In the following article we will try to answer a series of basic questions about poetry , such as what is a poem, what types of poems exist and how we can identify them. Through this extensive summary, we will know how to distinguish the work of great poets and elaborate an analysis of each of their poems. Pay attention.
- Also discover what are the types of text that exist.
INDEX
1. What is a poem
? 2. How are poems classified?
3. Types of poems according to their structure.
4. Types of poem according to the theme. What is a poem
At first glance, almost everyone could identify a poem. It is that text composed of verses that has a certain musicality, unlike prose, which is not subject to the cadence of the verse. A more accurate definition of a poem would be the following:
“Literary composition that expresses beauty through the word, subject to the measure and cadence of the verse.”
Although there are very long poems, this composition is usually short. In the same way, each author and poet can have their own style, a way of expressing beauty or feelings through verses. As for the structure, the minimum unit is the verse , a set of verses forms a stanza and the set of stanzas composes the poem. How poems are classified
Once the definition of poem is covered, we will try to identify the different types that exist in poetry. In the first place, it should be noted that in modern literature the poems are freer . This means that current poets are not so attached to the forms and syllables that are supposed to compose a poem, but rather try to be as expressive as possible.
Even so, sometimes it is convenient to make an analysis of the type of poem, and we can establish a classification through the following factors.
- The number of lines in each stanza.
- The number of syllables in each line.
- El type of rhyme (consonant or consonant).
- The harmony of each verse.
- The metric or combination of lines in each stanza.
Some preliminary clarifications
Now we will explain in a simple way the main difference between assonance and consonance rhyme . In assonance rhyme, only the vowels coincide from the last stressed syllable of each line (open and cut). In the consonant, all the sounds coincide from the last stressed syllable (living and extending).
On the other hand, at some point in the explanation we will talk about minor art and major art . It’s very simple: minor art verses have 8 or fewer syllables and are expressed in lowercase (abc), while major art verses have more than eight syllables and are expressed in uppercase (ABC). Types of poem according to the structure
Let’s go with the first classification, the one that has to do with the structure of the verses and stanzas. 1. Couplet
Composition of 2 verses of major or minor art. Usually the rhyme is consonant.
Spring has come.
Nobody knows how it was.
(Antonio Machado) 2. Terceto
Composition of 3 verses of major art. The first and last are usually rhyming, while the second is free.
There is no extension greater than my wound,
I cry my misfortune and its sets
and I feel more your death than my life.
(Miguel Hernandez) 3. Quartet
Each stanza is composed of 4 verses of minor art.
No one lowers to tears or reproach
this declaration of the mastery
of God, who with magnificent irony
gave me both the books and the night.
(Jorge Luis Borges) 4. Lira
The lira is a somewhat more complex composition, since it is a stanza composed of lines of 7 and 11 syllables with rhyme.
If the sound of my lira
could so low that in a moment
the wrath
of the spirited wind
and the fury of the sea and movement would placate…
(Garcilaso de la Vega) 5. Romance
Romance is made up of 8-syllable verses with assonance rhyme. As a general rule, the odd verses are loose.
Green I love you green
green wind. Green branches.
The boat over the sea
And the horse on the mountain.
With the shadow at her waist
she sounds at her railing,
green flesh, green hair,
with eyes of cold silver.
Green I love you green
under the gypsy silver,
things are looking at her
and they can’t look at them.
(Federico Garcia Lorca) 6. Tenth
This is a stanza of 10 lines of minor art. The rhyme has the following structure: abbaaccddc.
I dream that I am here from
these prisons loaded down,
and I dreamed that
I saw myself in a more flattering state.
What is life
? A frenzy.
What is life
An illusion,
a shadow, a fiction,
and the greatest good is small;
that all life is a dream
and dreams are dreams.
(Calderon de la Barca) 7. Copla de arte mayor
In the copla de arte mayor, we find verses of 12 syllables with consonant rhyme. It follows the following structure: ABBAACCA.
This is how the pious matron lamented the
beloved son whom you saw dead,
making a sad face on him,
according to the one the lioness gives birth to;
Well, where could the person think of
the damage caused by the sad demand
of discord in the kingdom that walks,
where he does not win any crown.
(Juan de Mena) 8. Real eighth
Unlike the copla de arte mayor, the octave real is made up of stanzas of 8 lines and arte mayor. The rhyme is consonant.
The firmament duplicated in flowers
is seen in fragrant constellations;
neither mustias grow old with heat,
nor expire with rigorous snow;
nature admires in the work;
With respect the air walks among the roses:
it only touches them, meek, the wind
enough to steal their breath.
(Quevedo) 9. Sonnet
A sonnet is a poem composed of 14 lines of major art, two quatrains and two triplets.
I know what to see and hear when a sad man gets angry
when he comes and goes from joy
like a meridian sea to a bay,
to an elusive and desolate region.
What I have suffered and nothing everything is nothing
for what I still
have to suffer, the rigor of this agony
of going from this knife to that sword.
I will shut up, I will move away if I can
with my constant pain, instant, full,
where you will neither hear me nor see you.
I’m leaving, I’m leaving, I’m leaving, but I’m staying,
but I’m leaving, deserted and without sand:
goodbye, love, goodbye, until death.
(Miguel Hernandez) 10. Acrostic
This type of poem is really curious. If we look at the first letter of each verse, we will see that they make up a word.
At dawn I told you
My sweet princess of the
Brilliant eyes, that my feeling is
Real as real are your blue eyes 11. Calligram
The calligram is nothing more than a poem expressed through an image, which is related to the theme of the poem.
Pablo Neruda calligram. | Assigned 12. Haiku
Very popular today. Haiku are poems of oriental origin composed of three lines that do not have to rhyme. They are 5, 7 and 5 syllables.
Cheer up snail
slowly climbing
Mount Fuji.
- You can read more haikus here.
Types of poem according to the theme
Let us now with the second classification, which has to do with the main theme of the poem. 13. Ode
This is a poetic song focused on a specific topic. Some define it as praise.
Within you your age
growing,
within me my age
walking.
Time is decided,
its bell does not ring,
it grows, it walks,
inside us, it
appears
like deep water
in our eyes
and next to the
burned chestnuts of your eyes
a blade, the footprint
of a tiny river,
a dry little star
ascending to your mouth.
(Ode to the time of Pablo Neruda) 14. Eclogue
An eclogue is related to the rural world and is about love.
Albanio:
In the middle of winter
the fresh water from this clear source is warm,
and in the summer more than frozen snow.
Oh beauty on the human being,
oh
clear eyes, oh golden hair,
oh ivory neck
,
oh white hand! treasure
(Garcilaso de la Vega) 15. Elegy
An elegy is a poem that expresses deep sorrow for the death of a loved one.
Hug me, my love,
the fruit of love has died;
hug me, the desire is covered
in furrow of pain.
On the bone of that lost good,
which went full speed ahead,
the cradle will roll of the well-born,
of the one to come.
Trade in singing the woes of your tears,
death will sleep;
rhymes in dirge your tenacious brokenness,
life will return.
(Miguel de Unamuno) 16. Epigram
A short poem that expresses an idea. The tone is usually satirical or festive.
In an old inefficient country,
something like Spain between two
civil wars, in a town by the sea,
owning a house and little property
and no memory. Don’t read,
don’t suffer, don’t write, don’t pay bills,
and live like a ruined nobleman
among the ruins of my intelligence
(Jaime Gil de Biedma)
- You can continue reading short poems here.
Bibliographic references
Dominguez Caparros, J. (2010). Metric and poetic. Basis for the foundation of metrics in modern literary theory.
