Beautiful Spiritual Poetry
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Collection of poetry and other literary articles.

po·et·ry:
n.

  1. The art or work of a poet.
    1. Poems regarded as forming a division of literature.
    2. The poetic works of a given author, group, nation, or kind.
  2. A piece of literature written in meter; verse.
  3. Prose that resembles a poem in some respect, as in form or sound.
  4. The essence or characteristic quality of a poem.
  5. A quality that suggests poetry, as in grace, beauty, or harmony: the poetry of the dancer's movements.

Poetry Types:

Closed Form:

Poetry form that has specific poetic structure regarding, stanzaic, rhyme scheme or meter pattern.

Limerick: (Closed Form)

A limerick is a very structured poem that can be categorized as "short but sweet." They are usually humorous, and are composed of 5 lines, in an aacca rhyming pattern. In addition, the first, second and fifth lines are usually 3 anapestic feet (uu/, 2 unstressed followed by 1 stressed) each. The third and fourth lines are usually 2 anapestic feet.

 

Haiku: (Closed Form)

Haiku style and format varies slightly depending on whom one is talking to, but the basic, most widely recognized form is a 3 line stanza with a 5,7,5 syllable pattern.

Cinquain: (Closed Form)

An American form of poetry. Most cinquain poems consist of a single, 22-syllable stanza, but they can be combined into longer works. A cinquain consists of five lines. The first line has two syllables, the second line has four syllables, the third line has six syllables and the fourth line has eight syllables, the final line has two syllables. The form goes as 2,4,6,8,2  - 22 syllable pattern.

Tanka: (Closed Form)

Tanka’s is an older than a Haiku. It marks an occasion or moment. A Tanka is usually divided in 5 syllabic lines consisting of a 5,7,5,7,7  - 31 syllable pattern as the English form. The Japanese form is written in one straight sentence. Some American Tanka’s add many stanza’s to the poem.

Renga: (Closed Form)

Renga is a Japanese form composed by several poets cooperatively. Members alternately add verses of 17 syllables (5, 7, and 5 syllables) and those of 14 syllables (7 and 7 syllables), until they complete a poem generally composed of 100 verses typically divided into three movements, called Jo, Ha, and Kyu, which are supposed to have a different tempo and different types of linking. One poet would write three lines, the next poet would "respond" to those three lines with two lines of his own, the next poet wrote three lines in response to the two lines, and so on. Every "link" in the collaborative effort is subversively connected the prior link.

Ballad:

Ballads are poems that tell a story. They are considered to be a form of narrative poetry. They are often used in songs and have a very musical quality to them Narrative poetry is one of the simplest forms, because there is only one basic rule: the poem must tell a story. A ballad is a narrative poem that has a musical rhythm and can be sung. Narrative poems can be funny, sad, or solemn.

Ode:

An ode is a poem that is written for an occasion or on a particular subject. They are usually dignified and more serious as a form than other forms of poetry. There are several versions and differing opinions on what the rhyme form for an ode should be. In light of these disputes, it is of the opinion that I believe them to be simply a poem that contains some form of rhyming pattern, which is about a certain subject and contains the word "ode" in the title.

Narrative:

Narrative poetry is one of the simplest forms, because there is only one basic rule: the poem must tell a story. A ballad is a narrative poem that has a musical rhythm and can be sung. Narrative poems can be funny, sad, or solemn.

Dramatic Monologue:

A dramatic monologue is a combination of the words dramatic and monologue (obviously). The "dramatic" says that it could be acted out, and is a form of drama, while the "monologue" defines it as a speech that one person makes, either to them self or to another. A dramatic monologue is written to reveal both the situation at hand and the character herself.

Villanelle: (Closed Form)

A villanelle is composed of for stanzas, beginning with five three line stanzas, and ending with one four line stanza. There are only two rhymes in the usual villanelle . The format for the villanelle is 5 tercets and one quatrain. The first line of the villanelle serves as the refrain. That line (the refrain) should be repeated in lines six twelve and eighteen. The third line of the poem serves as another refrain and that line should be repeated in lines nine, fifteen and nineteen.  Both refrains rhyme with eachother and with the opening line of each stanza.  The middle lines of  each stanza rhyme with eachother, so that there are only two different rhyme  sounds (a and b) throughout the entire poem.

Rondelet: (Closed Form)

A poem modified as a  rondeau, usually having seven lines and always two rhymes, with the first line containing four syllables repeated as lines three and seven and the other lines having eight syllables each.. The rhyme scheme is AbAabbA where A is the refrain. Lines 1, 3 and 7 have 4 syllables and lines 2, 4, 5 and 6 have 8 syllables.

Triolet: (Closed Form)

A French verse poem or stanza form that consists of eight short lines rhyme scheme of ABaAabAB (the capital letters indicate lines that are repeated). The name triolet is taken from the three repetitions of the first line. There is no set syllable count.

Sestina: (Closed Form)

A sestina is a difficult form of poetry to master. It is made up of seven stanzas, the first six of which have six lines, the seventh having only three. There is a very exact and complicated pattern to the sestina's stanzas:

The first stanza is the defining stanza, and the six words that are used to end each line are the defining words, as they will be repeated throughout the rest of the poem.

The second stanza is made by taking the six words that were used to end the last six lines and using them in a certain order: the last word used will now end the first line of this stanza; the first word used will now end the second line of this stanza; the second to last, the third: the second, the fourth; the third to last, the fifth, the third, the sixth.

For each new stanza of the first six, the same pattern is continued by using the previous stanza. For the last (seventh) stanza, there are only three lines, using the last three ending words, and then having the other three inside each line.

Example: for this, each letter represents the ending word of a line:

a b c d e f (first stanza), f a e b d c (second stanza), c f d a b e (third stanza), e c b f a d (fourth stanza)
d e a c f b (fifth stanza), b d f e c a (sixth stanza)
a d (1st line of the 7th stanza, "a" must be in the line, but the line must end with "d")
b e (2nd line of the 7th stanza, "b" must be in the line, but the line must end with "e")
c f (3rd line of the 7th stanza, "c" must be in the line, but the line must end with "f")

Sonnet: (Closed Form)

A fixed verse form of Italian origin consisting of 14 lines that are typically five-foot iambics rhyming according to a prescribed scheme.

Pantoum: (Closed Form)

A closed form of an intermediate length 4-line stanzas with lines rhyming. The second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated to form the first and third lines of the succeeding stanza, with the first and third lines of the first stanza forming the second and fourth of the last stanza, but in reverse order, so that the opening and closing lines of the poem are the same.

Stanza:

One of the parts of a poem, composed of two or more lines usually characterized by a common pattern of meter, rhyme, and number of lines.

Acrostic:

Acrostic poetry is a form of short verse constructed with the initial letters of each line taken consecutively form words, phrases or a name. The term is derived from the Greek words akros, "at the end," and stichos, "line."

 

 

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