Different Poetry Styles & What Topics They Work Best With
Free verse is only one aspect of the art.
When it comes to contemporary poetry, you’re going to read mostly free verse poems. This isn’t inherently good or bad, as free verse poems are often beautiful and wrought with emotion and personalization, but they’re also not the only style of poetry out there. While we love free verse because it provides more freedom of expression and makes reading poetry more accessible and understandable, the over-saturation of it can also have negative effects on the poetry scene.
Poetry is an art, and free verse poems are part of that art, but the current contemporary poets’ emphasis on free verse does two things: it overlooks every other type of poetry genre, which will lead to poetry’s transformation to a dead language, and it also can lead to a decrease in artistry.
What I mean by this is that it’s clear when a poet is new to their craft because they’re only writing free verse poems. Now, this is perfectly fine, and in my eyes, is a rite of passage of sorts into the poetry world. Most people start writing poetry in free verse because it’s either the genre that inspired them, or it’s simply the most accessible genre. But poetry is an art; and you can separate the people who write the art of poetry from the people who only use poetry as a form of self expression based on whether or not they only write free verse, or if they experiment with other forms.
All of this being said, poetry is meant to be expressive. And free verse is still art. My point is that just because expression is usually a boundless idea, doesn’t mean your poetry should lack intention. But as you write, and learn, and grow, if you put the effort in, you will discover that some genres of poetry make a poem sing more than a typical free verse poem. Not every train of thought is a freeing one, even if you wish it were, which is why certain structures may get your point across more effectively than a poem without structure.
In order to help you on this journey of experimentation, I’ve laid out the definitions of each poetry type, how to write them, and what topics are usually covered using each genre. That way, if you find yourself writing a poem with a topic that may work well with another style, you can re-write your free verse poem in another style and see which version you like better.
Different Poetry Genres
Free Verse
Free verse poems are the easiest poems to understand because they are literally free verse. They follow no meter or rhyme; though it is possible to include consistent sound patterns or rhythm (they are poems, after all), free verse poems are not confined to them. They sound like the natural patterns and rhythms of speech.
Common Free Verse Topics: anything at all!
Elegy
Elegies are often mixed up with eulogies as they both include motifs of loss and death. However, a eulogy typically focuses on the achievements of someone who has just passed, whereas an elegy focuses on the poet’s feelings of loss. It can be confusing; just remember that elegies are more of a general view of grief, and focus specifically on lamentation, where eulogies are more specifically tied to the being that has passed.
Common Elegy Topics: elegies are designed specifically to mourn for a person, or to acknowledge your feelings of grief and loss
Haiku
You were likely introduced to the art of the haiku early on in your studies, as they’re short, easy to write, and are very fun! Though not popular in Western culture until the early 1900’s, haikus (or hokkus) are Japanese poems comprised of three unrhyming lines: the first line with five syllables, the second with seven, and the third with five as well.
Common Haiku Topics: nature and seasonal changes, aging and the circle of life, the natural world, and other topics that could allow for some natural juxtaposition and distinct imagery.
Limerick
Similarly to the haiku, this punchy little style was likely also introduced to you early on, as they’re often used in children’s literature. Composed of any number of quintets (five-line stanzas), the first two lines of a limerick will rhyme and be three-stress lines, the third and fourth lines of a limerick will rhyme and be two-stress lines, and the fifth line will either repeat the first line or rhyme with it while also being a three-stress line.
Common Limerick Topics: puns, jokes, and humor. Limericks were designed to be funny – let the sex jokes and bathroom humor reign!
Cinquain
Cinquain poems are similar to limericks and haikus in that they’re short and easy to learn. They consist of five lines, in which the first line has two stress syllables, the second has four, the third has six, the fourth has eight, and the fifth also has two. They don’t need to rhyme, but the most common ones do!
Common Cinquain Topics: simple topics are historically best for cinquains; they’re not very long nor super complex, so it’s easiest to choose a simple topic. This also makes them great for introducing poetry to kids.
Ode
You’ve likely heard of the ode as well; odes are formal and often lyrical poems often written in dedication to, or to celebrate, a person, place, thing, or idea. There are different types of odes:
Greek or Pindaric Ode: these odes were public poems in celebration of athletic victories, and often set to music.
Horatian Ode: named after the latin poet, Horace, these odes contained more philosophical and contemplative themes, and were typically written in quatrains (a stanza with four lines).
