Sonnets is a form of poetry originated in Europe mainly Italy. The most familiar sonnet is the English form. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets as a series and included a few in his plays. Most of Shakespeare sonnets were written in rhyme pattern of abab cdcd efef gg.
This is one I wrote inspired by a walk around Swan Lake Gardens Park.

Sonnet __Is This What Paradise Feel Like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyYWpk3CqJU

so you want to be a writer?
by Charles Bukowski

villanelle

a traditional form poetry called villanelle can be fun to write.
for at least three hundred years villanelles have been around.
villanelles seem to have roots in native songs because of their frequent refrains and complex rhymiue stanza rhyming couplets in the first stanza has a
the second line rhymes with the middle line you added. this is the key to the poem form.
repeating the couplets.

The first thing a villanelle poem need is a pair of rhyming lines which are the heart of your poem's meaning. Here are the two key lines.

blossoming

pink|cher|ry trees
white|dog|wood|blos|som|near|by
red|ro|ses|full|bloom
black|crows|search|tables|for|left|overs
and|a|lone|squirrel|wat|ches|on

bird calls

so|ma|ny|bird|calls
dif|fe|rent|spe|cies|very|loud
mat|ing|or|feed|ing
I|know|not|for|cer|tian|ty
all|is|qui|et|at|the|park

a quickie

two|crows|quick|ly|mates
mid|air|dance|fea|ther|fly|ing
make|a|ba|by|crow

hanging moss

Ballads

ballads are traditional forms of poetry that convey romantic and lurid stories.
they are narrative poems written in the thirteenth. century and are still being written today especially in songs.

ballads take on many forms.
one popular form is the four-line stanza where the first and third lines are written in iambic tetrameter (4 iambs)
the second and fourth lines are written in iambic trimeter (3 iambs)

ballads rhyme scheme is (ABXB) where the third line (X) need not rhyme, but it may rhyme with (A)

Example of ballad :

once upon a time a little girl name Lae Lae was born
she has been dancing singing and spining around like Cinderella since the age of one.

she has been winning pageant since she was three month old and barely two when she won Miss South Carolina Octoberfest Princess.

a happy talkative little sweetheart Lae Lae knows no enemy, partial to none and says what she feels whether good or bad.

what is tone in a poem?

Perhaps a little factual variation may be helpful

A phallus is an erect penis,
the testicle (from Latin testiculus, diminutive of testis, meaning "witness" of virility, [1] plural testes) The primary functions of the testes are to produce sperm (spermatogenesis) and to produce androgens, primarily testosterone
sperm sperma (meaning "seed") and refers to the male reproductive cells...
ovum meaning egg or egg cell) female reproductive cell or gamete.

The worst of course are love poems.
Self confessional is usually self-indulgent rubbish, unless it skilfully engages the readers own depths.
Philosophically is likely to be trite rubbish.

The worst of all is 'inspirational'

I've done a lot of reading and critiquing lately and the quality of poetry here has dropped to mostly fucking boring.

Kailashana is right. Neopoet is dying from complacency.

Don't write for yourself, write for your reader and try to make a difference.

Assonance and consonance are subtle, yet the most powerful techniques to make free verse memorable. The workshop is still open to new participants.
Check the workshop at
http://www.neopoet.com/workshop/assonance-and-consonance

We are now working on how subtle sounds strongly re-inforce the content and meaning of your work.

cheers
Jess