Types of Poetry

Poetry comes in many forms, from free verse to the extremely restrictive haiku and the complex sestina. Here are ten of the most common types of poems.


Whether you’re a student hoping to learn about poetry or a poet looking for a new challenge, poetic forms help provide structure and rules for writing, reading, and analyzing poems. By placing restrictions on the number of words or syllables in a line, the number of lines in a verse, and the number of verses in a poem, poetic forms force poets to express their thoughts with a particular rhythm and rhyme. This in turn forces readers and students to read poems with a certain mellifluousness and to puzzle out their meanings, which may be somewhat obscured by the contrived language.


Identifying the type of poem is the first step to understanding its structure, which can in turn help reveal its meaning. Here is an explanation of the ten major poetic forms.

The Acrostic Poem
The acrostic is a fairly simple poetic form, and odds are just about everyone has written one, whether they realize it or not. An acrostic poem is created by using the first letter of each line to spell out another, usually related, word. That is, by reading down the left margin, the reader discovers a word. In simple acrostic poems, this may be the subject of the poem (such as when grade-school students write descriptive words for each letter in “Mother” on their Mother’s Day cards).


The Concrete Poem
The concrete or image poem is another simple form often practised in school. In this type of poem, a single word is written repeatedly to create the shape of the object the word describes. For example, the word “apple” would be written to form the shape of an apple.

The Cinquain
Pronounced “sink-cane”, this type of poem is named after the French word for five because it consists of a single five-line verse. Each line has a specific syllable count, namely two, four, six, eight, two. Many variations also exist, such as the reverse cinquain, in which the syllable counts are two, eight, six, four, two, and the mirror cinquain, which consists of two five-line verses, a cinquain and a reverse cinquain.


The Free Verse Poem
Perhaps the most common poetic form today, free verse allows a poet to create his or her own form, placing virtually no restrictions on the number of syllables per line, lines per verse, or verses per poem. However, the poem still must have a recognizable form that will be coherent to readers.

The Ghazal
Based on Urdu poetry and originating in the 6th century, the ghazal (pronounced like “guzzle”) consists of five to fifteen couplets (usually seven) with a refrain of one or a few words repeated at the end of each of the first two lines and the second line of each subsequent couplet. Additionally, the words before each refrain are usually rhymes or partial rhymes, and each line should be roughly the same length or meter. While the couplets develop a common theme, each one should read like a poem or unit in itself.

There are many other types of poems, including variations of the above forms, but these classic forms provide an excellent starting place for students of poetry or poets in training

Read more at Suite101: Types of Poetry: An Explanation of Ten Main Poetic Forms http://writing-poetry.suite101.com/article.cfm/types_of_poetry#ixzz0m1RxXLV8

This past week we started studying some definitions that introduce Words to Own as we identify, recognize and write poems. It's so fun to write lines from your own inspiration. This week we had some poems written by some students that are really a treasure. Start now and make your own poem.And the more yoou write, the better it gets. Try it!

Writing in my journal

What is a journal? Why do I have to write in a journal for? Can his help me improve my English? These are some of the questions you may be having. As an English teacher I can answer you these most common questions you may have. First of all as we speak in class, to know English is not only to talk or read it but also to write it correctly. Most of the students have good understanding by reading it but not too many can express their thoughts the correct way. English has a different sintaxis ( order in the sentence). In Spanish words are written in a longer text and are also read from back to front.For instance take this example: Pedro tiene dolor de cabeza muy fuerte-- if you translate in the same order it would be read like this:Peter has pain of headache very heavy (this is wrong order) The correct written text would be : Peter's headache is very painful. As you see, not only there is a change in the text order but also using vivid verbs that enhance the text meaning. Writing in a journal will help you develope more writing skills; the more you practice, the better it will be. Writing in a journal will let your mind go free, to start developing your written thoughts. It is like talking with your pencil. Maybe if you are a shy person, through the written text you will express feelings, thoughts that other way you wouldn't dare to share. So cheer up! Begin with a short paragraph, and show everybody your new skills in the journal.

LA BAMBA -by Gary Soto

This is the story about Manuel who wanted to perform in a school Talent Show to impress his family, friends and most of all Petra Lopez, the girl he liked most. The story develops on the main character as the first person narrator the unexpected outcome in his moment of truth. Very funny and refreshing story that will remain in your memory from the lyrics - "para bailar la Bamba". Yes, you read correctly. Your mind will be repeating "para bailar la Bamba" over and over again. Just enjoy as we all learn to recognize similes and make some predictions in this story made just for you!

