Sonnets are poems with 14 lines that contain a specific rhyme scheme and meter. There are various types of rhyming schemes that can be used in sonnets, and typically sonnets have ten syllables per line.
The rhyming pattern of a sonnet is called its form. An ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG sonnet would have every-other line rhyming in the first three stanzas, then the final couplet rhyming. Browning’s “Sonnet Number 43” follows this form: ADDA ADDA CDECDE.
Haiku is a type of poetry that does not rhyme. This Japanese poetry form has three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second line, and five in the third.
Sometimes haiku poems translated from Japanese do not follow the 5-7-5 rule in English, but they still produce vivid images and make them worth studying.
Narrative and epic poems both tell a story. The famous “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is an example of these types of poems.
Its famous line: “Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference” has been the subject of much literary study over the years, but the full poem tells the story of a person’s choice at a fork in the road.
Blank verse is a type of poem without rhyming words but with a strong meter. The words flow well and feel verse-like, even though they don’t rhyme.
William Shakespeare was a master of blank verse. He wrote almost exclusively in a form called iambic pentameter. In this form, each line is ten syllables, with every other syllable emphasized.