What is the difference between "closed form" poetry and "open form" poetry? Please explain.

In terms of poetry, there are two kinds or forms, based
upon the "structure or pattern of organization" that a poet adopts when writing his
verse.

These are called "open" or "closed" forms. When
looking at a poem's form, you can observe the following; with more than one of these in
a poem, there is probably a set pattern. Look for the rhyme used: it may be
end rhyme (where a word at the end of one line rhymes with the word
at the end of another line). There may be a rhyme scheme (which is
a specific pattern of rhyme, such as ABAB, where each letter
represents a sound, and the pattern is followed in a stanza or an entire poem). The
meter is the poem's beat (which is found in sonnets, where, for
example, iambic pentameter is often used: ten syllables in a line, with emphasis on the
second syllable). There may even be stanzas used (which are often
groups of four lines, but not always). There are other elements as well: these are only
a few examples.

When a poem has a closed
form, the poet has adopted a pattern that the poem will follow in more
than one area, such as those mentioned above. As an example, a Shakespearean
sonnet is a fourteen-line poem. It has three quatrains (which are four-line
stanzas), it ends with a rhyming couplet (a pair of lines that rhyme with each other),
it follows a specific pattern of rhyme (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG), and is written in iambic
pentameter. In composing this kind of sonnet, the poet follows
these parameters. Other examples of a closed form poem are the traditional haiku, the
tanka, the limerick, the cinquain, and the villanelle.

Note
the haiku below. It is about nature; it has three lines; and, the syllabic pattern
(number of syllables) per line is 5-7-5; (note that this is the
traditional Japanese format of the
haiku):

“The
Rose” by Donna Brock

The red blossom bends
(5)

and drips its dew to the ground.
(7)

Like a tear it falls
(5)

In contrast, the
open form poem does not follow set
guidelines. There is no required rhyme scheme, rhyming pattern, or set number of lines
in a stanza. One stanza, for instance may have four lines, as may the second, but a
third stanza may have five lines. A concrete poem is one that is spaced out so that it
creates a picture. As an example, a religious concrete poem might be shaped like an
altar. However, for Halloween, a concrete poem might be written in the shape of a
pumpkin or a bat. This may be the only guidelines present, and it is considered a poem
with an open form.

Note the lack of form (or the "open"
form) of the following poem:

readability="13">

“American History” by Michael S.
Harper

Those four black girls blown
up

in that Alabama
church

remind me of five
hundred

middle passage
blacks,

in a net, under
water

in a Charleston
harbor

so redcoats wouldn't find
them.

Can't find what you can't
see

can
you?