Edgar Allen Poe

William Shakespeare

Not everything needs to be long and cumbersome to be considered an art form and in poetry, this is especially the case. Poetry has long broken new frontiers in displaying brevity and concision with words as an artistic expression. From the Japanese haiku of only 17 syllables to the short form of a simple limerick, there are dozens of different kinds of short poetry.

There are hundreds of different formats of poetry – from the classic sonnet to the increasingly rare sestina. However, very short poems are much rarer than one would expect. Traditional poets almost all followed a preconceived format, with a set meter and line format. It might be considered boring by today’s standards, but it was tradition and as a result, short poems were less common. However, there are some examples that break the rules including:

 Haiku is the most famous of short poetic forms. Developed by the Japanese, this simple and elegant style has managed to find popularity in numerous cultures and countries.

 Triolets are eight line short poems with a very unique rhyming scheme.

 Ghazal is a Persian form of poetry that can be as short as ten lines, famously used by Rumi.

 Cinquain is similar to the haiku in that each of the five lines is designated a certain number of syllables.

 And of course free verse poems in which any format is acceptable

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