C H A P T E R 35 P Types of Poems Poetry POETRY SHARES many of the same elements as fiction, but poetry is a unique genre with its own styles and conventions. This chapter explains what makes poems different from stories and how to read and understand poems. o et ry is often easy to recognize but not as easy to define. Poems are usually short, and often rhyme, but not always. The beauty (and, for many, the difficulty) of poetry is its brevity. The writer has to convey an idea or emotion in a very short space. Because there are so few words. | CHAPTER 35 Poetry POETRY SHARES many of the same elements as fiction but poetry is a unique genre with its own styles and conventions. This chapter explains what makes poems different from stories and how to read and understand poems. Poetry is often easy to recognize but not as easy to define. Poems are usually short and often rhyme but not always. The beauty and for many the difficulty of poetry is its brevity. The writer has to convey an idea or emotion in a very short space. Because there are so few words in a poem every word counts and poems are often layered with meaning. That s where a poem gets its power. One fundamental difference between poetry and prose is structure. Poems of course are written in verse. They are meant to be heard as well as read. The meaning in a poem comes not just from the words but also from how the words sound and how they are arranged on the page. Types of Poems While poems are often categorized by structure . sonnets or ballads a more fundamental way to classify poems is by their general purpose. Poems can be emotive imagistic narrative and argumentative. They can also mourn or celebrate. An emotive poem has as its goal to capture a mood or emotion and to make readers feel that mood or emotion. On the next page is an untitled poem by the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. 327 POETRY I have loved you even now I may confess Some embers of my love their fire retain but do not let it cause you more distress I do not want to sadden you again. Hopeless and tonguetied yet I loved you dearly With pangs the jealous and the timid know So tenderly I loved you so sincerely I pray God grant another love you so. An imagistic poem aims to capture a moment and help us experience that moment sensually through our senses . Here is a powerful two-line imagistic poem by Ezra Pound In a Station of the Metro The apparition of these faces in the crowd Petals on a wet black bough. Narrative poems tell stories while argumentative poems explore an idea .
