Category Archives: history

Barzelletta

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The Barzelletta: Like many 15th century forms the Barzelletta has differing definitions of theme and frame. A predominant thesis is that the Barzelletta is a nonsense poem developed from the Frottola, a 14th century epigram (joke or funny story or “carnival song”). Other definitions take the genre more seriously suggesting Barzellettas were love songs. (Which to some might also suggest a nonsense poem.) One thing sources all agree on is the Barzelletta was originally written for musical settings. Often composed as a joke with moral instruction there is also evidence of serious love poems linked to the Barzelletta.

Apparently there are also two frames attributed to the Barzaletta. Sites on the internet describe the Barzelletta with a two part structure. However, two very reputable sources the NPEOPP and Turco’s Book of Forms give examples of an unrhymed couplet structure .
• The “couplet” Barzelletta is:
○ lyrical.
○ stanzaic, written in any number of couplets.
○ metered, often iambic, line length optional although originally octasyllablic.
○ often written employing internal rhyme, end words are usually unrhymed.
○ written with wit and a didactic (instructional) and/or aphoric (concise statement of scientific principal) tone.
○ often follows other stanzaic forms.
Barzelletta by Jan Haag
Look what the cat dragged in by Barbara Hartman
Some say a stitch in time saves nine,
unless you drink wine past its prime.

What’s done is done, the die is cast,
we’ll have a blast with everyone.

Time flies when you are having fun,
we’ve just begun to exercise.

I bit off more than I could chew,
it’s up to you to mop the floor.

All these clichés hold grains of truth
and in my youth were often told.
• The “2 part” Barzelletta is:
○ stanzaic, written 2 to 5 sixains or octaves made up of couplets.
○ metered, often irregular. The line length is optional although originally octasyllabic.
○ written with a ripreso or refrain of 4 lines rhymed abba or abab, which opens the poem and is repeated (often using only 2 of the 4 lines) preceding each stanza.
○ usually written employing internal rhyme, end words are sometimes unrhymed although I have found 2 sources that indicate rhyme scheme cdcdda for a 6 line stanza or cdcddeea for an 8 line stanza. Rhyme does not change from stanza to stanza.
○ written with wit and a didactic (instructional) and/or aphoric (concise statement of scientific principal) tone.
○ composed with a volta at the end of each stanza. (the last line of each stanza links to the refrain).

Sideshow by Judi Van Gorder
Pure nonsense I’ve written in rhyme
a Barzalletta, carnival song.
Roll of a drum excites the throng
while daredevil diver starts his climb.

Side show hawkers call out with ease
to draw the gawkers forth to see 
a freak show guaranteed to please
“See two headed frog from Tennessee!”
Naked ladies, young boys agree 
who giggle and wiggle in fear
too scared of their moms to draw near,
when dancing in veils are sublime.

Roll of a drum excites the throng
while daredevil diver starts his climb.

Fill your tummy, hot dogs with squeeze
of mustard, cotton candy spree,
ice cream, slurpies and chili cheese
fries all puke up in harmony.
Indulge in summer fantasy
soak up the playful atmosphere
just feast and cheer, let’s chug a beer.
Pay your dime and have a good time.

Pure nonsense I’ve written in rhyme
a Barzalletta, carnival song.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1154
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Medieval Memories

Medieval Memories (Barzaletta)

King Ludwig II decided to
enhance Bavaria’s country-side.
A wondrous castle he’d provide
replacing not just one, but two.

The castle’s known as Neuschawnstein
was spawned by royal fantasy
which shows in it’s playful design
that captures themes of chivalry.
‘Twas built by a King who could not be
and left behind for me and you.

A wondrous castle he’d provide
replacing not just one, but two.

The King’s own monies were consigned
thus to the people it was free.
Though still, Ludwig was much maligned
by ministers who’d disagree.
They called him “mad”; a travesty!
Of Kings like him we’ve had too few.

King Ludwig II decided to
enhance Bavaria’s country-side.

© Lawrencealot – November 16, 2014

Photo credit: Painting by Kincade

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Barzelletta

Bop

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A recent invention, the Bop was created by Afaa Michael Weaver during a summer retreat of the African American poetry organization, Cave Canem. Not unlike the Shakespearean sonnet in trajectory, the Bop is a form of poetic argument consisting of three stanzas, each stanza followed by a repeated line, or refrain, and each undertaking a different purpose in the overall argument of the poem.
The first stanza (six lines long) states the problem, and the second stanza (eight lines long) explores or expands upon the problem. If there is a resolution to the problem, the third stanza (six lines long) finds it. If a substantive resolution cannot be made, then this final stanza documents the attempt and failure to succeed.

