TEACHING POETIC FORMS


In teaching poetry to freshmen and sophomores, it is helpful to have them experience the writing of different styles of poetry in order to appreciate the work of a poet. There are a number of different traditional forms of poetry for students to experiment with.

JAPANESE POETRY There are two common forms of Japanese poetry: the haiku, the cinquain, and the tanka. Most of the examples of these that are written by Japanese poets focus on nature as their topic.

HAIKU - The haiku has only 3 lines that contain a total of 17 syllables. Line 1 has 5 syllables (not words), line 2 has 7 syllables (not words), and line 3 has 5 syllables (not words). I emphasize the fact that each line is made up of syllables because many students have no idea how to count syllables and may need to be instructed on identifying syllables.

CINQUAIN - The Japanese cinquain contains 22 syllables divided among 5 lines. Line 1 and 5 have 2 syllables, line 2 has 4 syllables, line 3 has 6 syllables, and line 4 has 8 syllables.

TANKA - The tanka has 5 lines that contain a total of 31 syllables. Line 1 contains 5 syllables; line 2 contains 7 syllables; line 3 contains 5 syllables; and lines 4 and 5 each contain 7 syllables. Again, make sure the students are working with syllables, not just words.

Another poetic form that has a specific syllable pattern is the LIMERICK. These poems are humorous in nature and contain only 5 lines. Specific lines need to rhyme as well. Line 1, 2, and 5 contain 7 syllables which need to rhyme with each other. Lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other and each contain 5 syllables.

You can also create your own traditional poetic format for the students to follow by identifying the stanza type, the rhyme scheme, and the type of meter and how many feet per line to use as well as how many stanzas the poem should contain. You can even require a specific theme or topic.

STANZA TYPES *COUPLET - contains 2 lines of verse with the last word in each line rhyming with the other.

*TERCET - contains 3 lines of verse that follow one of the following rhyme schemes: aaa; or aba, bcb, cdc, etc.

*QUATRAIN - contains 4 lines of verse per stanza and follows a consistent rhyme scheme. There are numerous patterns that can be used for the rhyme scheme.

The copyright of the article TEACHING POETIC FORMS in Teaching English Lit is owned by Rebecca Kojetin. Permission to republish TEACHING POETIC FORMS in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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