Tag: Poetry Notes

Haibun Notes

Featured ~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Popular in 17th-century Japan, the Haibun is a combination of prose and a haiku. The prose and haiku typically communicate with each other. The prose sets the scene or moment and haiku follows.

Example

Well, Did You? by JezzieG

Did you hear me cry out in the night? As you loved me did you hear me cry out? Did you feel me kiss you in your sleep? After you turned out the light did you feel my kiss? Or was it a dream after we fought so hard to be the one in the right and not seeing the hurt in a lover’s eyes? Two stubborn minds and two thinking rights making the wrong. The heat of the argument drove your words to the moment you said you wished you and I were no longer us. And then I sat stunned on the floor as if you had hit me and I wished you had as it would have hurt less. In that moment you shattered my heart.

Fury and words
the acts of betrayal
caught in heartbreak

Katuata Poem Notes

Featured ~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

The Katuata is a Japanese form that is an incomplete or half poem. A 3-liner of either 5-7-5 or more commonly 5-7-7 syllables per line. The poem is specifically addressed to a lover.

Example

The Coryphée by JezzieG

The stage a canvas
To the brushing of her feet
As she paints the art of dance

Gwawdodyn Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 4 Comments

A Welsh form, the Gwawdodyn is composed of 4-line stanzas consisting of a 9/9/10/9 syllable pattern. Lines 1,2, and 4 end rhyme. Line 3 contains an internal rhyme with the end of line 3.

1-xxxxxxxxa
2-xxxxxxxxa
3-xxxxbxxxxb
4-xxxxxxxxa

Note: The “b” rhyme in the middle of line 3 can be moved left or right as required.

Example

Seagulls by JezzieG

Seagull cries over Cardigan Bay
Remembering all that fateful day
A spell cast by Dylan beneath the sea
Wave comes fast to steal away

Old man’s daughters taken out to sea
Dylan’s regretful deeds must then be
Returning to dad on a seagull’s wing
A man’s sad heart as now they fly free

List Poem Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 3 Comments

A List or Catalogue poem is a poem that is written that lists things of the poet’s choosing such as names, places, events, images, etc. It is a flexible and often fun poem to work on. There are no rules as to meter, rhyme, or poem length.

Example

A Glimpse of Beltane by JezzieG

As the breeze cools a summer’s day, as woolly clouds mingle in the sky
As the trees glisten in the evening sun, as the birds gather in song
As the scent of charcoal curls through the air, as the night beckons us in
As cups chatter with champagne flutes, as cake tastes better with tea
As memories are made in stories told, as conversations pass by the fire
As the May queen dances, as bells ring out a wedding day

Dodoitsu Notes

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A Japanese form, the Dodoitsu was developed at the end of the Edo Period. It has no meter nor rhyme constraints, instead, the focus is on syllables. The poem consists of four lines with 7-syllables in lines 1, 2, and 3 and 5-syllables in line 4. The Dodoitsu often utilizes the themes of love or work.

Example

Smile of Enchantment by JezzieG

She walks by with elegance,
and beauty captures my eye
with a smile of enchantment—
I adore geisha

Rispetto Notes

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An old Italian form, the Rispetto is comprised of two quatrains written in iambic tetrameter or 8-syllable lines. They were originally poems written in respect or admiration of a woman, however, over the centuries it has offered itself for other subjects

Rhyme Scheme: abab ccdd

Example

Moonlit Gypsy by JezzieG

On moonlit nights she dances here,
her gypsy skirts that swirl with dreams,
my rhythmic dancer of heart’s cheer,
entranced by silver starlight beams.

My lute that plays a merry tune,
within our hearts, we sing the moon,
romance the music, lady dance,
the magic love that we entrance

Sicilian Sonnet Notes

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Structure: Octet and sestet
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: abababab cdcdcd

Example

Old Cassette by JezzieG

The first step into a new world
And time became a memory
As the beauty of love unfurled
Like words written in poetry
Into your dream my senses whirled
Thus enchanted by mystery
And in each new day becomes curled
In our magical history

Cherry blossom scent at sunset
While we sit by the fires of dusk
Watching you smoke a cigarette
White wine captured the moonlit musk
And sweet sounds from an old cassette
No more shall the night’s chill seem brusque

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

Volcanic Fireburst Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 2 Comments

Created by: Jose Rizal M. Reyes
Structure: Three quatrains and a couplet
Meter: Pentameter or decasyllabic
Rhyme Scheme: abba ccDD eeDD ff, D lines are feminine rhyme

Example

Barefoot Youth by Larry Eberhart

In summertime I never would wear shoes
unless I hiked the rocky mountainside,
and nearly all my time was spent outside,
and shoes I’d choose most happily to lose.

My preference helped mother make ends meet
I felt no anguish playing in bare feet.
My family had its very own depression
and bought me shoes when school began its session.

I felt a pride in having feet so tough,
(it proved that I was made of sterner stuff.)
When roads of tar got hot there was no question,
I’d stand on them to make a deep impression.

