Category Archives: dogma

Troisieme

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The following description is reposted with permission from Poetry Maqnum Opus, with thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on that fine resource.

The Troisieme is a verse form introduced by Viola Berg. The content is broken into 4 parts, an introduction in the 1st tercet, an expansion in the 2nd tercet, a parallel or contrast in the 3rd tercet and a summary or conclusion in the couplet.The structural elements of the Troisieme are:

  1. stanzaic, written in 3 tercets followed by a couplet.
  2. syllabic, 3-5-7 3-5-7 3-5-7 9-9  syllables each.   
  3. unrhymed.

    It’s Finally Here

    Holidays
    have turned the corner,
    the Christmas season begins.

    Ornaments
    boxed with care last year,
    unpacked and hung on the tree.

    Twinkling lights,
    and red bows adorn
    garland strung around the room.

    Candy canes and shaped sugar cookies
    fresh from the oven for you and me.
                                         ~~Judi Van Gorder

My Example

Form: Troisieme

Promised Ascension

Man alone will plot against his kind
because of words one man deemed were true.
They promote a life beyond this realm.

Dismiss all logic! Faith overcomes!
The next life counts promises much more.
Believe those words and your pain dissolves.

That others think those words are fiction
marks them somehow as threats deserving
Your enmity lest you come to doubt.

The plots and counter-plots marred reality
and placed our morality below the wolf.

© Lawrencealot – February 5, 2015

Choriambics

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Choriambics
Type: Line, Metrical Requirement
Description: One of those complex Greek rhythmic patterns. It is a line consisting of two trochees, an iamb, a trochee, an iamb, a trochee, and two iambs.
Origin: Greek
Schematic: Xx Xx xX Xx xX Xx xX xX
Rhythm/Stanza Length: 2
Line/Poem Length: 16
Pasted from  http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/000/43.shtml
My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his years of work on the wonderful Poetrybase resource.
Choriambics by Algernon Charles Swinburne
              1  Love, what ailed thee to leave life that was made lovely, we thought, with love?
              2  What sweet visions of sleep lured thee away, down from the light above?
              3  What strange faces of dreams, voices that called, hands that were raised to wave,
              4   Lured or led thee, alas, out of the sun, down to the sunless grave?
              5  Ah, thy luminous eyes! once was their light fed with the fire of day;
              6  Now their shadowy lids cover them close, hush them and hide away.
              7  Ah, thy snow-coloured hands! once were they chains, mighty to bind me fast;
              8  Now no blood in them burns, mindless of love, senseless of passion past.
              9  Ah, thy beautiful hair! so was it once braided for me, for me;
            10 Now for death is it crowned, only for death, lover and lord of thee.
            11 Sweet, the kisses of death set on thy lips, colder are they than mine;
            12 Colder surely than past kisses that love poured for thy lips as wine.
            13 Lov’st thou death? is his face fairer than love’s, brighter to look upon?
            14 Seest thou light in his eyes, light by which love’s pales and is overshone?
            15 Lo the roses of death, grey as the dust, chiller of leaf than snow!
            16 Why let fall from thy hand love’s that were thine, roses that loved thee so?
            17 Large red lilies of love, sceptral and tall, lovely for eyes to see;
            18 Thornless blossom of love, full of the sun, fruits that were reared for thee.
            19 Now death’s poppies alone circle thy hair, girdle thy breasts as white;
            20 Bloodless blossoms of death, leaves that have sprung never against the light.
            21 Nay then, sleep if thou wilt; love is content; what should he do to weep?
            22 Sweet was love to thee once; now in thine eyes sweeter than love is sleep.
Pasted from <https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/html/1807/4350/poem2076.html>

Note: All of the examples I found were couplet rhyme, with stanzas greater than 16 lines. (Robert Brooke, Algernon Charles Swinburne)

 

My example  

Searching simply because questions demand answers has driven me
first, to question the “facts” dogma asserts, second to really see
serendipity take charge when we let nature control the dance.
Recognize that what’s here is and it’s prime! whether or not by chance.

