Kinds of poems, with examples

Poems come in many shapes. Some have strict rules about lines and rhyme, and others have none. Knowing the common kinds helps in English and Hindi examinations, and gives you patterns to try in your own writing. Every example on this page was written by us for this page, unless a poet is named.

Kinds of poems in English

Kind	What it is	See an example
Couplet	Two lines that rhyme and make a complete thought	Below
Quatrain	A stanza of four lines, usually rhymed. The commonest building block of poems	Most poems on our family page
Nursery rhyme	A short rhyme for small children, with a strong beat	New rhymes, classics
Limerick	A funny poem of five lines, rhyming AABBA	Below
Haiku	A three line poem from Japan about a moment in nature, traditionally of 5, 7 and 5 syllables	Below
Acrostic	The first letters of the lines spell a word	Below
Sonnet	A poem of fourteen lines with a set rhyme pattern	Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 and Shelley's Ozymandias on our English classics page
Lyric	A short poem expressing the poet's own feeling	Wordsworth's Daffodils
Ballad	A poem that tells a story, often in four line stanzas, meant to be sung or recited	Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Ode	A serious poem addressed to a person or thing, in praise of it	Shelley's Ode to the West Wind
Elegy	A poem of mourning for someone who has died	Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Free verse	A poem with no fixed rhyme or regular beat	Much modern poetry

Examples you can copy the shape of

Couplet

The kettle sings, the cups are two. The best of days begin with you.

Limerick

Lines one, two and five are longer and rhyme with each other. Lines three and four are shorter and rhyme with each other. The last line delivers the joke.

A sleepy young student named Raj Kept all of his books in the garage. When asked, "Did you read?" He said, "No, there's no need: I learn while the car's on recharge."

Haiku

Three lines, one moment, no rhyme. Count the syllables on your fingers: five, seven, five.

First rain on dry earth. The whole lane opens windows to breathe in the smell.

Acrostic

Makes the tea before I wake, Asks me twice if I have eaten, Answers every call I make.

The first letters spell MAA. An acrostic of a person's name makes a good birthday card.

Rhyme scheme: how to write it down

To describe the rhyme pattern of a stanza, give each new end sound a letter. Lines that rhyme share a letter. A four line stanza in which the second and fourth lines rhyme is ABCB. If lines one and two rhyme, and lines three and four rhyme, it is AABB. If they rhyme alternately, it is ABAB. Examiners often ask for the rhyme scheme of a given stanza, and this is all there is to it.

Words used when talking about poems

Stanza: a group of lines set apart, like a paragraph in prose.
Refrain: a line or phrase repeated through the poem.
Simile: a comparison using "like" or "as": "the moon is like a chapati".
Metaphor: a comparison without "like" or "as": "the classroom was a beehive".
Personification: giving human qualities to a thing: "the wind whispered".
Alliteration: the same starting sound repeated: "five fat samosas".
Imagery: words that make a picture in the mind.

Kinds of poems in Hindi and Urdu

Kind	What it is
दोहा (Doha)	A two line verse, each line in two parts of 13 and 11 matras, with the rhyme at the end of the lines. The form of Kabir, Rahim and Tulsidas.
चौपाई (Chaupai)	A verse of four parts with 16 matras in each. Much of the Ramcharitmanas is in chaupais.
ग़ज़ल (Ghazal)	A poem made of couplets called sher. Each couplet is complete in itself, and all share a rhyme and usually a repeated word or phrase.
शेर (Sher)	One couplet of a ghazal, often quoted on its own.
गीत (Geet)	A song lyric with a refrain, meant to be sung.
मुक्तक (Muktak)	A short, complete verse of four lines, popular at kavi sammelans.
बाल कविता (Bal kavita)	A poem for children, with simple words and a strong beat.
मुक्त छंद (Free verse)	Poetry without fixed metre or rhyme.

Famous couplets of Ghalib and other Urdu poets, with the meanings of the difficult words, are on our sister site at Quotes: Urdu and Hindi poets.

Punjabi folk forms

Punjabi has its own much loved short forms. A boli is a short folk verse sung in giddha and bhangra, ending on a line the whole group shouts together. A tappa is a quick three line verse, often sung in turns at weddings. Mahiya is a song of love and longing built from such verses. Traditional and new boliyan are on our sister site, Boliyan.

Which kind should you write?

For a card, a couplet or one quatrain. For the school magazine, three quatrains or a list poem. For fun with friends, a limerick. For a quiet moment, a haiku. Start with the method in How to write a poem, and choose the shape after you know what you want to say.