Poetry Forms

The lamp holds sway along the shadowed streets A penumbra encircles its sweet shine As night rests softly like a feathered cloak Upon a multitude of dancing stars And night and stars and lamp become a...

by Lew Icarus Bede "A sonnet is a coin: its face reveals The soul—its converse, to what Power 'tis due: Whether for tribute to the august appeals Of Life, or dower in Love's high retinue, It serve; or,...

By C.B. Anderson Anyone writing formal poetry today has to be grateful for the arsenal of fixed forms—most of them bequeathed to us from masters of the past—that is available to lend structure to poetic...

We are pleased to announce the release of a new publication from The Society of Classical Poets titled How to Write Classical Poetry, which features a guide to common poetry forms, brief essays on the...

By Elizabeth Spencer Spragins Poetry has been an integral component of Welsh culture for centuries. Indeed, the Welsh word “bardd” (poet) has been traced back to 100 B.C. Depending on their skills,...

By Dusty Grein The history of the poetry form we know as the Limerick is rich and wild. There are examples of the limerick’s cadence and pattern in use as early as the 11th century, and Shakespeare used...

By Dusty Grein Dating to the thirteenth century, the terza rima (Italian for "third rhyme") is a classic form of writing poetry in three-line stanzas called tercets, which are interlinked by their rhyming...

By Dusty Grein The sestina originated among the troubadours of medieval France's Provence region, and the modern thirty-nine line form is attributed to one of these traveling poet entertainers of the...

By Carol Smallwood The triolet is a medieval French poetry form that has eight lines and was introduced to the English language by poets in the 17th century:   1. A 2. B 3. a  Rhymes with 1st...

By G. M. H. Thompson The Japanese-inspired haiku is perhaps the most well-known and often used form of poetry today. Schoolchildren the English-speaking-world over know that a haiku is five syllables in the...

By Sathya Narayana The rubaiyat (pronounced “roo-bái-yát”) is a Persian form of several quatrains. Its name is derived from the Arabic plural of the word for "quatrain," rubá'íyah. This, in turn,...

By Dusty Grein Hailing from 15th and 16th century French and Italian roots, the villanelle is arguably one of the strongest repeating refrain forms in classical poetry. Related How to Write a...

By. E. V. Wyler Created by French troubadours during the Middle Ages, the rondeau is valued for its lovely lyrical qualities.  The tone of a rondeau may be joyful, mournful, or anything in between.  An...

By Carol Smallwood The pantoum is a poetry form that originated in 15th century Malaysia and drifted West in the 19th century with French writer Victor Hugo, among others. While it never quite took off like...

By Dusty Grein and Evan Mantyk “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe remains one of the English language’s most popular and influential poems since it was written in 1845. Much of this was Poe’s own doing,...

By Dusty Grein Most of us enjoy poetry in one form or another. I am going to attempt to lay out the basics of writing classical style poetry in English, based on standard poetry terms and references. This...

By Evan Mantyk Put simply, a sonnet is a 14-line poem. You might write one for any number of reasons: a class assignment, a birthday present, or visions of poetic paradise and posterity. Let’s begin....

Poetry should be metered, because metered poetry is, quite simply, better than free verse.  This is for the same reason that realist art trumps impressionist art and that Baroque music trumps rock and roll...

Updated May 5, 2018 by Evan Mantyk Some people have raised concerns about the technical difficulty of writing classical poetry. Actually, there is very little difficulty behind writing classical poetry...