There is a difference between form of poetries and genre. Where form defines a poem in way it has been arranged, its rhythm, or its appearance; genre is style of the poem. Poetry is a vast genre in itself which has various sub-genres. Poetic genre has history carved since ages and new piece of work tries to redefine the genre in some or the other way.
The various types of poetic genres are detailed below:
1. Allegory: This type has two levels of meaning from which one is stated and another is unstated.
2. Aubade: This type generally greets the sunlight which explains that the night’s passion must come to an end.
3. Ballad: This is a broad type which is a folk poetry usually an orally transmitted narrative song.
4. Blason: This is a type which is a short description often of female body.
5. Cento: These are the lines entirely from other poems.
6. Dirge: A funeral song.
7. Dramatic Monologue: A long poem spoken by characters which uncovers the hidden desires and actions.
8. Eclogue: A small pastoral poem.
9. Ekphrasis: This is a type which describes any particular thing.
10. Elegy: This genre is vast which can be described as a description of some kind of loss. For instance death of a loved one.
11. Epic: A long narrative form which celebrated historic or heroic deeds.
12. Epigram: A brief observation about something.
13. Epitaph: A tombstone inscription.
As explained earlier, the poetic genre is vast and has around 35 sub-genres. However, the great philosopher Aristotle once stated that poetry can be divided into three sun-genres – comedy, tragedy and epic. However, today’s poetry has three major forms – lyric, narrative and dramatic. Each one of these forms can be divided into several types which is based upon style, rhyme scheme and rhythm.
Lyric: Lyric is focused on focused on emotional touch maybe a thought or an emotion. Its sub-divisions include elegy, ode and sonnet. The popular work of lyric poems include works of Sappho, Go Lovely Rose, and many sonnets by William Shakespeare.
Narrative: This type includes story telling which has subdivisions – epic, and ballad. The story type in this form is narrative and it has unfolded itself into something beautiful since it was first seen. Popular works of narratives include The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Divine Comedy by Dante, Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, The Rape of Lucrece by Shakespeare and The Rape of Lock by Alexander Pope.
Dramatic: Any drama which is written in a verse which is meant to be spoken, let it be a situation or a story to be portrayed. There are many sub-divisions of this type for instance – rhyme verse, dramatic monologues, closet drama. The poets who have their major contribution towards this type are Shakespeare, Ben Johnson and Christopher Marlowe.
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