(c) Lawrencealot – November 21, 2014

First-and-Last-Rhyme

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First-and-Last-Rhyme

 This form was created by Mary Lou Healy, who writes on Allpoetry.com as MLou.  
It was patterned after her own poem Scented Medicine.

Scented Medicine … (A first-and-last rhyme)
  
Leaving a signature,
weaving so wondrous pure
a fragrance to fill this room…
a flagrance, such heavy bloom!
 
Showering air with scent,
flowering there, rose lent
glamor to plainest day,
clamoring, “Won’t you stay
a bit of a while?  You’ll find
a bit of a smile in mind.”
 
Stopping, I lost my frown.
Dropping sweet petals down,
rose begins to shatter;
knows that it won’t matter,
 
for her short life has gifted
more than my spirits lifted!

Pasted from http://allpoetry.com/poem/10017005-Scented-Medicine—…—-A-first-and-last-rhyme–by-Mlou

This poet required the help of the author to properly present the metric specifications for this form, because Mary Lou used ascephalous feet predominately, but not exclusively throughout.

The form is:
Stanzaic: consisting of 4 stanzas, a quatrain, a sestet, a quatrain, and a couplet.
Metric: All lines are trimeter. The first 12 lines consist of an iamb, an anapest, and a iamb. The final 4 lines are all iambic trimeter.
Rhymed: Head rhyme and End Rhyme exist in a couplet pattern throughout the poem.
Rhyme pattern is independent for head and end rhyme: aabbccddeeffgghh. The final 4 end-rhymes are feminine.

My example

I Need No Promises  (First-and-Last-Rhyme)

I pondered the cleric’s verse
and squandered my time, and worse;
I gave weight to other men
who raved and then said “Amen.”

If fables that stood for fact
enabled priests to extract
behavior and tithing to
a savior who’d then save you
those men wearing “truth’s” own cloak
again can promote a joke.

I’ll die as will all of us.
So why pray tell, make a fuss?

My soul finds “now” appealing.
My role requires no dealing.
No Hell you’ll find me fearing; 
it’s well this life’s endearing.

© Lawrencealot – November 2, 2014

Visual template
Note: I found it more convenient to present the poem
as quatrain, sestet, couplet,quatrain because of the continuity of meter.

First and Last Rhyme

Cycle

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Pathways for the Poet by Viola Berg (1977) is a book for and by educators. Classic poetic forms as well as many invented forms which appear to have been invented as teaching tools or exercizes for use in workshops or classrooms are included. Some of these invented forms I have found in use in internet poetry communities, a testament to their staying power. On this page I include the metric invented forms found there in which appear to be exclusive to the community of educators from whom Ms. Berg drew her support. I have yet to find these in any other source. I have included the syllabic invented forms on a separate page. Whether classroom exercise or sharpening your skill as a writer, some of these forms can be fun to play with.

• Cycle appears to be an exercise in meter and rhyme. This invented verse form was created by Paul Emile Miller.

The Cycle is:
○ stanzaic, written in 3 quatrains.
○ metric, L1 and L3 tetrameter made up of a trochee followed by a dactyl and 2 iambs; L1 and L3 often use feminine end words. L2 and L4 are iambic trimeter. “Pathways” description and example are in conflict, the description of meter here fits with the example poem.
○ rhymed, abab cbcb dbdb.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1199#dionol
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Naturally Selected (Cycle)

Defunct vestigials are proof I reckon,
(denying dogma’s claims)
demonstrating clearly changes beckon,
in life’s ambiguous game.

Natures monologue denies we’re molded,
pre-cast, annealed in flame.
Mankind draws then repeats, hand un-folded –
survival’s life’s whole aim.

Limitations, norms, exceptions, changes
responding – not the same.
Bio plasma slowly rearranges,
without thought, overcame.

© Lawrencealot – September 4, 2014

Visual template

Cycle

Arkaham Ballad

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Pathways for the Poet by Viola Berg (1977) is a book for and by educators. Classic poetic forms as well as many invented forms which appear to have been invented as teaching tools or exercizes for use in workshops or classrooms are included. Some of these invented forms I have found in use in internet poetry communities, a testament to their staying power. On this page I include the metric invented forms found there in which appear to be exclusive to the community of educators from whom Ms. Berg drew her support. I have yet to find these in any other source. I have included the syllabic invented forms on a separate page. Whether classroom exercise or sharpening your skill as a writer, some of these forms can be fun to play with.