My feet today have nothing wrong at all
though other parts succumb to aging’s call

Descort Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 2 Comments

The main rule of the Descort poem is that each line needs to be different from every other line in the poem. Therefore the poem has varying line lengths, and meters, no rhyme, and no refrains.

Example

Turn of Season by JezzieG

No more daffodils sway in the lane
The spring has lost the dancing breeze
Replaced by April’s tears of rain
Frogs are courting by the slippery logs
Never asking more than a brief encounter
And as April turns to May
Dog bark in the green grass fields
Amid the budding dandelions
And yellow buttercups
And the summer begins to blossom

Englyn Byr Cwca Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

The Englyn Byr Cwca is a Welsh form utilizing both end and internal rhyme. Composed of tercets (3-line stanzas). Line 1 has 7 syllables, line 2 has 10 syllables, and line 3 has 6 syllables. Lines 1 and 3 end rhyme and line 2 rhymes with a syllable within line 3.

Example

Myth and Legend by JezzieG

I am the custodian
protecting courage in every part
the brave heart’s guardian

I’m the echoing legend
that speaks of the brave deeds of long ago
so, on me you depend

I am myth and memory
remembered in fireside tales told by bards
in shards of poetry

Espinela Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 3 Comments

Created by Vincente Espinel, a Spanish poet, the Espinela consists of two stanzas, four end rhymes over 10 lines. The first stanza is a quatrain and the second stanza is a sestet. Each line is tetrameter or 8-syllables. The rhyme scheme is as follows:

abba accddc

Example

Nights of Romancing by JezzieG

How I wish we could go dancing
Like we did in those olden days
Moving rhythm as music plays
In those nights of our romancing

Warm nights of summer entrancing
Enchanting love for you and me
Walking beside the starlit sea
Stroll back home; a bottle of wine
On those nights that were so divine
As we kissed setting our love free

Epistle Sonnet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 8 Comments

Created by: JezzieG
Structure: Triplet, Quintain, Quatrain, and Couplet
Meter: Poet’s choice
Rhyme Scheme: aba abcde cdcd ee
Notes: The order of the end rhymes of the quintain are in any order, giving 120 variants.

Example

A Birth by JezzieG
Quintain – abcde

The sonnet for so long has echoed my voice
With words and lines my lips find hard to say
In saddest despair and love to rejoice

For the epistles it’s an easy choice
To let my own thoughts flow out in this way
Whilst testing out this, a new sonnet form
Joining the Rovi and Ivor as one
Twisting the rhyme scheme just one more time

And letting them mingle in a brainstorm
A triplet and quintet but can it be done
A quatrain and a couplet, that’s a norm
Just messing with the rhymes, I think I won

Now, the closing lines left to end this rhyme
And I have a sonnet mountain to climb

Elegy Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

A song of sorrow or mourning, the Elegy is often for or about someone who has died. However, poets being poets and just that bit contrary on such matters, have also written elegies for the end of something such as a love affair, a holiday, or even a year. Form, meter, and structure are not important, content is what matters.

Example

Silence of Twilight by JezzieG

In that cold silence of twilight
when the ashes of love faded
but never burned out
the moon rose in mourning
to ease my crying heart
as my eyes wept into the night
into the aloneness my life would be
yet as the sun rose in his golden wonder
I felt a warm embrace
reminding me I am not alone
for you will always be with me

Dechnad Cummaisc Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

An Irish poetic form, the Dechnad Cummaisc uses quatrains with both end and internal rhymes. The guidelines are as follows:

Each stanza consists of four lines
Lines 1 and 3 are 8 syllables each
Lines 2 and 4 contain 4 syllables each and end rhyme with each other.
The last word of line 3 rhymes with the middle word of line 4.
There is no limit to the number of quatrains used

Example

Cacophony of Discord by JezzieG

The night assaults all the senses
Crashing sublime
As beauty and terror collide
Waves ride and climb

Horror of tempestuous sea
Foreboding night
Elements dictating our fate
A date with fright

Sweeping clouds into the darkness
Of breaking ships
Of defeated broken remains
Wind strains and whips

The beams of light let them all down
Frantic scrambles
In the lost echoes of discord
Towards shambles

Towards boulders along the shore
Lightning strikes shocks
Storm’s aftermath revealed at dawn
Death on the rocks

Deibide Baise Fri Tuin Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 2 Comments

The Deibide Baise Fri Tuin is an Irish poetic form that uses rhymes with mild swings in line length.

