Category: Sestets (6-Line Stanzas)

Rime Couée Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

The Rime Couée is a French form written over two rhymes. The first is a rhyming couplet of eight syllables then a shorter third line of six lines. The two couplets rhyme as do the shorter lines. This gives a form pattern of

xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxb
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxb

Example

Butterfly Dance by JezzieG

Slowly feasting on petaled rose
Nature’s gift as the summer glows
She flutters through the pink
It’s on her wings her beauty shows
Black, white, and red that nature chose
In pink she’s dark as ink

A nectar morsel here and there
For her life is short and unfair
Pollen shared, she moves on
A brief career but does she dare
For one more day of grace to share
While flitting in the sun

Magical Secrets

~ JezzieG

Magical Secrets
Form: Wordsworth’s Sestet

Behind closed doors our secret dared to be,
A love beyond what words express,
All senses lost in one caress,
As dreams fulfilled those things until we kissed,
In that one touch our longings set us free,
A secret magic found where love exists

©JezzieGFarmer2011

You’re The Air To My All

~ JezzieG

You’re The Air To My All
Form: Sestet

You are the air I breathe to stay alive,
the life-sustaining force within my heart,
my bleeding heart can only seek to strive
for you; it strives to breathe when we're apart,
You are the part of me I need to thrive,
as love is thriving within this, our art.
If art can express words that say desire,
all I desire remains with you, right there.
My heart is there, not here without your fire,
the fiery flames where words so oft declare,
declarations of the heart to inspire,
the thoughts inspiring me to breathe your air

©JezzieGFarmer2009

Cywydd Llosgyrnog Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Another Welsh form, the Cywydd Llosgyrnog is a syllabic-based form with internal rhymes. It is a 6-line stanza. Lines 1, 2, 4, and 5 are 8-syllables in length with 1 and 2 sharing an end rhyme and lines 4 and 5 sharing an end rhyme. Lines 3 and 6 have 7-syllable lines and end rhyme with each other, plus line 3 has an internal rhyme with lines 1 and 2 and similarly, line 6 has an internal rhyme with lines 4 and 5

xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa
xxxaxxb
xxxxxxxc
xxxxxxxc
xxxcxxb

Example

Bendith y Mamau by Jez Farmer

She is speaking, our Great Mother
Not blessings or love to smother
Her other messages unheard
Now comes the suffering of Man
The goddess doing what she can
Now humans must hear her word

The time has come, many will die
Still too many are asking why
The lady’s cry heard too late
Perhaps now the foolish will hear
As the selfish drawback in fear
Mother dear, why did you wait?

So, listen now if you so care
The goddess still has love to share
Don’t you dare deny her now
The time has come to sacrifice
The self, now we all pay her price
This high price is what we owe

Short Particular Measure Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Short Particular Measure consists of six line stanzas. Lines 1,2, 4, and 5 are composed in iambic trimeter and lines 3 and 6 are tetrameter.
The rhyme scheme is

aabaab

Example

The Way Ahead by Jez Farmer

Aggression within me
As eyes open to see
My destiny is waiting there
Let my spirit go free
Be man I’m meant to be
On the path home to who knows where

Standard Habbie Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

The Standard Habbie, or Burn’s Stanza, consists of 6 rhyming lines, lines 1, 2, 3 and 5 being iambic tetrameter or eight syllables, and lines 4 and 6 being iambic dimeter or four syllables.

The thyme scheme is aaabab, cccdcd, eeefef and so on.

Example

Address to a Haggis by Robert Burns

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin’-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o’ a grace
As lang’s my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
‘Bethankit’ hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect scunner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither’d rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He’ll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow’rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis

The Way Ahead

~ JezzieG

The Way Ahead
Form: Short Particular Measure

Aggression within me
As eyes open to see
My destiny is waiting there
Let my spirit go free
Be man I’m meant to be
On the path home to who knows where

©JGFarmer2021

Sicilian Sestet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

It’s origins similar to that of the Italian Sestet, the Sicilian Sestet has no set meter, again formalized by the English courts to iambic tetrameter or pentameter. The rhyme scheme of the stanza is as follows:

abcbab defede and so on

Example

This Poetry by Jez Farmer

This writing needs the will of self-control,
Against the call of doing other things,
Ignoring pokes and strange Facebook polls,
The fun and games must wait while poet sings
The lines of pain that love in rhyme consoles
Until a thought breaks as the phone now rings.

