The chastuka is a type of traditional Russian poetry.

Written as a single quatrain in trochaic tetrameter with an abab or abcb rhyme scheme.  They are amusing, satirical, or ironic and cover topics ranging from bawdy jokes to propaganda.

They parallel the limerick, and are usually accompanied by music.  The musical refrain between chastukas gives the audience time to laugh without missing the next one.  Poets are resourceful and clever when performing them in front of an audience where the contestants mocked each other in competitions similar to today’s hip-hop or rap battles.

The blank verse style of poetry is written in iambic pentameter. Its main characteristic is its end-stopped lines.

Poems written in blank verse can be as long as the poet desires, provided that each line is written in iambic pentameter.

The ballade is a twenty-line French style poem. It  relies on the foundation of three stanzas, an envoi, and usually an apostrophe.

It must use the rhyme scheme of ababbcc dedeeff ghghii.