types:
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abecedarius
a poem having lines beginning with letters of the alphabet in regular order
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Alcaic, Alcaic verse
verse in the meter used in Greek and Latin poetry consisting of strophes of 4 tetrametric lines; reputedly invented by Alcaeus
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ballad, lay
a narrative poem of popular origin
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ballade
a poem consisting of 3 stanzas and an envoy
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blank verse
unrhymed verse (usually in iambic pentameter)
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elegy, lament
a mournful poem; a lament for the dead
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epic, epic poem, epos, heroic poem
a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds
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free verse, vers libre
unrhymed verse without a consistent metrical pattern
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haiku
an epigrammatic Japanese verse form of three short lines
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lyric, lyric poem
a short poem of songlike quality
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rondeau, rondel
a French verse form of 10 or 13 lines running on two rhymes; the opening phrase is repeated as the refrain of the second and third stanzas
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sonnet
a verse form consisting of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme
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tanka
a form of Japanese poetry; the 1st and 3rd lines have five syllables and the 2nd, 4th, and 5th have seven syllables
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terza rima
a verse form with a rhyme scheme: aba bcb cdc, etc.
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rhyme, verse
a piece of poetry
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versicle
a short verse said or sung by a priest or minister in public worship and followed by a response from the congregation
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villanelle
a poem comprised of five tercets and a quatrain and in which the first and third lines of the first tercet repeat as alternating end lines in subsequent stanzas
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sestina
a poem comprised of six sestets and a final tercet and in which the end words of each line recur in each stanza in rotating order
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epigram
a short, witty, and often satirical poem focusing on a single topic or observation
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clerihew
a witty satiric verse containing two rhymed couplets and mentioning a famous person
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doggerel, doggerel verse, jingle
a comic verse of irregular measure
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limerick
a humorous verse form of 5 anapestic lines with a rhyme scheme aabba
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roundel
English form of rondeau having three triplets with a refrain after the first and third
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rondelet
a shorter form of rondeau
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chanson de geste
Old French epic poems
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rhapsody
an epic poem adapted for recitation
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Italian sonnet, Petrarchan sonnet
a sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba, followed by a sestet with the rhyme pattern cdecde or cdcdcd
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Elizabethan sonnet, English sonnet, Shakespearean sonnet
a sonnet consisting three quatrains and a concluding couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme pattern abab cdcd efef gg
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Spenserian sonnet
a sonnet consisting of three quatrains and a concluding couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme pattern abab bcbd cdcd ee
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ode
a lyric poem with complex stanza forms
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sursum corda
(Roman Catholic Church) a Latin versicle meaning `lift up your hearts'
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heroic, heroic meter, heroic verse
a verse form suited to the treatment of heroic or elevated themes; dactylic hexameter or iambic pentameter
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Edda
either of two distinct works in Old Icelandic dating from the late 13th century and consisting of 34 mythological and heroic ballads composed between 800 and 1200; the primary source for Scandinavian mythology