Poetry

Picture of a poet

Wednesday 8 October 2008

Ever wanted to write poetry? n2k checks out different types of poetry from rap lyrics to limericks.

What is poetry?

Poetry is simply some written words that are written in meters or verse. Usually poetry uses a variety of techniques including metaphors, similes and onomatopoeia.

Structure of Poetry

The structure used in poems varies with different types of poetry. Some basic elements of poetry include:

Meters – these are the patterns in the verse of poetry that give it its rhythm.
Rhythm is often achieved by using the same number of syllables in different lines. But the way the poem is read can also define the rhythm of a poem.
Lines of poems are often organized into stanzas or poetic paragraphs.
Rhyme, alliteration, assonance and consonance are ways of creating repetitive patterns of sound.

Types of poetry

There are many different types of poetry but here’s a few you may have heard of:-

Limericks

Limericks are short, funny and sometimes slightly rude 5 line poems. The first, second and fifth lines of a limerick have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another. The third and fourth lines have five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other.

Slam

Slam poetry is a form of spoken word performance poetry, held at a competitive poetry event or ‘slam’. Poets perform their own work and are judged by audience members chosen at random, who vote their favourites by giving them a score. Read the n2k article about slam poetry and find out how you can get involved!

Rap

Rap is a genre all to itself. The art came from parties thrown in the Bronx in New York in the 70s where MCs would get up on stage with the DJ and shout encouragements to the crowd – this was known as 'toasting'.

Over time, those shouts of encouragement became longer and more complex and cross-pollenated with the spoken-word poetry scene to evolve into rap. It's believed that the first rapper to actually call himself an MC was Melle Mel from Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five. He is also credited as being the first hip hop MC to rap in a traditional verse/chorus format.

Hip hop heads – did you know?

Tupac Shakur was an avid poetry writer and there’s even a university in America where you can study his poetry! A 200 page book, containing his handwritten verses has even been published. The book is called ‘The Rose That Grew From Concrete’, which is also the name of a poem that Tupac did.

The Rose That Grew From Concrete

Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else even cared.