…know about different types of poems

An epigram is a short, funny poem, such as:

I’m tired of love; I’m still more tired of rhyme
But money gives me pleasure all the time.
(Hilaire Belloc)

A clerihew has four lines with a strict rhyme (the first two lines rhyme and the last two do) but no set metre, and is usually about a famous person:

Harry Potter
Was a magical plotter.
At Hogwarts he became a master
After many a goof and disaster.

A haiku is a Japanese poem that has 17 syllables, arranged in three lines of 5, 7 and 5:

sweaty men in suits
using their bodies and feet
whistle in the cold
(M Amber Conrad)

A limerick is a funny poem made up of five lines: lines 3 and 4 are shorter than the others, and have a different rhyme; lines 1, 2 and 5 have the same rhythm and rhyme:

There was a footballer from Crewe
Who said ‘Aha! I see what to do!
When the ball comes my way
I just shout “Way-hey”
And knock it in with the side of my shoe!’

Some poems can be lyrical, which means they express the poet’s feelings:

• a sonnet has 14 lines, with a clear metre and rhyme pattern
• an ode is usually addressed to a person or thing
• an elegy is written for someone who has died

Narrative poems tell a story:

• a ballad often has a repeated chorus
• an epic is a very long poem telling the story of a hero or heroine. The film Beowulf was based on a famous epic poem

Longer poems are broken up into stanzas, which are lines grouped together (like the verses of a song).