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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.
The poem "No Men are Foreign" by James Kirkup can be termed as a Quatrain. A quatrain is a form of poetry, which comprises of four lines. In the poem, there are five stanzas. All the five stanzas are quatrains, since it has only four lines in each of them. The word quatrain is taken from the French word 'quatre' which means four in the language. The shortness of each stanza makes it easy for people to memorize them and remember the subject matter. This was useful in the earlier days for oral storytelling and recitations.
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.
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. 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.
4. 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.
5. Sonnet - A Sonnet is the most commonly used form of poetry. It is a poem with fourteen lines carrying the themes of love, war and religion.
Example:
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.
~"The World is too Much With Us" by William Wordsworth.
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