Poem: what is it, characteristics, structure and types (with examples)

A poem is a literary text composed of verses, which may or may not contain rhymes.

Thus, unlike prose, written in plain text, the poem is written in verses that are grouped into stanzas.

The main features of poems

The main elements that make up a poem are the verse, meter, stanza, rhyme and rhythm.

1. Verse and Metric

The verse is each line of a poem, and the meter represents the measurements of the verses used. Thus, the verses are classified according to the poetic syllables they present. Are they:

Monosyllable - verse with a poetic syllable
Disyllable - verse with two poetic syllables
Trisyllable - verse with three poetic syllables
Tetrasyllable - verse with four poetic syllables
Pentasyllable - verse with five poetic syllables
Hexasyllable - verse with six poetic syllables
Heptasyllable - verse with seven poetic syllables
Octosyllable - verse with eight poetic syllables
Eneasyllable - verse with nine poetic syllables
Decasyllable - verse with ten poetic syllables
Hendecasyllable - verse with eleven poetic syllables
Dodecasyllable - verse with twelve poetic syllables

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Types of verses

regular verses: also called isometric verses, are those that have the same measure.
free verses: also called heterometric verses, are those that have different measures, that is, they are irregular.
white verses: also called loose verses, they are those that do not have rhyme schemes, however, they may have meter (measure)

examples of poems

Sonnet of Fidelidade (Vinicius de Moraes) - poem with regular verses

Of everything, to my love I will be attentive
Before, and with such zeal, and always, and so much
That even in the face of the greatest charm
Of him my thoughts become more enchanted.
I want to live it in every moment
And in praise I will spread my song
And laugh my laugh and shed my tears
Your grief or your contentment.
And so, when you come to me later
Who knows the death, anguish of those who live
Who knows loneliness, end of those who love
I can tell myself about the love (that I had):
That it is not immortal, since it is flame
But let it be infinite while it lasts.

Esperança (Mario Quintana) - poem with free and blank verses

Right up there on the twelfth floor of the Year
Lives a madwoman called Hope
And she thinks when all the sirens
all horns
All reco-recoes play
throw yourself
AND
— O delicious flight!
She will be found miraculously unharmed on the sidewalk,
Again child...
And around her the people will ask:
"What's your name, little girl with green eyes?"
and she will tell you
(You have to tell them all over again!)
She will tell you very slowly so that you don't forget:
— My name is ES-PE-RAN-ÇA...

Learn more about the topic:

What is verse?
Versification
free verses

2. Stanza

Represents the set of verses and according to each grouping, the stanzas are classified into:

Monostico - one-verse stanza
Couplet - verse with two verses
Triplet - stanza with three verses
Quadra or Quartet - verse with four verses
Quintilha - verse with five verses
Sextille - six verse stanza
Septilla - seven verse stanza
Eighth - eight verse stanza
Ninth - stanza with nine verses
Ten - stanza with ten verses

Types of stanza

According to the meter of each verse, the stanza can be:

simple stanzas: poem composed of verses that have the same measure.
compound stanzas: poem that groups verses of different measures.
free stanzas: poem with grouping of verses without metric rigor.

3. rime

The rhymes are associated with the sound of poems and what happens with the sound approximation between words or expressions. However, there are poems that do not have rhymes and are called white verses.

Sample poem with rhyme

Love is fire that burns without being seen,
it's a wound that hurts and you don't feel it;
it's a discontented contentment,
it's pain that freaks out without hurting.
It is not wanting more than wanting;
it's a lonely walk among us;
it is never being content with content;
it is a care that wins from getting lost.
It's wanting to be trapped by will;
it is to serve the winner, the winner;
Have someone kill us, loyalty.
But how can your favor
in human hearts friendship,
If so contrary to itself is the same love

(Love is fire that burns without being seen, by Luiz Vaz de Camões)

Sample poem without rhyme

Dream of what you want to be,
because you only have one life
and in it you only have one chance
to do what you want.
Have enough happiness to make her sweet.
Difficulties in making her strong.
Sadness to make you human.
And hope enough to make her happy.
The happiest people do not have the best things.
They know how to make the best of opportunities
that appear in their paths.
Happiness appears to those who cry.
for those who get hurt
For those who seek and always try.
And for those who recognize
the importance of the people who have gone through their lives.

(The dream, by Clarice Lispector)

types of rhyme

Depending on the rhyming scheme used in the poem, they are classified into:

alternate rhymes: formed between even verses and odd verses.
opposite rhymes: are located between the first and fourth verse, and between the second and third verse.
paired rhymes: are between the first and second verse, and between the third and fourth verse.
internal rhymes: those that appear inside the verses.

