A Random Poetry Form Generator for Creative Challenges

The poetry spin wheel below randomly assigns you a poetic form, from beginner Haiku to advanced Sestina, so the only thing left to do is write.

The “Wheel Legend” (List of Forms)

Beginner Forms

• Free Verse: Pure expression with no rules. Focus on rhythm and imagery without a fixed structure.
• Haiku: A traditional Japanese form capturing a specific moment in nature (5-7-5 syllables).
• Limerick: A humorous, bouncy 5-line poem with an AABBA rhyme scheme.
• Blackout Poem: A visual form where you black out words on an existing page to reveal a new poem.
• Tanka: The “older cousin” of the Haiku, moving from an image to an emotion (5-7-5-7-7 syllables).

Intermediate Forms

• Sonnet: A classic 14-line poem about love or philosophy, traditionally in iambic pentameter.
• Ode: A lyrical poem that passionately addresses and praises a specific person or object.
• Ballad: A narrative poem that tells a story (often tragic or heroic), originally meant to be sung.
• Triolet: A short 8-line form with two rhyming sounds and repeating lines.
• Prose Poem: Poetry written in paragraph blocks rather than verses, preserving poetic sound and imagery.
• Golden Shovel: A contemporary form where the end-words of each line form a sentence from a famous poem.

Advanced & Master Class Forms

• Villanelle: A haunting 19-line poem defined by two repeating rhymes and two refrains.
• Sestina: A complex lexical puzzle of 39 lines that rotates six specific end-words in a spiral pattern.
• Pantoum: A slow, weaving form where lines from previous stanzas echo as the start of the next.
• Ghazal: An ancient form of couplets dealing with loss and love, using a monorhyme and refrain.
• Terza Rima: An interlocking rhyme scheme (ABA BCB CDC…) invented by Dante.
• Rondeau: A French form of 15 lines with a specific rhyme and a partial refrain (rentrement).
• Elegy: A poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.
• Blank Verse: Unrhymed poetry with a strict meter (Iambic Pentameter)—the language of Shakespeare.

Sometimes the hardest part of writing is just choosing where to start. This tool turns that decision into a challenge. The Poetry Spin Wheel randomly selects a poetic structure for you, forcing you to think those constraints. For a longer explanation see our poetry form page.

How to play: Simply spin the wheel and challenge yourself, or your children, to write a poem in whichever style lands on the marker. If you land on a form you haven’t tried before, use the definitions below to learn the rhythm or rhyme scheme.

This element of chance is perfect for gamifying the writing process. It helps writers break out of their comfort zones and stops the habit of writing the same style of poem over and over again.