The stanzas are quatrains with a couplet rhyme scheme aabb. Lines 1 and 2 end on a two-syllable word and lines 3 and 4 on a monosyllabic word. Line 1 consists of 3 syllables, lines 2 and 3 have 7 syllables, and line 4 has 1 syllable. This gives the following structure:

x(xa)
xxxxx(xa)
xxxxxxb
b

Example

Constant Rewind by JezzieG

In darkness
With clarity and starkness
We see the light meant to be
Free

Of fashion
As senses breathe with passion
And the old words of romance
Dance

But instead
The past endlessly reread
A mind on constant rewind
Blind

We survive
But never to be alive
For love to be it’s too late
Hate

Cyhydedd Fer Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

A Welsh couplet form composed of 8-syllable lines and an end rhyme. Unusually for a Welsh poetic form, it is as simple as that. The couplets can be written as individual stanzas or packed together into longer even lined stanzas

Rhyme scheme aa bb cc dd and so on

Example

Rapture in Twilight by JezzieG

They called you Ra so long ago
Reborn each day in cosmic glow

From longest day to shortest night
I see your rapture in twilight

And does the earth now mourn with me
For you are gone so others see

Your golden clouds that gently wake
Your sleeping children at daybreak

My king of light and all things true
I pray their souls will honour you

Rhupunt Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 2 Comments

A Welsh form, the Rhupunt has some variability but is still governed by rigid form rules.

Can be written in lines or stanzas of 3 to 5 sections
Each section has 4 syllables
All but the final section rhyme with each other
The final section of each line or stanza rhymes with the final section of the other lines or stanzas

Example

Pwyll and Rhiannon by JezzieG

Old Celtic tales echo o’er vales Pwyll, prince of Wales called for one year
To take the place in Arawn’s space with foes to face, no time for fear

Enemies slayed he meets a maid and with her laid their wedding bed
A son was born from parents torn until the dawn of truth be said

Cro Cumaisc Etir Casbairdni Ocus Lethrannaigecht Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 2 Comments

An Irish form the Cro Cumaisc Etir Ocus Lethrannaigecht, despite its long name, is a four-line quatrain poem. Lines 1 and 3 consist of seven-syllables each and lines 2 and 4 of five-syllables each. Lines 1 and 2 end with a three-syllable word and line 2 and 4 with a one-syllable word. The rhyme scheme is as follows:
abab cdcd efef and so on

Example

October by JezzieG

October, sing devotion
Comforting my soul
Echo my heart’s emotion
Make my spirit whole

Tennyson-Turner Sonnet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Structure: Three quatrains and a couplet
Meter: Pentameter or Decasyllabic
Rhyme Scheme: abab cdcd effe fe

Example

The Edge of Love by JezzieG

Three words she said beneath the autumn moon,
and touched my soul with softly whispered sighs,
a breathless moment cast on mystic rune
my mind askew before my heart replies.

Above the Northern Lights where winter sleeps,
my joy can find no words to give my voice
as to her gentle kiss my spirit leaps
so shall my loving heart declare its choice.

The shining stars ascend above the land
are vaguely dimmed compared to love tonight,
within my heart I feel her words incite
my own; as on the edge of love I stand.

When in her eyes I see tribade delight
my fingers reach to slowly grasp her hand

Cyhydedd Hir Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

A Welsh poetic form, the Cyhydedd Hir consists of 4-line stanzas. Lines 1, 2, and 3 have five syllables each and line 4 has four syllables. Lines 1, 2, and 3 rhyme with each other and line 4 of the first quatrain rhymes with the second. Consecutive stanzas can be connected by the 4th line rhyme to create longer stanzas

Rhyme schemes
aaab cccb ddde fffe and so on

aaabcccb dddefffe and so on

aaabcccbdddb eeefgggf hhhijjjikkki and so on

Example

Elphin and the Boy by JezzieG

Fishing lines were bare
Heart filled with despair
But a child found there
So it shall be

Elphin’s heart so sad
And what of the lad
This child needs a dad
So it shall be

Taliesin by name
His brow shines no shame
His wisdom acclaim
So it shall be

And he speaks this lad
No fish, don’t be sad
What is yours be glad
So it shall be

Swannet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Structure: Three quatrains and a couplet
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: A1bbA2 cddc effe A1A2

Example

Black Bird by JezzieG

The lord of prophecy and artistic word
Returning silent life to the war dead
Before he too came to lose his own head
The cauldron-god with wings of a blackbird.
For seven years foreseeing Harlech’s fate
And then four score and seven more in Gwales
In music, art, and song he shared his many tales
That traversed time and space to where we wait.
Bran the Blessed keeps the enemy at bay
They dare not venture cross the channel sea
So we may live a life forever free
Through distant times we remember today
The lord of prophecy and artistic word,
The cauldron-god with wings of a blackbird

Clogyrnach Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 6 Comments

A Welsh form the Clogyrnach is a six-line syllabic stanza over an ab rhyme scheme.
Lines one and two consist of 8-syllables each, lines three and four are 5-syllables each, and lines five and six are 3-syllables each. Lines five and six can be combined into one line at the poet’s discretion

The rhyme scheme is

aabbba

Example

Radiant Brow by JezzieG

From the mystic valleys of Wales
He came to tell history’s tales
Of peasants and kings
And magical things
The Bard sings
Still in Wales

Contrapuntal Poems Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Influenced by the music world, the Contrapuntal poem is composed of two or more poems intertwined to make one single composition. This is most often done by offering a line of poem A followed by a line from poem B and so on