4. Rhythm

Rhythm is related to the sound and musicality present in the poems. It is a very important element intentionally produced according to the words chosen by the writer.

Sample poem with rhythm

my death song,
Warriors, I heard:
I'm a child of the jungles,
In the jungles I grew up;
warriors coming down
From the Tupi tribe.
From the mighty tribe,
who is now wandering
Due to fickle fate,
Warriors, I was born:
I'm brave, I'm strong,
I am a child of the North;
my death song,
Warriors, I heard.

(...)

(Excerpt from the poem I-Juca-Pirama, by Gonçalves Dias)

Types of poems

According to the literary classification, the poems are grouped into three genres:

1. Lyrics: sentimental and subjective, for example, haiku and sonnet.

Example of Lyric Poem

Star hunter.
she cried: her eyes came back
with so many! Come see them!

(The poet, haiku by Guilherme de Almeida)

2. epic poems: contains the presence of heroes, for example, the epic and the fable.

Example epic poem

The arms and Barons marked
That of Western Lusitanian beach
By seas never sailed before
They also went beyond Taprobana,
In peril and hard wars
More than human strength promised,
And among remote people they built
New Kingdom, which so sublimated.

(excerpt from The Lusiads, by Luiz Vaz de Camões)

3. narrative poems: made to be staged, for example, the records and the farces.

Example of narrative poem

Stay tuned for this narration
It's the story of a male goat
But pay close attention
There was no rest in the beam
It was nobody's doormat
I just made a mess
His name was John
cricket was just a nickname
had a big heart
Chicó was your best friend
always lived in danger
In this frame story

(Excerpt from Compadecida's Report, by Ariano Suassuna)

Poem structure

As for the structure of a poem, it is classified into two types:

Internal structure: corresponds to the aspects related to the content explored in the poem, which includes: the theme, the language, the speech, the author's opinion, the poetic-self, the organization, etc.
external structure: represents the formal aspects of the poems, that is, the form of the poem and that includes: the types of verses, stanzas, rhyme scheme, meter, etc.

It is noteworthy that there are fixed form poems and free-form ones, which do not have a rigid structure. Some fixed form poems often used by poets are:

Sonnet: formed by 14 verses, two of which are quartets (set of four verses) and two are triplets (set of three verses).
trova: formed by a stanza with four heptasyllable verses (with 7 poetic syllables).
haiku: formed by 3 verses (tercet), the first verse being composed of 5 poetic syllables (pentasyllable); the second of 7 poetic syllables (heptasyllable); and the third of 5 poetic syllables (pentasyllable)

Learn more about Sonnet it's the haiku.

Poetic stylistic resources

At speech figures they are one of the most used stylistic resources in poetry, as they offer greater expressiveness to texts.

Examples are: metaphor, antithesis, synesthesia, hyperbole, prosopopoeia, anaphora, alliteration, paronomasia, assonance, onomatopoeia, etc.

Remembrance (Cecília Meireles) - poem with synesthesia

Now the harsh smell of flowers
take my eyes inside your petals.
So were your hair;
your eyelashes were like that, thin and curved.
The slime stones, where the afternoon was joining,
had the same exaltation of secret water,
of wet stalks, of pollen,
of sepulcher and resurrection.
And the voiceless butterflies
they danced like that velvet.
Restore yourself in my memory, inside the flowers!
Let your eyes see, like onyx beetles,
your mouth of dewy marigold,
and those of your hands of inconsolable mysteries,
with its stars and crosses,
and many things so strangely written
in its sharp leaf ribs,
- and incomprehensible, incomprehensible.

Note.: a synesthesia is a figure of speech that mixes sensations related to the five human senses: touch, hearing, smell, taste and sight.

The clock (Vinicius de Moraes) - poem with onomatopoeia

Time passes, tick-tock
Tic-tock, pass, time
Come soon, tick-tock
Tic-tock, and go away
Hobby
very quickly
do not delay
don't delay
I'm already
Very tired
I've lost
all the joy
to do
my tick-tock
Day and night
Night and day
TIC Tac
TIC Tac
Day and night
Night and day
TIC Tac
TIC Tac
TIC Tac…

Note.: A onomatopoeia it is a figure of speech that imitates the sounds of objects, animals, people, etc.

Difference between poem and poetry

Although these two terms are used interchangeably, there are differences between them:

Poem: literary genre composed of verses, stanzas and sometimes rhymes.
Poetry: any artistic production that provokes emotions and that can be literature, visual arts, sculpture, etc.

Thus, we can say that every poem has poetry, but not all poetry has a poem.

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