POETRY

Cacophony is a technique which was used by the famous poet and author Lewis Carroll. Lewis Carroll makes use of cacophony in the poem 'Jabberwocky' by using an unpleasant spoken sound created by clashing consonants. The word cacophony originates from the Greek word meaning "bad sound". The term in poetry refers to the use of words that combine sharp, harsh, hissing, or unmelodious sounds.

Example of Cacophony - Excerpt

Jabberwocky
by
Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Ballad Poems are poems that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. A ballad is often about love and often sung. A ballad is a story in poetic form. A collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, were collected by Francis James Child in the late 19th century - an example is shown below.

Example of Ballad Poems - Excerpt

The Mermaid
by
Unknown author

Oh the ocean waves may roll,
And the stormy winds may blow,
While we poor sailors go skipping aloft
And the land lubbers lay down below, below, below
And the land lubbers lay down below.

Ballad Poems are poems that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. A ballad is often about love and often sung. A ballad is a story in poetic form. A collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, were collected by Francis James Child in the late 19th century - an example is shown below.

Example of Ballad Poems - Excerpt

The Mermaid
by
Unknown author

Oh the ocean waves may roll,
And the stormy winds may blow,
While we poor sailors go skipping aloft
And the land lubbers lay down below, below, below
And the land lubbers lay down below.

Odes are long poems which are serious in nature and written to a set structure. John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and "Ode To A Nightingale" are probably the most famous examples of this type of poem.

Example of an Ode - Excerpt

Ode To A Nightingale
by
John Keats

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:

ODE TO THE WEST WIND IS A PERSONAL FAVOURITE WHICH I READ WHEN I WAS IN MY 10th GRADE

An Epitaph is a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written in praise, or reflecting the life, of a deceased person.

Example of a Humorous Epitaph !

I was born
Then I wed
Nagging Wife
Now I'm dead!

An Epitaph is a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written in praise, or reflecting the life, of a deceased person.

Example of a Humorous Epitaph !

I was born
Then I wed
Nagging Wife
Now I'm dead!

Blank Verse is Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse is often unobtrusive and the iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of ordinary speech. William Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse.

Example of Blank Verse

Excerpt from Macbeth
by
William Shakespeare

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.