Poetic forms

Poems come in forms, each with its own rules about lines, syllables and rhyme. Knowing the form helps you read a poem and write your own. All the poems here were written for Calcali.

Key facts

• A haiku has three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables, often about nature: ⟦Morning mist rises / a heron waits by the pond / still as a grey stone⟧.
• A limerick is a funny five-line poem that rhymes AABBA. An acrostic spells a word with the first letters of its lines.
• A couplet is two lines that rhyme. A cinquain has five lines of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 2 syllables.
• A ballad tells a story in four-line verses, often with rhyme and a repeated chorus. A sonnet has fourteen lines and is often about love.
• Free verse has no regular rhyme or rhythm: the poet chooses where each line breaks.

Worked examples