Example

Two Quatrains of Autumn’s Contrapuntal by JezzieG

Two Quatrains

Bright red reflections
Golden highlights fluttering
Soon will come the gathering
Where squirrels scurry for acorns

Echo the rustlings on the cool breeze
Whispers of leaves awaiting destiny’s flight
As the trees surrender to autumnal call
Making ready for the winter’s rest

Autumn’s Contrapuntal

Bright red reflections
Echo the rustlings on the cool breeze
Golden highlights fluttering
Whispers of leaves awaiting destiny’s flight
Soon will come the gathering
As the trees surrender to autumnal call
Where squirrels scurry for acorns
Making ready for the winter’s rest

Cethramtu Rannaigechta Moire Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 4 Comments

The Cethramtu Rannaigechta Moire is an Irish poetic form consisting of quatrains (four-line stanzas). All the lines have three syllables and lines two and four rhyme giving the following structure

xxa
xxb
xxc
xxb
.

Example

The Cup by JezzieG

China cup
Held in palm
Simple taste
To bring calm

Peace of mind
When tears flow
Warming tea
Lets it go

And in joy
Perfect sup
And all this
From one cup

Chanso Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Chanso poems adapt to the poet’s need and want. A French form, it consists of five or six stanzas with an envoi about half the size of one of the stanzas.

The length and structure of the stanzas is at the poets choosing, however, each line of the poem should have the same syllabic length and each stanza should be of the same line length and rhyme scheme.

Example

Wedding Photo by JezzieG

The love smiling on their faces
Their vow made for life and for time
A promise sworn in youthful prime
Unpacking honeymoon cases

Romantic Italian places
The memories of a lifetime
Their Venice kiss as the bells chime
A seal of love the heart graces

Such a love ticks all the bases
When living in the city grime
So country walks and mountains climb
For the quiet of peaceful spaces

Time passes; it leaves no traces
A disease committing the crime
Their love was running out of time
In death there are no embraces

The love smiling on their faces
Their vow made for life and for time

Chant Royal Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

A 14th century French form the Chant Royale is a 60-line poem that employs rhymes and refrains.

The poem consists of five 11-line stanzas followed by a 5-line envoy. The 11-line stanzas follow the rhyme scheme ababccddedE and the envoy ddedE making the final line of each stanza the refrain. There is no set meter but lines consist of between 8 and 10 syllables.

This gives the following schematic

ababccddedE
ababccddedE
ababccddedE
ababccddedE
ababccddedE
ddedE

Example

Screams of Light by JezzieG

Bright screams of light across the sky
Hurry, hurry get underground
Don’t ask, there is no time for why
Get underground as sirens sound
The screams of light are moving fast
Get underground before they blast
The city shaking again tonight
With children crying in their fright
And a babe wrapped in mother’s shawl
Stay underground and out of sight
Screams of light as the missiles fall

The strange forms of night chill the eye
Another child cannot be found
An innocent life’s left to die
Whispers echo beneath the ground
Just a name sent into the past
But this night will not be the last
More men are drafted into fight
Against the odds, against the night
For the innocent, they give all
For families, they left in plight
Screams of light as the missiles fall

In daylight see broken bodies lie
Victims whose names cannot be found
Yet by mass graves, the women cry
For those, they bury ‘neath the ground
For those for whom death came too fast
For those, whose shadows no longer cast
There’s no comfort in the daylight
Just ruins, a burial site
Empty boxes on a roll call
That seeped their blood into the night
Screams of light as the missiles fall

Every day no time to cry
Finding food within the compound
To carry on a day goes by
Before rushing back underground
No time to cry or be downcast
The war goes on and time is fast
The outside world that knows their plight
Does nothing for living in fright
They say it’s wrong, they heard the call
But they will not do what is right
Screams of light as the missiles fall

Night falls as once more sirens cry
Hurry, hurry get underground
As screams of light take to the sky
Soon the city will echo sound
Familiar now, just a blast
Lives lost to fade into the past
Proving points of power and might
But who is keeping score tonight
In death can it be proved at all
Bullying ways are no fair fight
Screams of light as the missiles fall

Innocent lives, it’s not their fight
And power doesn’t make it alright
Yet the world ignoring them all
Is as guilty as sin tonight
Screams of light as the missiles fall

Cento Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

The Cento is a poem comprised of lines and phrases from other previously written poems. This can be the poet’s own work, a specific poet, or a combination of many poets.

