A poem is a piece of writing in which the words are chosen for their beauty and sound and are carefully arranged, often in short lines which rhyme.
In another definition
A poem is a piece of writing that uses imaginative words to share ideas, emotions or a story with the reader. A person who writes a poem is called a poet. Many poems have words or phrases that sound good together when they are read aloud.
We have three types of poem that is
narrative poetry, dramatic poetry, and lyric poetry. Narrative poetry tells a story. Dramatic poetry is used in plays with dramatic action. Lyric poetry expresses a person’s state of mind or attitude.
What are structures of poems?
Poems have many different structures. Traditional poems are often structured into groups of lines called stanzas. Quatrains, or 4-line stanzas, are common. Haiku are poems that are written as only 3 lines. Sonnets are written as poems of 14 lines divided into 3 4-lines stanzas followed by 2 lines called a couplet. Free verse does not have such a fixed structure.
Different Types of Poems
Poems vary greatly in their length, structure, and subject matter. For example, some forms of poetry rely heavily on rhyme and meter, while others do not. Different types of poems are also used for different purposes. Some types of poems are used for humorous effect, while others are used for drama, and others are used to express mourning. When reading or writing poetry, it is important to understand how the structure and subject matter relate to common types of poems.
Types of Poem Structures
Some types of poems follow a consistent or predictable structure. They may use a consistent number of lines in each stanza or a predictable number of total lines. Their lines may use a consistent or predictable meter. They may also use a consistent or predictable rhyme scheme. Other types of poems are free from such rules and may not use a meter or rhyme scheme at all.
Traditional poems use a consistent and regular meter. Rhyme is not a required feature of traditional poems, although many traditional poems do rhyme. Sonnets are examples of traditional poems because they use a regular meter, iambic pentameter.
Free verse poems follow the rhythms of natural speech instead of regular poetic meter and their lines do not rhyme. Free verse poems do not have lines of a fixed or regular length or stanzas with a consistent number of lines. This excerpt from Anne Kennedy’s ”The Arrivals” illustrates how free verse does not rely on rhyming lines, regular meter, or consistent line length:
Concrete poetry arranges words or letters in a visual shape that enhances or conveys a poem’s meaning. For example, in concrete poems about love, faith, or flight, the words may be arranged in the shape of a heart, cross, or wings. Concrete poetry is sometimes called visual poetry.
Dramatic poetry consists of spoken words in the voice of one or more characters. Dramatic poetry is used in plays. A dramatic monologue is delivered by one character to another character. In a soliloquy, one character speaks their thoughts aloud to themselves.
Some types of poems are identified by their subject matter rather than their structure. Three examples are pastoral poems, elegies, and epics.
Pastoral poems address the simple life of the countryside. Pastoral poems present rural life in an idealized form, lauding the innocent and simple cares of the shepherd tending a flock of sheep. This idealized portrayal contrasts with frantic and complex city life. Sir Philip Sidney’s ”The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia” is an example of a pastoral poem.
Elegies are poems of mourning. An elegy usually expresses mourning for a specific person. The end of an elegy may express consolation. Elegies are good examples of lyric poetry, which focuses on a person’s state of mind or attitude. A well-known elegy is Thomas Gray’s ”Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.”
Epics are long poems that tell stories about a hero’s adventures. Epics are good examples of narrative poetry, or poetry that tells a story. An example is Homer’s ”The Odyssey.”