Poetic forms · Year 9
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.