Top Ten Poetic Structures

The Top Ten
1 Freestyle

I guess this is my style for the time being...

A non-rhyming style with no guidelines.

2 Rhyming Freestyle

A rhyming style with no other guidelines.

3 Haiku

A Japanese structure consisting of three lines. The first and third have five syllables, and the middle one has seven.

4 Shakespearean Sonnet

Written in Iambic Pentameter with ten lines per stanza. Shakespeare used this structure in many of his plays.

5 Renga

Consists of alternating haiku and seven-syllable couplets. Often written as a collaboration.

6 Rhyming Couplets

Two lines that rhyme. They do not have to be the same number of syllables, but the rhythm has to be similar.

7 Couplets

Two lines with a similar rhythm.

8 Volta

Two lines that are different to the rest of the poem. They oppose the poem's previous viewpoint.

9 Stanza

A verse of poetic prose.

10 Enjambment

Continuing a sentence onto the next line. There is no punctuation at the end of the line.

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