Rekindled pen begins to ebb and flow,
A gentle touch of grammar held in verse,
And inky words trail where they want to go
Compelling thoughts to bribe and then coerce
The random lines into the form they know,
Ah! Is poetry fun or cunning curse?

Sestet Couplets Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

The grouping of couplets is well documented in poetry, and, if using them, Heroic couplets are written in iambic pentameter. However there is no set meter for Sestet couplets. The rhyme scheme is
Aabbcc ddeeff and so on

Example

A Celtic Prayer Divina Collins

Deep in the heart of the Welsh mountains
A chapel of worship that still maintains
In congregation of an old Celtic descent
Followers of the faith may never repent
Strict upon stature of those bygone laws
Quaint the beams that served the cause.

So silence remains the old hymnal chants
Of ancient choirs that only echo descants
No prayers ever to be heard in the pews
Nor disaster of minors within bad news
That may remain as silent within grief
Shall comfort much too late for relief.

There sits the chapel with silent tears
Lost within time much too late for fears
That faded within this treasure divine
Tho’ covered with natures columbine
This treasure remains forever as cast
Preserved from the vision of the past

Queen of the May

~ JezzieG

Form: Stave Stanza

She is the queen of starlit nights,
her beauty beyond mortal sights,
one kiss, she will possess my soul,
and dreams of desire she'll cajole,
in merry dance she leads the way,
my queen, and lady of the May.
When seasons call, goddess returns,
to sacred hearts where passions burns,
her song, harmonic cadences,
refreshed by slow Sapphic glances,
summer reborn on hallowed day,
my queen, and lady of the May.
She took my hand and stole my heart,
of this world I'm no longer part,
when blessed lady touched my lip,
the ways of old released their grip,
caught in illusions of freesia spray,
my queen, and lady of the May

©JGFarmer2009

Cold Tranquillity Descends

~ JezzieG

Form: Sestets

On winter's nights, so calm, so still,
the Goddess starts to sing,
a voice of warmth against the chill,
that touches mortal wing,
a moon lit beacon, over hill
and valley peace She'll bring.
This tranquil spot amid the stone,
the words of Ancient's call,
on moment passed from maid to crone,
where boulders remain tall,
and blighted frost inspires the tone,
embraced within prayer shawl.
My Goddess sits in skies serene,
amid the night's star light,
ponder Her gaze upon the scene,
Her love where hearts unite,
the gift of peace from heaven's Queen,
as souls on Earth delight

©JGFarmer2009

Italian Sestet Notes

~ JezzieG

Originally the Italian Sestet had no set meter, but with its introduction to England by Edmund Spenser, English poets used iambic tetrameter or pentameter with the rhyme schema as follows:

abcabc

Example

Dream Catcher by Divena Collins

To catch a dream and hold it tight
You cherish it dear from the start
Time spent together so long ago
Was a time when love felt so right
Spiritual love shalt never depart
When love in our hearts doth flow.
To catch a dream we both shall share
Where good dreams pass on through
Eternal love shalt ne-er be denied
Sensual feelings are always there
Dreams shared forever come true
Where good dreams shalt be relied

Envelope Sestet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 5 Comments

The Envelope Sestet is a stricter variation of the stave stanza. The last line of each stanza is a repetition of the first line. The second and fifth lines rhyme with the refrain lines, leaving only the third and fourth line to change rhyme. The rhyme scheme, therefore, is:
AabbaA CcddcC EeffeE… and so on

Example

Imagine by Jez Farmer

He said 'Imagine' and we still fight for creed
Nothing has changed to ease man's evil greed
Too busy planning life for tomorrow
We miss the truth to embrace the sorrow
Forgetting words will hurt more than a deed
He said 'Imagine' and we still fight for creed
The armies of war on the killing field
A brother's life; a defensive shield
As one more soul dies in ungodly shame
A suicide with no love to its name
While the ruling voices refuse to yield
The armies of war on the killing field
With each day we repeat the words of hate
Impatient for wants unable to wait
But each night we dare to dream a new peace
And pray for the dying to now decrease
Yet peace begins inside the garden gate
With each day we repeat the words of hate

English Sestet Notes

~ JezzieG

From the popular Sicilian sestet evolved the English variant made popular by William Shakespeare using the rhyme scheme in his sonnets. Strictly speaking the lines should be in Iambic pentameter but many modern poets prefer to use decasyllabic lines.