Example

Romancing with the Romantics by JezzieG

Beloved, speak to me again of love
tell me again
where fountains mingle with streams
and the winds of heaven mix
with sweet emotion
again tell me your philosophy
with images of kissings of the moon and sea
as with your divine words
you again kiss me

Beloved, dress me as your doll
cosset and dangle me in modern love
let your soldiers play with the hearts of my queens
hold me without reason or justification
in the sweet agony of your love
as it melts beneath the beaver hats

Beloved, let me walk in your beauty
be the day to my night
one more time lead me to dance
to the music of your gaudy light
where a single ray of sun
softly caresses the beauty of your face
as in your eloquence you tell me
of the days we spent chasing desire
and as you smile
set my heart to glow
for our love found in innocence

Resources for the cento

Percy Bysshe Shelley – Love’s Philosophy
John Keats – Modern Love
Lord Byron – She Walks in Beauty

Quintilla Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

A 16th-century Spanish Quatrain form the Quintilla is a quintet of eight-syllable or iambic tetrameter lines. The presentation of the rhyme scheme can vary but only two consecutive lines may have the same rhyme. For example

aabba

abbaa

abaab

Weight Watching Poets by Jez Farmer

Calories in everythin’
All add up to that fat or thin
You cannot eat that, you must eat this
A poet can rhyme that with a kiss
Are words therefore also a sin?

I wonder if I should cut
The endless cups of coffee but
I’d only drink my tea instead
I need caffeine to clear my head
To tighten up my lines somewhat.

A poet diets to shed those
Old clich’d words that oft disclose
Too much. Not enough is worse
It is a curse of written verse
Perhaps I should then write in prose

Endecha Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 2 Comments

A 19th-century Spanish form the Endecha is a quatrain stanza form. Lines 1, 2, and 3 consist of 7 syllables each and line 4 is 11-syllables.

Rhyme scheme: abcb defe ghih and so on.

Example

Impressions by JezzieG

Correspondents cover war
The battles caught up in strife
Pencils and paint show images
Artist impressions of bombs and loss of life

Cascade Poem Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 5 Comments

Created by Udit Bhatia the idea of the Cascade poem is to take each line from the first stanza and make those the final lines of each of the following stanzas. There are no rules of rhyme or meter

Example

Love not War by JezzieG

Your fingers grazing my skin
As senses explode like mines
Where I’m unarmed as you destroy me

Desire simmers deep within
Anticipation in lust defines
Your fingers grazing my skin

Exploding moments of passion set free
With kisses that linger a bit too long
As senses explode like mines

Mind and body united in wanting
Surrender into the fire of lust
Where I’m unarmed as you destroy me

Saraband Sonnet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 2 Comments

Saraband Sonnet 1

Structure: Triplet, quatrain, triplet, and quatrain
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: axa bcbc dxd efef

Example

October Nights by Jezzie G

With October nights drawing in
Autumn arrives in gowns of gold
Gathering apples for bobbin’

And Canada geese call goodbye
To journey south for winter time
A rigid v across the sky
Among the clouds in flight they climb

As northern winds begin to blow
Taking their turn to lead the squad
These wily birds know where to go

While helping each other keep up
I wish I could fly with them too
To leave life to clean itself up
Among those memories of you

Saraband Sonnet 2

Structure: Triplet, quatrain, triplet, and quatrain
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: axa bcbc dxd effe

Example

Love in Stillness by JezzieG

How silently time passes by
Like a river that flows through fields
A force of life lost to the eye

Yet in fiery skies of sunrise
There’s a momentary stillness
Between sleeping and waking eyes
A moment for love to confess

While knowing your love is still near
Another day will pass alone
Yet holds nothing for me to fear

It’s one more day closer to you
As I sit here drinking my tea
And I whisper “I love you, too”
Soon baby, soon, you’ll be with me

Saraband Sonnet 3

Structure: Triplet, quatrain, triplet, and quatrain
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: axa bcbc dxd eeff

Example

Perfect Love by JezzieG

She is a mystery to me
Just how she does it all and some
Being all things she needs to be

Whatever gets thrown in the mix
She hears my pain both big and small
As she finds that emotional fix
So I can stand and stand up tall

Her perfect love every day
Seems fearless when crying my tears
I know she loves me anyway

And I wonder how she does it
Her love seems a bottomless pit
As she makes me smile when I’m glum
And I am grateful for my mum

Saraband Sonnet 4

Structure: Triplet, quatrain, triplet, and quatrain
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: axa bccb dxd efef

Example

My Light in the Dark by JezzieG

When tears were falling from my eyes
And words of love just didn’t care
You were there to hear my heart’s cries

Listening to my confused fears
While I fought those battles within
me, old wars of what might have been
But you stayed and brushed up my tears

Stood beside me as I grew weak
My world ending, falling apart
I knew your love was mine to seek

In my darkness you took my hand
When none could be bothered to care
Your love was there for me to share
My soul, only you understand

Saraband Sonnet 5

Structure: Triplet, quatrain, triplet and quatrain
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: axa bccb dxd effe

Example

Abiding Love by JezzieG

We stand and fight for what is right
For the truth of love, we both know
Belongs to us in sweet delight

You hold my hand to lead you through
For one day we will dance the moon
For love composed our special tune
But understand that you lead me too

For our love to be we stand as one
Forever together we are
Strong enough for the rising sun

Another day to work it out
Another night to feel you close
Sweet dreams kisses before we doze
All is okay there’s no more doubt

Saraband Sonnet 6

Structure: Triplet, quatrain, triplet, and quatrain
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: axa bccb dxd eeff

Example

Livvy by JezzieG

I don’t want to feel love this way
For it is love I cannot share
A love that’s once upon a day

