The beauty of words
What do the words verse, rhyme, stanza, haiku and lyric have in common?
They are all words associated with poetry.
A poem can be classified as a sonnet, a haiku, free verse, acrostic, villanelle, limerick, ode, elegy or a ballad.
A haiku is a short poem, eg The Old Pond by Matsuo Bashō.
An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pond—
Splash! Silence again.
Limericks though are more fun. Here’s an example for you:
A dozen, a gross, and a score
Plus three times the square root of four
Divided by seven
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared and not a bit more.
An elegy however can be dramatic, and Walk Whitman’s O Captain! My Captain is an example:
“O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.”
Now try your hand at identifying the words in the grid by using the clues in the grid.