
14. Stev, Scandinavian

T

1. Tanaga, Filipino
2. Tanka
3. Tercet
4. Terzanelle
5. Terza rima, Italian, 14th, verse
6. Triolet, French 13th, verse
7. Triplet
8. Twiplet, American, 21st

V

1. Venus and Adonis stanza, English, 16th, verse
2. Verse paragraph
3. Viator, Canadian, 20th
4. Villancico, Spanish, 15th
5. Villanelle, French, 19th, verse

W

1. Waka, Japanese, 10th

Y

1. Yoik, Sami

Z

1. Zappai, Japanese

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