Forms of Poetry

Question 1

What is a ballad?

Answer 1

• Oral tradition
• Remembrance or mythical tales - strong narrative
• Set to music, accompanied by dance or song
• Typically quatrains
• Tetrameter or trimeter to create ‘sing song’ rhythm
• Strong, regular rhyme scheme

Question 2

What is an ode?

Answer 2

• A formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and often celebrates a person, place, thing or idea
• No set meter or stanza length
• Often address an intense emotion or celebrates an object or image that leads to revelation

Question 3

What is a sonnet?

Answer 3

• 14 line poem
• Different types depending on how lines are grouped together around rhyme scheme
• Originated in Italy and literally translates into ‘Little Song’
• Sonnets usually focus on a single idea where there is a realisation or change of thought in the final lines

Question 4

What is an elegy?

Answer 4

• Very traditional English poem
• Sad memorial to someone who has died
• Usually ends with an attempt at consolation
• Often extremely moving

Question 5

What is a villanelle?

Answer 5

• A French form of poetry
• Five stanzas of three lines with a final quatrain
• The first and third lines of the first stanza repeat alternately throughout the following lines
• The repeated lines should find slightly different meanings in each instance of use

Question 6

What is a dramatic monologue?

Answer 6

• Has a single speaker who is addressing a silent listener, usually not the reader
• Enables psychological readings with the narrator often giving away unwanted details, motivations or confessing wrongdoing
• Often highly characterised and dramatic

Question 7

What is a lyrical poem?

Answer 7

• Short, first person poem
• Often highly rhythmic - sounds like there could be a muscial accompaniment
• Limited narrative (storyline)
• Often a rhetorical situation where the poet or speaker is presenting their viewpoint on an issue or theme
• Heightened emotions reflected by intense imagery