Poetic Devices and Forms

A narrative poem in short stanzas, especially one that tells a popular story.

A poem mourning the dead.

Deliberate omission of unstressed syllables, typically in order to maintain rhythm- e.g. "o'er" for "over".

The lack of a pause between two lines of a poem.

Verse that follows no particular form, meter or rhyme scheme.

Seventeen syllable poems, generally split into three lines of five, seven and five syllables, often with a theme related to nature.

A rhyme where two words have similar consonant sounds but different vowel sounds e.g. "bell" and "bill". Also called a slant rhyme or imperfect rhyme.

A rhyme within the words of a line

A dignified, lyric poem expressing praise or some other elevated notion.

A four line stanza.