No flirty love letters to send
Yet you gaze at me from the wall
My mind runs away with it all
But reality I cannot bend

In my dreams you sing me your song
You, a super star of music
And how I have loved you so long

I look into your eyes on screen
And dream of love in baby blue
This love is pure and always true
Yet is a crush that can’t have been

Saraband Sonnet 7

Structure: Triplet, quatrain, triplet, and quatrain
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: axa bbcc dxd efef

Example

Inside Black by JezzieG

Her secrets hidden inside black
Patent leather, and nobody knew
Behind the compact at the back

Dreams of a girl falling in love
Tucked neatly beside a white glove
His words offered from just before
The Kaiser brought about the war

His heart declared now he must fight
For her, his country, and for peace
As to her dreams she held on tight

But war is cruel with black-edged pain
His life taken in bullet fire
Letters she reads over again
Before the war she knew desire

Saraband Sonnet 8

Structure: Triplet, quatrain, triplet, and quatrain
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: axa bbcc dxd effe

Example

Feathers of Hope by JezzieG

The feathers of destiny
Embracing hope to dream a bit
Where wings of life are flying free

Hope the bird of different song
That hold our dreams all the night long
To sing it sweetest at sunrise
Releasing our fate to the skies

A new start on another day
As our waking eyes greet the sun
The hope nothing gets in the way

Of all the plans we may have made
But some things are not for us to do
And hope helps us accept that too
So what is ours can make it through

Saraband Sonnet 9

Structure: Triplet, quatrain, triplet, and quatrain
Meter: Tetrameter or octosyllabic lines
Rhyme Scheme: axa bbcc dxd eeff

Example

Walking the Chase by JezzieG

To walk with you through untouched snow
The chilled breeze unnoticed by love
Just footprints behind where we go

But should I do it on my own
Making the trail through the fields alone
Would I still find the snow-kissed rose
That brushed the flakes off of my nose

Can I still feel you walking beside
Or hear you laughing through the Chase
While matching my legs stride for stride

It’s not the same out here today
And there’s no snow on the pathway
But I’m feeling you everywhere
Like a misty breath on cold air

Quatern Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

The Quatern consists of four four-line stanzas. As is common with French forms there is a refrain, but unusually no rhyme scheme is specified. Typical of French poetry it consists of eight-syllable lines and no meter is specified.
The Refrain is the first line of the first stanza, which becomes the second line of the second stanza, the third line of the third stanza, and the last line of the last stanza.
Example

In The Darkness by Terry Clitheroe

In the darkness I find my fear
Feeling, hearing every sound
Lying here powerless to fight
Totally aware of the dark.

Then I feel the first sharp bite
In the darkness I find my fear
The sensation the acid burns
Feeling, hearing every sound.

I feel them everywhere now
Penetrated a million times
In the darkness I find my fear
Voracious appetites I feed.

My body now a piece of meat
In the darkness I find my fear,
Feeling, hearing every sound
In the darkness I find my fear

Volcanic Workshop Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 6 Comments

Created by: Jose Rizal M. Reyes
Structure: Three quatrains and a couplet
Meter: Pentameter or decasyllabic
Rhyme Scheme: abbb ccbb ddbb ee, b rhymes are feminine

Example

Poppy’s Pride by Larry Eberhart

The poppy probably does feel it’s blessed
when pondering the universal quest
for beauty by the bards of creatures human.
You don’t deny they think, I’m now assumin’.
“No thorns have I dissuading roaming beasts
yet I’m not favored as a bovine feast.
I’m not as fragrant smelling as is cumin.
I serve to honor killed and missing crewmen,
…and soldiers lost in battles everywhere.
who, fakes upon their lapels proudly wear.
I reject the very thought of doom and
expect that happiness ought be resuming.
For like draws like, and thus most naturally
I often find it peering down at me

Pregunta Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 4 Comments

A Spanish form, the Pregunta poses a question and offers a response.

It is usually written as a collaborative poem.

The first stanza presents the question(s) and the second stanza gives an answer whilst keeping the form and structure of the first stanza

Quick note: The first stanza sets the structure for the second half of the poem. Not only does it decide the subject through the question (or questions) it asks, but it also decides the structure and form of the poem.

Example

More Than Stars by JezzieG

She asked if she mattered
in a world where opinions count
more than the stars?
Does she shine light in the darkness
and will I remember her name
would my living be the same
if I lived without her?

I said I am flattered
in her world, my opinions count
she is my star
and the only light in my darkness
my lips will always call her name
living is just not the same
in this world without her

Echo Verse Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 3 Comments

The Echo Verse, unlike many poetic forms, has one simple rule: Repeat the end syllable(s) of each line. There is no rhyme or meter requirement. The repeats can be achieved by either repeating the end syllable(s) in the original line or directly as the starting syllable(s) of the next line.

