Types+of+Poetry+Classification+Systems

(Adapted from Charters/Charters, __Literature and Its Writers__, Compact Second Edition, Chapters 8-11, and __A Handbook to Literature__, 9th edition.)
 * **Traditional Verse** -- sometimes referred to as "closed forms"
 * **Free Verse** -- sometimes referred to as "open forms"
 * Continuous Form
 * Stanzaic Form
 * **Fixed Form** -- e.g. sonnet, limerick, sestina, villanelle, haiku, etc.
 * **Narrative** -- e.g., ballad
 * **Lyric** -- a brief subjective poem strongly marked by imagination, melody, and emotion, and creating a single, unified impression -- e.g., ode, elegy, sonnet, epigram, aphorism, limerick, sestina, villanelle, haiku
 * Dramatic -- e.g., Shakespeare's plays, Browning's dramatic monologues, Ginsberg's __Howl__