What is a Riddle?

A riddle is a type of poetry that describes something without actually naming what it is, leaving the reader to guess. A riddle is a light hearted type of poetry which involves the reader.

Riddles can be about anything, from riddles about animals to riddles about objects. There are no rules on how to structure a riddle poem, a riddle can be funny or it can rhyme, it depends on the person writing the riddle.

An example of a riddle

Example of a rhyming riddle

Why don't you try writing a riddle poem and enter it into one of our poetry competitions.

For information on poetry types other than a riddle visit our poetry glossary – poetry types.