Sapphic Ode: these odes are much more controlled than the rest, including any number of quatrains, the first three 11-syllable lines, and the last a five-syllable line – these odes do not rhyme, but they do have a strict meter. Typically, the first three lines contain two trochees (one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable) followed by one dactyl (a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables) and then two more trochees, and the last line is composed of one dactyl followed by one trochee. Can you see how easy it is for a poet to want to stick to free verse?!
English Romantic Ode: while “English Romantic Ode” is not technically a type of ode, we couldn’t talk about odes without talking about the English Romantic Poets; while their form is not very strict, they do primarily focus on intense emotions at the emergence of a personal crisis (I blame these folks for the “brooding poet” stereotype).
Common Ode Topics: any event or individual you can praise or glorify. They typically include love, celebration, dedication, appreciation, and/or reflection.
Sonnet
If you have studied Shakespeare in any capacity (and we’re sure you have, though probably against your will) you have heard of the Sonnet. Most are 14-line poems that begin by reflecting on a single thought, and end with a clarification or change of course in that thought within its final lines. But what you might not know is that there are multiple different types of sonnets:
Shakespearean (or English) Sonnet: these sonnets are typically broken down into three quatrains and a concluding couplet (a two-line stanza) with a ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme (though this can be varied a little bit – that’s the fun of experimenting with different poetry genres!).
Petrarchan Sonnet: this type of sonnet instead breaks down as two octaves (eight-line stanzas) with a ABBAABBA rhyme scheme and one sestet (a six-line stanza) with a CDCDCD or CDECDE rhyme scheme.
Italian Sonnet: The Italian sonnet is the same as the Petrarchan Sonnet, the only difference being that the final sestet follows a CDDCEE rhyme scheme.
While the above three examples are the main types of sonnets, lots of variations have come to light in more recent time and are still actively employed today:
Caudate Sonnet: the only difference between this type of sonnet and any other type is the use of a coda, or tail, at the end. If you study music, you may know the term already; but all it means is that there is an extra, concluding piece that comes after the original 14 lines. It doesn’t have any specific rhyme scheme or metrics to follow, though you likely want it to match the rest of your poem.
Curtal Sonnet: this is the Italian sonnet, but shorter. We replace the two quatrains in the octave with two, six-stress tercets (three-lined stanzas) with an ABCABC rhyme scheme, and replace the sestet with four and a half lines with a DBEDB rhyme scheme, and make the first three of those lines six-stress and the final line three-stress.
Sonnet Redouble: going in a different direction, this type of sonnet is much longer than the original forms, as it’s composed of 15 sonnets in one. The way it works is that the last line of one sonnet is also the first line of the next, and the final line of that sonnet is the same as the first line of the previous sonnet. And then the last sonnet consists of all the repeated lines from the previous sonnets, in the order in which they were written.
Sonnet Sequence: a sonnet sequence is simply a collection of sonnets that talk about the same topic. They are not all in one poem like the redouble though, it’s a collection of separate sonnets, as it’s a traditionally short form.
Spenserian Sonnet: this is a variation of the Shakespearean sonnet that instead uses a ABAB BCBC CDCD EE rhyme scheme, which ends up interlocking the quatrains as opposed to using quatrains that all have an entirely separate rhyme scheme.
Submerged Sonnet: these are sonnets that occur within other poetic works; this is easier to do than you might think, considering sonnets are short stylistically.
Stretched Sonnet: this is simply a sonnet that has been extended to 16 lines or more – remember to keep track of your rhyme scheme when you write these!
Common Sonnet Topics: love, jealousy, faith, infidelity, beauty, death, and the passage of time. Things you have to think deeply about, but that everyone experiences differently.
Monologue
Through your Shakespearean studies, no matter how vast or shallow they may have been, you likely have also come across the monologue. In fact, you may have had to memorize and perform one for your class. While more common in a theatrical speech, they are technically poetic, and must be included.
They follow no specific structure, but they are specifically a speech given by a single character, typically to express their thoughts or feelings alone, though they are sometimes directed at another character or even to the audience.
Common Monologue Topics: your deepest secrets, significant life moments, anger or frustrations, love or devotion, fears, venting about a particular person or event, making a difficult decision, talking to your therapist
Soliloquy
A soliloquy is nearly the same thing as a monologue, except the character is specifically alone on stage, and they’re specifically used to relay the character’s state of mind and intentions directly to the audience.
Common Soliloquy Topics: altered states of mind, such as a character in a drunken state, madness, or falling in love. This is also a great opportunity for things like mortality, faith, and existentialism. Any thought or feeling that could be controversial if said to another person could make for a great soliloquy.
