As you read the examples below look at their structures to see if you are agree with what they are recognized as. If it says it is a haiku look for the 5, 7, 5 pattern or if it is a sonnet make sure that it has 14 lines.
This is a sonnet written by William Shakespeare so this is an example of a Shakespearean sonnet. As you can see it has 14 lines. The topic or main subject of Shakespearean sonnets is love, just like this one. Another characteristic is the ababcdcdefefgg rhyme scheme. The 3rd line rhymes with the 1st line and the 4th line rhymes with the 2nd. This rhyme scheme is carried out throughout the poem expect for the last two lines.
As you can see I used the poem on the home screen of this website to give you another example of what a haiku is. Generally a haiku is about nature or the seasons of the month. I wrote this one about the picture with the pretty pink and yellow leaves. If you count the syllables in each you can see that it has the 5, 7, 5 rhyme scheme.
"Fifteen" is a poem written by William Stafford. I chose this poem to show you an example of narrative poetry. Usually narrative poetry is a twenty line poem and it tells a story. This poem is 21 lines, but in the picture you can only see fifteen of them . William wrote this narrative poem to tell the readers about when he was fifteen.
In this picture you see an example of a free verse poem. It does not have a rhyme scheme or any words throughout the poem that rhymes with each other.