American Verse

[Tinker]

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry

American Verse is relatively new on the literary scene. America represents a break from its European ancestors and a new culture with new traditions. In the beginning American poetry was pretty much discounted by European standards as crude and uncultured. However by the 19th century American artists had taken their place among the worlds best. American poetry has come to be recognized as innovative and industrious. Longfellow, Dickinson, Whitman, Frost, ee cummings, William Carlos Williams and Langston Hughes are a very few of the noted poets that lead the way for American poetry. And recently with the advent of on line poetic communities, many invented forms have emerged from not so well known American poets. (Most of these invented forms appear in the Invented Forms forum but I include them below as a link.)

Here is Walt Whitman, the quintessential American poet, mourning the death of his President, Abraham Lincoln.
O Captain! My Captain by Walt Whitman 1819-1892

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.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up- for you the flag is flung- for
you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths- for you the shores
a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Afflatus	Amaranth	American Sentence	Amphion	Analogue	Arabesque
Arkaham Ballad	Baccresieze	Bagarthach Verse	Balance	Blues Sonnet	Blues Stanza
Boutoniere	Bragi	Brevee	Briolette	Bryant	Cadae Verse
Cadence	Cameo	Canopus	Catena Rondo	Chained Sonnet	Cinq Cinquain
Cinq Tois Deca La	Cinquino	Circulet	Côte	Crapsey Cinquain	Cromorna
Cross Limerick	Curtal Quatrain	Cycle	Cyclus	Decanelle	Decathlon
Deten	Diamante	Dionol	Dipodic Quatrain	Dixdeux	Double Chant Royal
Double Cinquain	Double Refrain Ballade Supreme	Double Refrain Chant Royal	Doublet	Dream Song	Dr Stella
Duni	Eintou	Etheree	Fialka	Fibonacci or Fibb	Fletcher
Forget me Not	Frieze	Gardenia	Haikuette	Hautt	Hourglass
Infinite Gloss	Johnn	Joybell	Kerf	>Kwansaba	Kyrielle Dialogue
Kyrielle Hymn	Lady Slipper	Lanterne	Latova	Laurel	Lavelle
Left Handed Poem	Logolilt	Louise	Lyra Chord	Lyrelle	LuVailean Sonnet
Lyrelle	Mad Calf	Mad Cow	Manardina	Margeda	Marianne
Martian Poetry	Medallion	Metric Pyramid	Minuette	Nasher Couplet	Neville
Palette	Paradelle	Pendulum	Pensee	Quinnette	Quintanelle
Quintette	Quintiles	Rap	Rengo	Renkay	Repete
Ripple Echo	Rosemary	Russell	Sacred Signia	Saga	San Hsien
Sardine	Scallop	Seafonn	Serena	Sestennelle	Seox
Septanelle	Sevenelle	Shadorma	Sheshire	Short Heroic Sestet	Sonnette
Spenserian Quintilla	Spine Poem	Split Sestet	Spoon River Verse	Star Sevlin	Stellar
Stevenson	Sweetbriar	Swinburne	Taylor	Teddy Verse	Termelay
Terzanelle	Trench	Trenta Sei	Trianglet	Trilinea	Trillium
Triquain	Trio	Triversen	Troisieme	Tulip	Veltanelle
Vers de Societe	Verso-Rhyme	Vignette	Violette	Virelet	Wavelet
wheelbarrow	Yeats Octave	ZaniLa Rhyme	Zany ZigZag Five	Zanze	Zenith