Folk poetry

thumb|Maria Wiik, Ballad (1898)

thumb|180px|Kanteletar compiled by Elias Lönnrot, 1840

form of epic poetry

Bayati () is one of the oldest forms of Azerbaijani folk poetry. A bayati consists of four lines, each of which has seven syllables. The rhyme scheme is AABA. Anonymous bayati have been collected as folk wisdom in editions such as (Our people's sayings and feelings). Bayati can also be strung together in sequence to form longer poems, and there are several bayati dastan, epics, in which all of the verses are bayati; one example is Arzu-Qəmbər.

Hainteny (pronounced , Malagasy for "knowledge of words") is a traditional form of Malagasy oral literature and poetry, involving heavy use of metaphor. It is associated primarily with the Merina people of Madagascar. In its use of metaphor and allusion it resembles another type of poetry, the Malay pantun, and Fox suggests "it seems likely the Merina brought with them a Malayo-Polynesian poetic tradition" to Madagascar. The Ibonia, an epic poem related for centuries in different versions across Madagascar, reflects the value placed on the linguistic skills celebrated in the hainteny tradition

Ethnopoetics is a method of recording text versions of oral poetry or narrative performances (i.e. verbal lore) that uses poetic lines, verses, and stanzas (instead of prose paragraphs) to capture the formal, poetic performance elements which would otherwise be lost in the written texts. The goal of any ethnopoetic text is to show how the techniques of unique oral performers enhance the aesthetic value of their performances within their specific cultural contexts. Major contributors to ethnopoetic theory include Jerome Rothenberg, Dennis Tedlock, and Dell Hymes. Ethnopoetics is considered a su

oral tradition in folklore

thumb|upright=1.2|1545 woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder|Lucas Cranach referencing (and possibly illustrating) flyting. German peasants respond to a papal bull of [[Pope Paul III. Caption reads: "Don't frighten us Pope, with your ban, and don't be such a furious man. Otherwise we shall turn around and show you our rears."]] thumb|The Norse gods Freyja and [[Loki flyte in an illustration (1895) by Lorenz Frølich.]] Flyting or fliting (Classical Gaelic: immarbág, , "counter-boasting") is a contest consisting of the exchange of insults between two parties, often conducted in verse.