Villanelle
Villanelles are 19-line poems with five tercets and one quatrain at the end, in which the first and third lines of the first stanza repeat alternately throughout the rest of the poem. Those two lines form the final couplet of the poem.
Common Villanelle Topics: large and complicated topics, such as love, death, loss, and challenges. Historically, obsession is the chosen topic for villanelles, or topics showing multiple perspectives or aspects, leaving the reader to decide how to feel about it, as the repeating nature of the poem allows for expansion of thought.
Sestina
Sestinas can be maddening, but they are such a beautiful form of poetry. It includes six sestets and concludes with one tercet. Where it gets complicated is its repetition; sestinas don’t repeat whole lines, only words. These words have to appear at the end of each line, but they will not appear at the end of the same line in each stanza. The final tercet also includes these words, but they include one word in the middle of each line, and one word at the end of each line. If you were to choose six words to write a sestina with, and they were labeled ABCDEF in the first stanza, your poem would map out like this:
ABCDEF
FAEBDC
CFDABE
ECBFAD
DEACFB
BDFECA
BE, DC, FA (the final tercet)
Common Sestina Topics: grief, loss, family, emotional isolation, reflection, anything melancholy. Historically, the origins of the sestina come from the troubadours, who wrote many about love as well. Interestingly, many people also write sestinas about sestinas, as they’re so difficult to write!
Pantoum
Similarly to the villanelle, pantoums use repeated lines. They’re written in quatrains, where the second and fourth line of each stanza become the first and third of the next. Most of the time, the first line of the poem also becomes the last line of the poem, and the third line of the poem is put into the second line of the last stanza. It sounds convoluted, but as soon as you map it out and insert your repeating lines in, you can build around it.
Common Pantoum Topics: anxiety, obsession or fixation, habits or routines, addictions, and explorations of time; because this poem style also uses repeated lines, topics that require you to repeat yourself make for great pantoums.
Ghazal
Ghazals consist of somewhere between five and fifteen couplets, where each couplet is structurally, thematically, and emotionally autonomous. There is no strict meter, but each line must be the same length. The first couplet introduces a rhyme followed by a refrain; the rest of the couplets only follow the scheme in the second line, repeating the refrain and rhyming the second line with both lines of the first stanza. The final couplet usually refers to the author in first or third person by name.
Common Ghazal Topics: love, longing, pain, and, historically, Sufism, which is a religious practice found within Islam that focuses on purification, spirituality, ritualism, and etc. You could also write about your own religion, or lack of one.
Allegory
Allegories are extended metaphors, spanning over the entire poem, in which the characters, places, objects, etc. included in the poem carry figurative meaning.
Common Allegory Topics: the meaning of life, morality, politics, folklore, religion, sociology, history, or really anything that could be represented metaphorically.
Ballad
You’ve likely heard of a ballad before, but it was probably used as a musical term as opposed to a poetic term; though they’re pretty much the same. While they originated as narrative songs that were passed down orally, they are now poems that include any number of quatrains with alternating three-stress and four-stress lines and either an ABAB or ABCB rhyme scheme.
There are also folk ballads, which are the same thing as a regular ballad, they just typically cover tragic, comic, or heroic themes and emphasize a central dramatic event.
Common Ballad Topics: love, religion, tragedy, crime, political propaganda, the supernatural, hero journeys.
Epic
Epic poems are typically difficult for beginners to identify, because they just seem like regular stories! They’re incredibly long (like book-length) poems that include a heroic protagonist participating in some mythically or historically significant undertaking. If you’ve ever taken an English class on The Hero’s Journey, you’ll be able to identify a few examples of epics with ease.
Common Epic Topics: hardship, courage in battle, returning home after a journey, war, honor, revenge, loyalty, myths, heroic legends, moral theories.
Burlesque
Burlesque poems don’t follow any specific structure, but their goal is to provide a satirical, mocking, or ironic account of something in a humorous way. Though the three forms are very similar, there are a few different ways to do this:
Parody: these are the most popular burlesque forms, and it is what it sounds like; in mimicking the particular style of a genre, specific work, or author, a parody burlesque poem will mock a subject, usually by exaggerating it somehow, in a way that makes it ironic and funny.
Mock-Heroic: these are usually a type of parody, but they deal specifically with epic poems; because epics are so formal and convoluted, mock-heroics will add humor by introducing insignificant subjects in a sophisticated style.
Travesty: the goal of a travesty is to ridicule its subject – it presents an exaggerated or rude representation of the subject and humorously mocks it.
Common Burlesque Topics: anything raunchy or anything that could be hilariously mocked. Common examples could include politics, traditional gender roles, or cliches.