Seven Common Dining Mistakes

While reading this list, you may find that you've been a sinner in the past without ever realizing it. Don't worry. Redemption is at hand. And you certainly aren't alone. The sins detailed in the following list made the top 10 list only because so many people have committed them so often in the past.

Faux Pas
According to G.R.M. Devereux in Etiquette for Women, published in 1901, after you pick up a piece of cutlery, it should never touch the table again—advice that applies today as well.
1.Cutlery. Don't hold your fork like a cello or your knife like Lady Macbeth's dagger. Also, don't wave your cutlery triumphantly in the air to emphasize a point and don't put silverware partly on the table and partly on the plate. After you pick up a piece of cutlery, it should never touch the table again. Knives go on the plate, blade facing in and touching the inside of the plate. Only the handle should rest on the rim of the plate.
2.Napkins. Don't blot or rub the lower half of your face. Dab delicately. Don't flap your napkin to unfold it and don't wave it around like a flag. It belongs unfolded on your lap. If you leave the table, place your napkin on the chair and push the chair back under the table. Gently. Watch the upholstery. Don't refold your napkin at the end of the meal because an unknowing server might give it to another diner. Pick up the napkin from the center and place it loosely on the table to the left of your plate.
3.Chewing. Never chew with your mouth open. Also, no matter how urgently you want to inject the perfect kernel of wit and wisdom at just the right moment, don't do it with food in your mouth. And don't gulp and blurt. Finish chewing, swallow, and smile philosophically, content in the knowledge that you could have said just the right thing, but had too much class to speak with food in your mouth.
4.Appearance. Remember what your mother said: Sit up straight and keep your elbows off the table. If you have any doubt about where your hands belong, put them in your lap.
5.Breaking bread. Here is a real bread-and-butter tip. Tear bread into bite-size pieces and butter each piece just before you eat it. Don't butter the entire slice of bread or the entire roll to get it ready for occasional bites during the course of the meal.
6.Speed. Take it easy. Whether you're at the Ritz Carlton or Gertie's Grease Pit, gulping down food is not only unhealthy but also unattractive, and it can cross the line into rudeness when dining with others. Dining partners should have the same number of courses and start and finish each one at about the same time. Don't be huddling over your soup while others are salivating for dessert or vice versa.
7.Don't pick! If you have something trapped between your teeth, don't pick at it while you are at the table. If it's really driving you nuts, excuse yourself, go to the restroom, and pick to your heart's content

Moments of Truth Collage

This Special Assignment will help you gather pictures, illustrations from magazines or your personal photos to make a collage from any person or yourself. Student will share with the class his or her Moment of Truth person. Total score will be 100. Make sure to hand it on time!

Materials needed: half of a cardboard.
Funny letters (foamy, paper or scrapbook)
glue (rubber cement)
photos or illustrations

Write the Title: Moments of Truth (on the top of the cardboard)
Your name, group and English Class at the bottom right

Due date: Friday, August 28

Our web-site to learn, write and read

Starting with the right foot

English as a second languague can help us gain confidence en ourselfs. Since English has become world universal languague, everywhere we travel, this is the languague you can comunicate. This attitude repeling English is in the mind of those who have never thought why English is so important to communicate in this global world.
Take this example, as I share in class, this past summer vacations I was traveling with a missionary group to Canada and Alabama. In the Church Center we were staying there is an alarm system so sensitive you could activate only by passing next to the door sensors. We had about three nights with the alarm going on and off, police comming into the building with guns and worried for us because of the alarms. At the time they came in, none of the people could talk and understand the police so they searched me. I could explain why we were there, when we arrived, who was encharged etc, so police could help us end this nightmare of alarms. Next day I spoke to a pastor who works in the building on how we could solve the problem. He gave us the secret code to make the alarms recognize people were in, and the best desicion taken was to eliminate alarm activation 'till the day we were gone. Thanks that I knew English , there was a good communication that solved a problem. One of the younsters in the trip mentioned that when he arrived to Puerto Rico he wanted to learn more English because he wanted to go back to Canada and talk freely to anyone. He said it didn't matter if he had to take one hour a day to learn English but the sacrifice was worth it. Maybe you think you're never going to need to learn , speak or read English in your life and maybe you think it won't be necessary, but trust me when I say it can happen to you as well.

Start with the right foot this year means to make yourself available learnning English. The positive attitude to learn is yours. As you open your door to facilitate knowledge in the most important task: learn to communicate and enjoy English as you learn!