Love Poetry Resources

Some tips on a few different poem types, courtesy of Sonya!!

Writing a Villanelle:

• 5 Tercets (Stanzas with three lines)
• 1 ending Quatrain
• First and third lines of the poem are repeated in later stanzas in this pattern:

Line 1           Line 4                      Line 6            Line 8              Line 10         Line 12

Line 2           Line 5                      Line 7            Line 9              Line 11         Line 13

Line 3           Line 1 (repeated)   (Line 3)        (Line 1)           (Line 3)        (Line 1)

                                                                                                                                 (Line 3)

Villanelle Examples:

Sylvia Plath, “Mad Girl’s Love Song:” https://allpoetry.com/Mad-Girl’s-Love-Song

Elizabeth Bishop, “One Art:”  

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47536

 

Writing a Sonnet:

• Shakespearean:
  • 14 Lines: 3 Quatrains, 1 ending couplet
  • Rhyme Scheme– abab cdcd efef gg
• Petrarchan:
  • 14 Lines: 1 Octave, 1 Sestet
  • Rhyme Scheme– abbaabba cdecde

Sonnet Examples:

William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 18:”    

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45087

Rita Dove, “Hades’ Pitch:” https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/hades-pitch

 

Writing an “Unconventional Poem:”

• Anything goes!
• Experiment with the look of the words on the page
  • Experimenting with sound and rhythm through visuals
  • Break grammar conventions to produce a particular effect

“Unconventional” Examples (only one because I got lazy)

1. e. cummings, “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]:”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/detail/49493