Poetic Forms Lists

We presently have five hundred “forms” listed. Some of them are true forms, such as the sonnet. Some are just terms for the poet’s lexicon. You can access the forms through the menus below. We still have several other forms in the database to add. This is a long-term process and project, so expect to see change and new additions regularly.

As we are converting over to this new format with forms divided across several pages, the reader might run into a link that has yet to be updated. Please pardon us during our transition period.

If you would like to help us out by providing other form definitions or see a problem with an existing page or definition, please e-mail new forms and corrections to: forms@poetryrenewal.com.

Thank you!

Main Menu	Consolidated List of Poetic Forms and Terms
Origins	Poetic Forms and Terms by Origin
Appendages	Not usually used for an entire poem, but often used at the end of a poem or stanza of another construction.
End Word Requirement	The form dictates that line-ending words will repeat in a specific pattern.
Generative Method	This is a method for creating a poem. The poem so generated does not have to make sense.
Isosyllabic	All lines are the same length in poems of this form.
Line	Commonly used basic poetic building blocks
Method of Measurement	Ways of determining meter in a poem. Way of counting and measuring.
Metrical Requirement	The form requires meter or has specific metrical requirements.
Other Requirement	The form has some structural requirement specific to it, such as the first line of the Teddy Poem.
Pivot Requirement	Has a volta, pivot, or change of thought.
Poetic Device	Tricks of the trade
Repetitive Requirement	The form dictates some form of repetition.
Rhyme Scheme Requirement	The form either dictates a specific rhyme scheme or has a more flexible requirement that dictates that there be rhyme.
Rhythm	Patterns of stressed and unstressed (or long and short) syllables.
Simple	Forms that are complete poems as one stanza.
Stanzaic	Form can be repeated indefinitely as a multiple section poem.
Structure	Form that dictates the shape of a poem through requirements for rhyme, repetition, metrical components, and so forth
Style	Forms that describe moods rather than affecting structure.
Subgenre	Large classes that subdivide poetry
Subject	Forms that restrict the topic of the poem
Term	General poetic nomenclature
Word Poem	The focus of these poems is not sentences, but the interplay of indivdual words.