Poems considered “light” are usually brief, and can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often feature word play, including puns, adventurous rhyme and heavy alliteration. Light poetry, or light verse, is poetry that attempts to be humorous. The Romans had a strong tradition of satirical poetry, often written for political purposes. Poetry can be a powerful vehicle for satire. Dramatic poetryĭramatic poetry is drama written in verse to be spoken or sung, and appears in varying, sometimes related forms in many cultures. It recounts, in a continuous narrative, the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons. This genre is often defined as lengthy poems concerning events of a heroic or important nature to the culture of the time. Epic poetryĮpic poetry is a genre of poetry, and a major form of narrative literature. Narrative poetry may be the oldest type of poetry.
Broadly it subsumes epic poetry, but the term “narrative poetry” is often reserved for smaller works, generally with more appeal to human interest. Narrative poetry is a genre of poetry that tells a story. A poetic genre is generally a tradition or classification of poetry based on the subject matter, style, or other broader literary characteristics. In addition to specific forms of poems, poetry is often thought of in terms of different genres and subgenres.