Example

Shadows by JezzieG

Shadows play in candlelight. Light
The focus when love fades out. Out
Of the loop where senses descend. Send
Feelings to rest begin again. Gain
Nothing but truth defined. Find
the will to be something, anything

Palindrome Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

The Palindrome uses in the same words in the second half of the poem as in the first but in reverse order. The middle word of the poem acts as a bridge or turning point between the two halves.

Example

Innocent by Jezzie G

Days gone by
recalling of times
and boys and girls
of talking in love
innocent
love in talking of
girls and boys and
times of recalling
bygone days

Vaughnet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Created by: Henry Vaughan
Structure: Quatrain, couplet, and two quatrains
Meter: Pentameter or Decasyllabic
Rhyme Scheme: abab cc dede fgfg

Example

Chipmonk Bouquet by Larry Eberhart

I love my Tess, I love my Tess, I do.
I must confess it is sweet Tess, I crave.
She rubbed my nose so I suppose love’s true.
She’s crazy over flowers, she does rave.
“The flower power is most sensual.
but neat- it is; they’re sweet and edible.”

So what we’ll do- if fine with you- I say-
Is place my face right here with baby breath.
to frame my fame in cellophane bouquet.
She’ll giggle, laugh or else be scared to death.

But she’s the one, I want to share my nuts.
She’s cute, a beauty really with filled cheeks.
I need to succeed; no ifs ands or buts.
If this works fine she will be mine for keeps

Paradelle Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 7 Comments

Originally introduced by Billy Collins as a demanding French form he later admitted he created as a joke. However, he wasn’t joking about the demanding rules of the Paradelle

It is a poem of four stanzas.

Each stanza consists of six lines

For stanzas 1-3 the first and second lines should be the same, the third and fourth lines should be the same with the fifth and sixth lines composed of all the words from the first and third lines, and only the words of the first and third lines.

The fourth stanza is composed of all the words of the fifth and sixth lines of the first three stanzas and only those words.

Example

Paradelle for Susan by Billy Collins

I remember the quick, nervous bird of your love.
I remember the quick, nervous bird of your love.
Always perched on the thinnest, highest branch.
Always perched on the thinnest, highest branch.
Thinnest love, remember the quick branch.
Always nervous, I perched on your highest bird the.
—
It is time for me to cross the mountain.
It is time for me to cross the mountain.
And find another shore to darken with my pain.
And find another shore to darken with my pain.
Another pain for me to darken the mountain.
And find the time, cross my shore, to with it is to.
—
The weather warm, the handwriting familiar.
The weather warm, the handwriting familiar.
Your letter flies from my hand into the waters below.
Your letter flies from my hand into the waters below.
The familiar waters below my warm hand.
Into handwriting your weather flies you letter the from the.
—
I always cross the highest letter, the thinnest bird.
Below the waters of my warm familiar pain,
Another hand to remember your handwriting.
The weather perched for me on the shore.
Quick, your nervous branch flew from love.
Darken the mountain, time and find was my into it was with to to

Pantoum Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Originally a Malaysian form the Pantoum was adapted by the French and popular in Europe, with Baudelaire and Fouinet being amongst the foremost users of the form.
The Pantoum is a strict repeating form with no stanza count, the French Pantoum has an eight-syllable count, and the Malaysian style has no syllable count. The French style includes a repeat back to complete the circle, whereas that isn’t necessary with the Malaysian form

The rhyme scheme is as follows

A1B1A2B2 B2C1B2C2 C1D1C2D2 …. For the French Pantoum Z1A2Z2A1

Malaysian Pantoum Example

Claire de Lune by Terry Clitheroe

The moonlight shines on singing waters
A chorus repeated by humming stones
In a composition of competing meters
Bringing peace to my stressed bones.

A chorus repeated by humming stones
Under the light of a strawberry moon
Bringing peace to my stressed bones,
It’s not hard for souls to become attuned.

Under the light of a strawberry moon
Two lovers watch falling under its spell.
It’s not hard for souls to become attuned.
As we older lovers know only too well

Transitive Sonnet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Created by: Larry Eberhart
Structure: Couplet, tercet, quatrain, tercet, and a couplet
Meter: 8 to 13 syllable lines,
Rhyme Scheme: aa bbb cccc bbb aa

Example

Child by Mary Sullivan Boren

I’m saving treasures in a dresser drawer:
a diaper pin, the little shoes you wore

with jingles in the laces, a barrette
still clasping strands of wispy hair. They whet
my hankering for things I can’t forget.

Before our paths converged, I held a view
of easy, unobstructed passage through
the challenges of motherhood. I knew
exactly what to do at twenty-two.

But that was long before my stumbling feet
were pressed into the coals, the searing heat
of constant battle forcing my retreat.

