poetry: verse forms
poetry: verse forms
ballad noun [countable] a short story in the form of a poem or song:
• He stood up and recited an old Irish ballad.
blank verse noun [uncountable] technical poetry that has a fixed rhythm but does not rhyme:
• Blank verse is harder to memorize because it has no rhymes.
couplet noun [countable] technical two lines of poetry, one following the other, that are the same length:
• a rhyming couplet
elegy noun [countable] a sad poem or song, especially about someone who has died:
• The best-known elegy in the English language is Gray's "Elegy written in a Country Churchyard".
epic noun [countable] a poem, book, or film that tells a long story about brave actions and exciting events:
• 'The Mahabharata' is probably the best-known Indian epic.
free verse noun [uncountable] technical poetry that does not have a fixed structure and does not rhyme:
• This poem, written in free verse, was one of the first in which Apollinaire eliminated punctuation.
limerick noun [countable] a humorous short poem that has five lines. The first two and the fifth lines rhyme with each other, and the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other.
lyric poetry noun [uncountable] technical poetry that expresses strong personal emotions such as love, in a way that is similar to music in its sounds and rhythm
ode noun [countable] a poem or song written in order to praise a person or thing:
• Schiller's 'Ode to Joy' was used by Beethoven in his ninth symphony.
sonnet noun [countable] technical a poem with 14 lines which rhyme with each other in a fixed pattern:
• She was writing an essay on Shakespeare's Sonnets