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ELEMENTS OF POETRY CONTINUED >         Share |   Poetic Forms There are a number of common poetic forms. People who are familiar with poetry can usually tell what the form of a poem is when they first look at it. The form tells the reader what to expect from the poem, and the person who writes the poem can "play" with the form in interesting ways Ballad - A story told in verse. It tells about a dramatic event, without much detail or setting. Action is very important in a ballad Haiku - a short poem with seventeen syllables, usually written in three lines with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. It must refer to something in nature or use a "season word.The present tense is used, the subject is one thing happening now, and words are not repeated. It does not rhyme Cinquain A five-line poem with two syllables in the first line, four in the second, six in the third, eight in the fourth, and two in the fifth. It expresses one image or thought, in one or possibly two sentences Villanelle A 19-line poem with five tercets and one quatrain at the end. Two of the lines are repeated alternately at the ends of the tercets, and finish off the poem: the first line and the third line of the first tercet. Although it sounds very complicated, it's like a song or a dance and easy to see once you've looked at a villanelle. Right now this is my favorite poetic form. One of the best-known villanelles is Dylan Thomas' poem for his dying father, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Limerick A five-line poem, usually meant to be funny. The rhythm is anapests. Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme with one another, and lines 3 and 4 rhyme with one another. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have three feet, lines 3 and 4 have two feet. Sonnet - There are different types of sonnet. The most familiar to us is made of three quatrains and ends with a couplet. They tend to be complicated and elegant. William Shakespeare wrote the most well-known sonnets . Free verse (or open form) - Much modern poetry does not obviously rhyme and doesn't have a set meter. However, sound and rhythm are often still important, and it is still often written in short lines for a good reason. A line can be like a musical phrase or a single breath Concrete poetry (pattern or shape poetry) is a picture poem, in which the visual shape of the poem contributes to its meaning.   Concrete Poetry   Understanding and    appreciating poetry When you read a poem you look for the following 1.The theme of the poem. This  express or conveys the main idea of the poem 2.The intention of the poet-This conveys the reason or what message  the poet   wishes to show the reader. 3.The mood and feeling of the poem. This is the feeling the poem conveys It addresses how one feels when reading, sadness, disgust, excitement joy, longing or anger. 4.Imagery are words the writer uses to create a mental pictures in the mind. Imagery help us to see vividly or clearly. imagery of sight , sound ,smell and touch, may be created 5.Figurative language. Many poets use images figuratively they compare the things they describe with something else. In doing so the  descriptions becomes vivid and meaningful to the reader Poets use figurative speech like the simile, or metaphor to make the description more vivid. 6.The simile this is a form of writing  in which one thing is compared with another. Example To the dwarf the giant seemed as tall as a mountain. Here giant and mountain  are compared because of the height of the giant. 7.The metaphor is a figure of speech which takes the comparison further  by saying one thing is another by giving qualities  of one thing to another thing which is totally different. Example the night rushed on at horse