And though you’ve plunged my heart into despair
a thousand nights, I can’t forget to care

Breccbairdne Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 6 Comments

An Irish quatrain, the Breccbairdnre consist of four-syllable counted lines. The first line contains five syllables and the remaining three contain six each. This gives the following structure
xxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxx

Furthermore, each line ends with a two-syllable word, with lines two and four rhyming. Lines one and three should consonate with each other

This gives a schematic of

xxa(xb)
xxxx(xc)
xxbx(xa)
xxxx(xc)

Example

Random Can on the Shelf by JezzieG

The can of chilli
sits alone just waiting
nothing frilly thereof
beans ready for plating

Tory Hexa Tet Sonnet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Created by: Victoria Sutton
Structure: Octet, Couplet, and quatrain
Meter: first eight lines, 12 syllables, couplet, 8 syllables, last four lines,12 syllables
Rhyme Scheme: ababcdcd ee ffgg

Example

Just Makin’ Hay by Larry Eberhart

Three guys wouldn’t touch me until I turned eight-teen.
Although my virgin license long ago expired.
The young bucks were delighted with a teeny queen.
The mature men I seek deem legal age required.
Yesterday, I told the young pups to all get lost.
They can find another or handle it by hand.
I’m only doing men now who can bear the cost.
With my young age and figure, much I can command.

“Do while time bides your very whim.
Shine. Don’t put your life-lights on dim.”

I figure five years dishing sex and lust and praise.
will adequately prepare me for courting days.
I’ll write, and go to school and date without tensions
that I’m confronting as youth with my dimensions

Tet Zayin Sonnet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Created by: Amera M. Andersen
Structure: Four quatrains
Rhyme Scheme: Aabb bbcc ccdd ddaA

Stanza 1=11 syllable lines
Stanza 2=9 syllable lines
Stanza 3=9 syllable lines
Stanza 4 =11 syllable lines

Example

Tell Me of Your Anger in Whispers by Larry Eberhart

Persuade and convince with whispers in the night.
Speaking out in anger is apt to incite,
invoking defensive fight. One should just wait,
make sure their words are clear; let anger abate.

An angry start assures a debate
Let’s solve the problem, not aggravate.
Harsh words once tossed out, fly like a spear.
You want concurrence, it would appear,

so, wait and let anger disappear.
You convince me best when you are near.
If angered by blunder of my own
once I understand I will atone.

Between you and I no harsh words need be thrown
for granting joy to you, increases my own.
Tranquil ev’ning musings always turn out right.
Persuade and convince with whispers in the night

Ottava Rima Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

The Ottava Rima is a popular octave for long poetry. There is no set meter to the eight lines. The rhyme schema is abababcc

Example

Into the Horizon by Jez Farmer

Beneath the burning skies, I watched the sun,
Into the horizon, it gently fell,
While clouds of dreams, their magic begun,
Enchantments woven in a dusky spell,
As sunset’s reds then turned to night’s own dun,
In paler light, the moon sees all is well,
And destiny lingered to find her way,
As I watched the sun slowly set today

Teddybard Sonnet Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Created by: Teddybard
Structure: Quatorzain
Meter: Pentameter or decasyllabic
Rhyme Scheme: aaaabbccddeeff

Example

Not to be Relinquished by Larry Eberhart

Since every guy asked you to dance
I never thought I’d have a chance
to even profit from your glance,
much less to entertain romance.
I thought about you every day
your face, your hair, your gentle sway,
your kind response to all you’d meet,
your gentle voice which sounds.so sweet.
I’d wandered near your vacant chair
and when your partner brought you there
I mumbled “Hi!” held out my hand
I hadn’t waited for the band.
In your warm arms I felt befriended.
We danced on when music ended

Irregular Ode Notes

~ JezzieG

The Irregular Ode does away with formalities and focuses on the flattery and praising aspects of the ode

Example

Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats

Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring’d legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

Pindaric Ode Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Named after the Greek poet, Pindar, the Pindaric Ode consists of a pattern of three stanzas called triads. The poem can be composed of several triads. The first triad (the strophe) and the second (antistrophe) should be metrically identical, and the third (epode) wandering off on its own metrical path

Example

Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!

II
Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky’s commotion,
Loose clouds like earth’s decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,
Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
On the blue surface of thine aëry surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith’s height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge
Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
Vaulted with all thy congregated might

Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear!

III
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lull’d by the coil of his crystalline streams,
Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,

All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: oh hear!

IV
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seem’d a vision; I would ne’er have striven
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

A heavy weight of hours has chain’d and bow’d
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.

V
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like wither’d leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken’d earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Horatian Ode Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Named after the Latin poet, Horace, the Horatian Ode contains a stanza pattern (usually 2-4 lines in length but can be more) that repeats throughout the poem

Example

Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,—
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs,
Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.

Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster’d around by all her starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves;
And mid-May’s eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times hath
Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is fam’d to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now ’tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?

Nashers Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

Named after Ogden Nash, Nashers are couplets of any length that feature comical rhymes, including wrenched rhymes. A wrenched rhyme example from Nash’s poem “Kindly Unhitch the Star, Buddy” is rhinestones and ghrinestones.

Rhyme scheme: aa bb cc and so on

Example

Keep Walking? by Robert Lee Brewer

I walked alone deliberately in solitary liberty
as if no more civility could force a case of mirthity,

but then a black cat crossed my path sans any consideration
for superstitious natures or internal deliberations