• Arkaham Ballad can be identified by the last line of each stanza being repeated as the first three metric feet of the next stanza. One more invented stanza form appears to be a teaching tool created by Queena Davidson Miller. It is not really a ballad but is suited to relate current events and news articles.

The Arkaham Ballad is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of cinquains.
○ accentual syllabic, iambic, L1, L3, L4 tetrameter and L2 and L5 trimeter.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme xabba xcddc xeffe etc. x being unrhymed.
○ composed with L5 repeated as the 1st three metric feet of L1 of the next stanza.
○ suited to current events and the news.

Police Shooting by Judi Van Gorder

They say an unarmed man was shot
by cops who’ve run-a-muck.
A family man who cut some hair
and shaved a face or two. A pair
of punks highjacked a truck.

The punks highjacked a truck and he
was at the same address,
police arrived and shots were fired,
the barber hit and soon expired
The why of it a guess.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1199#dionol
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

_____

My example

Conduct Unbecoming (Arkaham Ballad)

Subcultures determine the flow
when hate has been accrued.
For race and religion involve
some problems most hard to resolve.
Perhaps mankind is screwed.

Perhaps mankind is screwed my friend,
as Ferguson has shown,
and Watts before, and Rodney King,
and every other racial thing.
The hateful seeds are sown.

The hateful seeds are sown by acts
that we can justify.
We’ll plunder, hurt, and break the laws
and disregard, it harms our cause
but still won’t satisfy.

© Lawrencealot – September 1, 2014

Visual template

Arkaham Ballad

Inverted Refrain

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  • Inverted Refrain is an invented form found at Shadow Poetry, created by the winner of their 2007 Chap Book Competition, Jan Turner and published in Faery Folk and Fireflies.
    I believe the form took its name from the rhetorical device, “inverted refrain”, originally used by the ancient Greek poet Sappho. “Inverted refrain” is a writing technique in which the syntax of a line is reversed. eg ..the Sapphic line “I know not what to do”. I am not sure that the composition instruction at Shadow Poetry exactly fits the literary definition of “inverted refrain” but the form could still be a fun challenge to conquer as long as it enhances the delivery of the poet’s thoughts,    The Inverted Refrain as an invented verse form is:

    • stanzaic, written in any number of sixains, made up of a quatrain followed by an indented couplet.
    • syllabic, all lines are 8 syllables.
    • rhymed, rhyme scheme ababab or ababba, cdcdcd or cdcddc etc….
    • composed in the following manner, “the first four lines of a stanza create a statement from which the last 2 lines extract the meaning, and invert the way it is said.” Jan Turner @Shadow Poetry
  • Finding Faeries by Jan Turner (stanza 1) the whole poem can be read at Shadow Poetry.
    A sprinkling shine of faery dust
    is mica-layered on the rocks
    Pretending to be nature’s crust
    It really is a paradox:
    ——— A paradox of mica rocks
    ——— From faery dust on nature’s crust.
Many thanks to Judi Van Gorder of PMO (PoetryMagnumOpus) for maintaining a wonderful resouce site.
 
Example Poem
White Man’s Heaven      (Inverted Refrain)
He didn’t know about the Lord
so was exempt from Cath’lic hell.
The church tried bringing him aboard
but he was fallible and fell.
        Instead of finding Lord’s reward
        he now in mortal fear must dwell.
© Lawrencealot – November 28, 2013
Visual Template

