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The style of a poem refers to the choices made by the poet to add meaning to the poem. It can include the length of the poem, the rhythm, the choice of words or the form of the poem. The form of a poem deals with how the poem is written, the structure or in short how it looks on the page for the readers to look at.
Sonnet:
A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes.
The poem "On the Grasshopper and Cricket" by John Keats can be termed as a Petrarchan Sonnet. The poem is structurally similar to a sonnet because it has 14 lines. It can be divided into an octet and a sestet. It is written in iambic pentameter.
The first half of the octet deals with imagery of a summer, while the second half deals with the grasshopper. Similarly, the first half of the sestet deals with winter imagery, while the second half deals with cricket.
| Octet: Grasshopper | Sestet: Cricket |
| Active in the summer | Active in the winter |
| Active in the day time | Active in the evening |
| Pleasant and active mood | Dismal and melancholy mood |
| Lively environment created by the words ‘delights’ and ‘fun’ | Slow and peaceful environment created by ‘silence’ and ‘drowsiness’ |
Example:
The following poem is a sonnet titled The World is too Much With Us by William Wordsworth:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathéd horn.
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathéd horn.
Some of the other common forms in poetry are:
1. Couplet - A poem which has two lines or stanzas with two lines each.
Example:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
~"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" by Shakespeare.
2. Tercet - A poem that has three lines or a poem having stanzas with three lines each. All Haikus are examples of tercets. A haiku is a Japanese poem usually on Nature, which has only three lines in it.
Example:
“An old silent pond…
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.”
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.”
~"The Old Pond" by Matsuo Bashu.
3. Quatrain - A Quatrain is a stanza in a poem that has exactly four lines. Some quatrains comprise entire poems, while others are part of a larger structure. Quatrains usually use some form of rhyme scheme, especially the following forms: AAAA, AABB, ABAB, and ABBA.
Example:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
~"Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening" by Robert Frost.
4. Quintain - A poem that has five lines or a poem that has every stanza with five lines each.
Example:
In the golden lightning.
Of the sunken sun,
O'er which clouds are bright'ning,
Thou dost float and run,
Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun
O'er which clouds are bright'ning,
Thou dost float and run,
Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun
~ "Ode to a Skylark," by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
5. Sestet - A poem that has six lines in it altogether or a stanza having six lines in a poem. The last six lines of a poem is also counted as a sestet.
Example:
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
~"Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe.
6. Septet - A Septet is a poem consisting of seven lines, and of any form or meter. It falls in-between the two ingredients of a sonnet, the octave and the sestet, and although a popular form for a short while has lost favour.
Example:
The wind, the rain, the snow and sunshine
Have all kissed the garden I call mine
I swear I hear the roses whispers
Since they and I have become sisters
I greet all that grows each day with love
I tend to each with worn gardening gloves
Autumn's tapestry makes it divine
Have all kissed the garden I call mine
I swear I hear the roses whispers
Since they and I have become sisters
I greet all that grows each day with love
I tend to each with worn gardening gloves
Autumn's tapestry makes it divine
~"Sanctuary" by Lorainne Dafney.
7. Octet - An octave is a verse form consisting of eight lines of iambic pentameter. The most common rhyme scheme for an octave is ABBA ABBA.
Example:
Birds are flyin' south for winter.
Here's the wierd-Bird headin' north.
Wings a-flappin', beak a-chatterin'.
Cold head bobbin' baek 'n' forth.
He says, "It's not that I like ice
Or freezin' winds and snowy ground.
It's just sometimes it's kind of nice
To be the only bird in town.
Here's the wierd-Bird headin' north.
Wings a-flappin', beak a-chatterin'.
Cold head bobbin' baek 'n' forth.
He says, "It's not that I like ice
Or freezin' winds and snowy ground.
It's just sometimes it's kind of nice
To be the only bird in town.
~"Weird-Bird" by Shel Silverstein.
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