traditional verse

Rhymed, structured poetry

Traditional verse is poetry that follows established conventions of meter, rhyme, and stanza form—sonnets, ballads, villanelles, and the like.

The term usually appears in contrast to free verse, which abandons regular patterns: She writes traditional verse but her sister prefers free verse.

Also called formal verse.

stressed syllableEmphasized unit of speech
Elizabethan poetryLate 1500s English verse
iambic pentameterUnstressed-stressed pattern, five feet
RomanticismEmotion-centered artistic movement
lyric poetryMusical personal verse form

rhyme scheme · quatrain · caesura · villanelle · sestina · alliteration · haiku · couplet · elegy · love poetry · metaphor · epic simile · simile · assonance · ode · sonnet · nature poetry · war poetry

Opposites

poetic form and structure

traditional versefree verse

Poetry without fixed structure

prose poetry · experimental poetry

literary innovation and historical period

traditional verseexperimental poetry

Innovative, non-traditional verse forms

modernist poetry · sound poetry

prose vs. verse distinction

traditional verseprose

Unversified language

stream of consciousness · flash fiction

Family

traditional, tradition, traditions, traditionalism, traditionalist, traditionalists, traditionally, verse, verses

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Rated G