San Gabriel Refrain

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Created by Lawrence R. Eberhart, aka Lawrencealot on Allpoetry, and named by  Doubletake on  Allpoetry….He said, “As to the name: it’s a stretch… But the repeated uneven line lengths are vaguely reminiscent of the profile of a mountain range. How about “San Gabriel Refrain”?
This form was borne of an appreciation for the ever increasingly popular Trijan Refrain created by Jan Turner. It is a little longer giving room for weightier subjects.
Like the Trijan Refrain is has three stanzas*, each having a two line refrain. Unlike the TR, it has no requirement that the first line be repeated, and the poet may choose to take his refrain from any contiguous part of either lines 1, 3, or 5.
This was revised on November 9th, 2013 to allow any number of stanzas.
There must be a refrain in both lines 7 and 8, it may be a line repeated from any of the source lines, or it may be taken from separate lines (if you have taken care to make the proper syllable rhyme).
Latest REVISON:   The REFRAINS may be contiguous syllables taken from any place in the source lines.
There shall be 6 syllables for the pentameter  version and 4 syllables for the tetrameter version.
The refrain may be repeated from just one line as in the Trijan Refrain, or it may, as in the example below be taken from any of the mandated lines.
The stanzas are syllabic: 10/8/10/8/10/10/6/6/10/10 for what I’ll call the pentameter version
and 8/6/8/6/8/8/4/4/8/8 for what I’ll call the tetrameter version .
with rhyme scheme ababccddee.
A single poem has any number of stanzas.
Any consistent meter is acceptable.
Specifications last changed on November 9 , 2013 all with the idea of increasing poets’ discretion and opportunity for creativity.
 
Example Poem
 
Cognitive Continuum (San Gabriel Refrain)
 
If we should disagree- I’m obstinate! 
You’re such a silly guy you know 
it’s wrong to pose that you are adamant 
to think that some thing must be so. 
Still, something sure must be, and working well. 
But what it is at this time we can’t tell. 
If we should disagree 
Still, something sure must be. 
But man when saying “must” is seldom right. 
Five thousand churches, all they do is fight. 
 
Now science has become so self possessed, 
constrained by those who’ve made their name, 
whose right to truth is often self-professed
and bars newcomers from their game. 
A race to skim the scum from grantors pond 
by bringing forth results of which they’re fond. 
Now science has become 
A race to skim the scum 
To publish or to perish is the song. 
and there is no real cost to get it wrong. 
 
So if the beads and cross have so far failed, 
and science is so often wrong 
with models at a loss- results derailed 
(at best just guessing, all along.)
It seems none have the right now to insist 
they know for certain what others have missed. 
So if the beads and cross 
with models at a loss 
all leave a little room for cogent doubt 
I can see options and not feel left out. 
 
© Lawrencealot – October 22,2013
Visual Template(Showing iambic pentameter version)
       and giving examples of ways in which the refrain lines might be populated.
Originally named Longer Refrain…
 
 

Rondeau Redoublé

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The rondeau redoublé is not an easy form to write. It uses only two rhymes throughout, repeats whole lines, and has an awkward repeated half-line at the end. Let’s look at an example.

The first stanza is the key to the whole poem. Its four lines reappear in turn as the final lines of the next four stanzas, and the first part of the first line reappears again as the half-line at the very end. Each stanza rhymes either abab or baba. For the sixth stanza, either is possible.

To write one of these, start with the final half-line, then do the opening stanza, and you’re half-way there.

Complication

The blessed Malcovati, curse him, tells us that one of the two rhyme groups in a rondeau redoublé must be masculine and the other feminine. (The example he gives appears not to satisfy this rule – or perhaps my French is not good enough to appreciate the way in which it does.) Anyway, if he is to be believed – and he usually is – the above is not a true example of the form after all. It still seems good enough to me, though.

Pasted from http://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/rondouble.htm
with thanks to Bob Newman for his years of work on the wonderful Volecentral resource.

This seems as good a description as any I found, and the added info regarding complication allows us to ponder how formal we want to be with our writes.

Stanzaic: Five quatrains plus a Quintet
Meter: Iambic Pentameter
Rhyme pattern: A1,B1,A2,B2 – b,a,b,A1 – a,b,a,B1 – b,a,b,A2 – a,b,a,B2 – b,a,b,a,(A1)

My Example
(Rondeau Redoublé)

Now is Good, Eternity is a Concept

Religions I can’t sell. They’re man created,
they’re based on fear; they’re doing very well.
One can be saved by doing what’s mandated.
I don’t need heaven; you can keep your hell.

