Poetry is a very diverse genre, with many different sub genres within the category of poetry. Due to this fact, I researched various different forms of poetry and plan to highlight and describe the ones that will show up the most in my poetry collection. Although, it is important to point out that a lot of poetry is a combination of many forms.
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The first type of poetry is prose poetry. Prose poetry is different than most poetry because it doesn’t have verse lines. Instead, prose poetry is written in paragraph format. In addition to its unique layout, prose poetry also includes elements that are common in normal poetry like metaphors, repetition, and rhyming (Poetry Foundation). A prose poem “essentially appears as prose, but reads like poetry” (Poets.org).
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Another type of poetry is confessional poetry which is what it sounds like- an author confessing personal experiences. Confessional poetry originated in the 50s in America as a response to modernist poets who were “impersonal” and “objective” (Nichols). Instead, confessional poetry was about “then-taboo subjects such as mental illness, familial drama, suicide, and sexuality” (Nichols). One famous example of this is genre is called Wanting to Die by Anne Sexton. In her poem, Sexton discusses her relationship with suicide. Topics such as suicide were not usually spoken about in the 50s, but with the rise of psychotherapy, many people, especially confessional poets, began to more open about their experiences (Nichols). Sexton’s poem is scary and devastating, yet beautiful and emotional. Confessional poetry allows a close look into another’s mind and requires intense openness and vulnerability.
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Narrative poetry tells a story and like stories, it also has a “plot, characters, and setting” while also continues to use other various “poetic techniques” (Craven). Because narrative poetry originated “evolved” from the “oral tradition” of spoken poetry, it is the “foundation” for many literary forms (Craven). Some of the most known types of poetry are epics and ballads.
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The next kind of poetry is a limerick. A famous example is Hickory Dickory Dock, which goes like this:
"Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
And down he run,
Hickory, dickory, dock."
These simple limericks are short, silly, and follow an AABBA rhyme scheme (Your Dictionary). The format of a limerick is relatively strict, but the content can be about anything. I think the format and structure of these poems could be used strategically when discussing more serious issues. The contrast of a serious topic, yet a playful structure, can send specific messages to an audience.
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Finally, in contrast to limericks, free verse poetry is much more flexible. Authors of free verse poetry are free to write almost any way they want, without rhyming or a specific pattern. Instead, free verse poems “rhythms are based on patterned elements such as sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs, rather than on the traditional prosodic units of metrical feet per line” (Britannica). I tend to like this style of poetry the most, because it gives me the wiggle room to take more creative liberties.