Overview
Some of the major types of poetry include narrative poetry, lyric poetry, and prose poetry. Narrative poetry tells a story, while lyric poetry creates a mood. Prose poetry also expresses heightened mood in brief capsules.
Why Poetry?
Poetry uses the sounds and qualities of language to express feeling. Some of the most obvious qualities of language, like music, involve meter and rhythm. Some syllables in a line are stressed, while others are unstressed. For example, Shakespeare used a classic form of rhythm called iambic pentameter, such as in the famous line “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Various forms of rhyme can be used, but a poem does not have to rhyme.
Narrative Poetry
Narrative poetry tells a story. It may be an epic adventure such as the Iliad or the Odyssey, or a ballad on a smaller scale. Much narrative poetry developed from cultures with an oral tradition, as it was easier to pass on stories through recitation, such as the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Ballads are as diverse as “Casey at the Bat,” “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” and “The Raven.”
Lyric Poetry
In contrast to narrative poetry, lyric poetry creates a mood or captures emotion. Telling a story is not the primary focus of a lyric poem, even though bits of stories may be contained in one. Poets such as Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth described the beauty of nature and the feelings of the moment. Lyric poems are often much shorter than narrative poems, condensing language to depict moments of time rather than broad eras. Many lyric poems are written in forms such as the sonnet and its variations, although contemporary lyric poetry is often written in free verse, which does not rhyme.
Prose Poetry
Prose poetry departs even further from strict forms, since its structure does not depend upon scanned lines or rhymes. Short paragraphs stand on their own, similar to very short stories. While lyric and narrative forms of poetry existed in ancient times and cultures, prose poetry is more recent.
Interested in English tutoring services? Learn more about how we are assisting thousands of students each academic year.
SchoolTutoring Academy is the premier educational services company for K-12 and college students. We offer tutoring programs for students in K-12, AP classes, and college. To learn more about how we help parents and students in Washington, DC: visit: Tutoring in Washington, DC