I need no virgin births to make things swell.
I need no virgins, promised and post-dated.
I chuckle at the tales tall fables tell.
Religions I can’t sell. They’re man created.

All bigotry lets hate get concentrated,
as they recruit each other’s clientele.
Religions preach; with doubters oft berated.
They’re based on fear; they’re doing very well.

The golden rule makes common sense; I shall
embrace that while not notions fabricated.
I need no saving yet on streets some yell
One can be saved by doing what’s mandated.

I’ve others and I’ve been appreciated
The unknown does not bother me, nor quell
my peace. This life’s unfolding, unabated.
I don’t need heaven- you can keep your hell.

If “Let’s pretend” placates you, rings your bell
and banishes unfounded fears created
by preachers touting everlasting hell,
and brings you peace, please believe, be placated.
Religions I can’t sell.

© Lawrencelaot – July 31, 2013

Visual Template

Rhupunt

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Rhupunt is one of the 24 traditional Welsh forms and has a scheme of aab ccb ddb etc. or aaab cccb dddb etc., or aaaab ccccb ddddb etc. Alternatively, each stanza can be a single line (but this prayer is so short I chose the former layout). It is described here:http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/celtic2.html#awlrhu
My poem above uses Cynghanedd Sain (sonorous or chiming consonance), that is, treating each stanza as a single line: this involves three elements, the first two rimed (end-words of L1 and L2 in each stanza above), and the 3rd (2nd word of L3 in each stanza above) repeating the consonants of the 2nd. Cynghanedd Sain is described here:
http://allpoetry.com/column/2348659 (scroll 2/3 to ¾ of the way down)
A four syllable line each stanza can be of three, four or five lines a..a..a..B.
The next stanza rhymes the similar c..c..c..B.The rhyme could change for the next
stanzas. We end up with a pattern thus:
x x x a
x x x a
x x x a
x x x B
x x x c
x x x c
x x x c
x x x B
I have used but three lines in the example below.
My poem above uses Cynghanedd Sain (sonorous or chiming consonance),
which links the last syllable of L2 to the 2nd Syllable of L3.
that calls for consonant rhyme, but in the last line I stepped it up to full rhyme,
not knowing if this might be forbidden. (It fit too well to ignore.)

Example Poem

Redemption Now

Put on a smile
act all the while
the whole is swell.

Ignore all guile
and evil while
fears will disspell.

Will is our own.
You have here grown
won’t groan in hell.

 

Related Welsh Form are HERE.

Visual Template

Rhupunt

See Rhupunt Hir for a more complete description and one template.

Lauranelle

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A poetic form created by Laura Lamarca,
The Lauranelle – is a hybrid (variation) of both the Villanelle and the Terzanelle forms.
It is a stanzaic poem of 22 lines,  consisting of 6 tercets and 1 quatrain
ending with a refrain made up of lines 1 and 3.
Meter: Lines MUST be in iambic pentameter.
Rhyme scheme: A1bA2 bcb cdc ded efe fbf ggA1A2,  (A1bA2bcbcdcdedefefbfggA1A2)
Poems can either be formatted in stanzas or as a whole piece without line-spacing.
Example Poem
A Little Uncertainty Goes a Long Way (Lauranelle)
When we without a doubt accept as real
what we are told is settled fact about
most anything- we are enchained by zeal.
When pulpiteer delivers truth with clout
conditions favor comfort if you choose
a certain truth you need not think about.
Illusions pleasant though they be to use
as guideposts do not come without their cost.
Bestowed, our reason seems not just to lose.
No fact of science has proved settled long,
religion not at all.  That we don’t know
conditions maybe right- but maybe wrong
do not excuse intransigence in thought.
Mere beliefs deemed a truth worthy of war.
Absurd!  Is bellicosity now sought?
One outcome zeal promotes is hate.  The door
to human peace is open if all shout,
“Wait– I may be wrong Let us think some more.”
What one thinks is so simply may not be.
We may kill men for an absurdity.
When we without a doubt accept as real
most anything- we are enchained by zeal.
(c) Lawrencealot – June 27, 2012
Visual Template

Lauranelle