The rhyme scheme for the English sestet is ababcc dedeff… and so on

Example

Mother Moon by Terry Clitheroe

My mother moon, do you shine as you feel
Do you see the sorrow and feel the pain?
To meet for so short a time and join and love
The subtle agony of lovers being apart again.
Missing each other with the coming of night
Creating in our hearts and souls a blight.
My mother moon, the tender stories told
That our tears are like stones on a beach
Eventually turning to sand and washed away
In time our salted tears will be out of reach.
My mother moon tell me the tears will dry
So perhaps with time the pain will also die

Collins Sestet Notes

~ JezzieG

The Collin’s sestet is a creative combination of three poetic groups – rhyming couplets, creating a sestet with the last line of the stanza being a repeat of the line, phrase, or word in the next stanza. No meter is specified other than that if only heroic (iambic pentameter) couplets are used the stanza is called Divine Collins

Example: Unpaid Dues by Jez Farmer

Each night I look upon the moon with hope,
Before I scuttle down life's endless slope,
I beg the will to live another day,
To touch the dream of love another way,
But as I look towards the night-time sky
The rain absorbs the tears I'm left to cry.
If only I could breathe the air again,
Each breath ignites the raging flames of pain
Yet dares my heart to stand and proudly fight
So that my soul may know the way of light,
But as I look towards the night-time sky
The rain absorbs the tears I'm left to cry.
Yet now I yield to empty hands of fate,
My heart is lost; forever came too late,
The price of death again remains unpaid,
And still I breathe, unclaimed by reaper’s blade,
But as I look towards the night-time sky
The rain absorbs the tears I'm left to cry

As Nature Intended

~ JezzieG

Form: Sestet

Warm your breath breezes across my bare skin.
Flooding the valleys of my body with need.
Lasting heat of your kisses deep within,
Sun kissed emotion the flames of lust feed.
Union of lovers, the world suspended,
Together joined as nature intended

©JGFarmer2008

Burns’ Stanza Notes

~ JezzieG

Also known as the Standard Habbie this stanza consists of six lines. Lines 1, 2, 3, and 5 are octosyllabic and rhyme. Lines 4 and 6 are hexasyllabic and form the second rhyme.

This gives the following schematic:

xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxb
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxb

Example:

To a Mouse on Turning up her Nest with a Plough by Robert Burns

Wee sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an chase thee,
Wi murdering pattle!

I’m truly sorry man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion.
An fellow mortal!

Standard Habbie/Burns’ Stanza

~ JezzieG

The Standard Habbie, often used by Robert Burns who may have created the form, is a sestet stanza. Lines 1, 2, 3 and 5 all consists of eight syllables and are also connected by rhyme and lines 4 and 6 are also connected by rhyme but consist of 6 syllables. This gives the following structure

xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxb
xxxxxxxa
xxxxx

Example: Lucky in Love by Jez Farmer

A warrior to stand behind
The beauty my own eyes defined
Her kiss I hold within my mind
Her love the reason why
I’d let my life slowly unwind
To keep her safe, I’ll die

For love, there is no asking price
Yet demands such high sacrifice
Its fate, a mere roll of the dice
A moment of chance
Her flame melted my heart of ice
And awakened romance

Short Particular Measure

~ JezzieG

Short Particular Measure is a stanza form with each stanza consisting of six lines. Lines 1, 2, 4 and 5 are trimeter or six syllables and lines 3 and 6 are tetrameter or eight syllables in length. The rhyme scheme is aabaab

Example: The Beautiful Mind by Jez Farmer
You insist I am straight
Sorry that’s not my fate
That label can’t define the man
It isn’t for debate
Opinions inflate
And I whisper, ‘no I am Pan’

Love is much more than that
At least from where I’m sat
Love is beyond female and male
But few understand that
They see sex in format
Because sex is their holy grail

My eyes don’t look with lust
The physical is dust
Compared to a beautiful mind
For my senses combust
With thoughts embraced by trust
Bring the wonder of love defined