Pasted from <http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-bop>

Poetic Form: The Bop
Like most modern forms, The Bop has both contextual and structural aspects. Also, like most modern forms, the structural part is pretty loose, that is, the poet is given complete freedom concerning syllable stress, number of syllables or words, to rhyme or not to rhyme, etcetera. The contextual aspect is that the poem tells a certain kind of story in a certain order.
It goes like this:
• First stanza, six lines, outlines a problem
• Second stanza, eight lines long, describes the problem
• Third stanza, six lines, solves or demonstrates the failure to solve the problem
• Each stanza is followed by the same “refrain” line
This same contextual structure is used in novels and short stories as well. Take the Trojan War, for instance:
• Problem: Troy abducts Helen
• Expansion: Though the Greeks are angry, Troy is fortified and well armed
• Solution: Trojan (actually Greek) Horse
You get the idea.
A variation on the The Bop adds a fourth six-line stanza, once again followed by the refrain line. Following is an example of a three-stanza Bop:
Me and Sisyphus

All my life I’ve rolled a big ball
Of money up the mountain
Of desire. Sisyphus and me
We are not getting any younger
Serving out sentences
Doled out by vengeful gods

Sisyphus keeps rolling that rock up the mountain.

Each day the mountain gets steeper
As I get older my knees get weaker
Wind blows some dollars away
Bandits in helicopters grab fistfuls and fly
While I continue to try, day by day
Life seems only to get worse
Me and Sisyphus, both cursed 
With endurance

Sisyphus keeps rolling that rock up the mountain.

Come a day the load gets too heavy
The knees too weak, all a body
Can do is just to let it go
Watch the big ball bounce on down
“Look,” said Sisyphus. You got no money!”
I said, “I know, pal. I’ll see you around, okay?”

Sisyphus keeps rolling that rock up the mountain.
It’s fun, sometimes, to get a mythical character involved in your work, and useful, too. They always symbolize a human trait or condition of life: heroes, victims, the loyal and the faithless, the one who rises to power, the one who fails and falls into despondency and death. This is the stuff of drama.

Pasted from http://tomrubenoff.hubpages.com/hub/Poetic-Form-The-Bop

My example

Multiculturalism (Bop)

From tyranny some of them came,
or poverty no end in sight.
A brand new country, brand new game,
a chance to work to solve their plight.
They’d get naught upon arrival
but a change for their survival.

The huddled masses came ashore.

Some bought with them religions scorned.
Some wanted unblocked avenues.
Unpretentious, and un adorned
some came with skills that they could use
while others were indentured men
who’d bend for years to other’s will
’til time came they could start again.
Those very thoughts brought forth a thrill.

The huddled masses came ashore.

They’d bond with others of their kind
to keep sub-cultures of their own
but they’d adopt and they’d align
embracing their new country’s tone.
But now they merely storm our gate
and infiltrate to spread their hate.

The huddled masses came ashore.

© Lawrencealot – October 5, 2014

Ae Freslighe poetry form

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Ae Freslighe
An Irish form that dates back to at least the time of Saint Patrick, Ae Freslighe is a quatrain of seven syllables per line, and tells a story within no more than four stanzas. Properly, it rhymes abab cdcd efef etc. All rhymes are feminine rhymes, odd line rhymes ending with words of three syllables and even lines ending with words of two syllables. Ideally, the last word should be the same as the first, although some examples of only the last syllable same are extant. Alternately, when writing more than one stanza, the last line may repeat the first, which would alter the last stanza’s rhyme scheme to eaea.
Please note the syllable count shows that odd lines end in three syllables, even lines in two.
xxxx(xxa) xxxxx(xb) xxxx(xxa) xxxxx(xb)

Pasted from <http://the.a.b.c.of.poetry.styles.patthepoet.com/index.html>

My example

machu-picchu-late-afternoon

Macho Picchu (Ae Freslighe)

Treasures are worth defending;
(it’s best if they’re kept hidden.)
The artisans descending
had done what they were bidden.

The clouds closely hovering –
so full of rain were loaded;
men terraced a covering
that still is not outmoded.

Invaders were defacing
by crude and ugly measures
just taking, not replacing
Thank God they missed these treasures.

© Lawrencealot – October 3, 2014

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Ae Freslighe

LaDán

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This is a new form designed in June, 2013 by Laura Lamarca.
It is composed of 5 quatrain stanzas with varying length and meter, (20 lines)
but every line begins with an anapest foot.
This is a moderately  difficult form to write.
The requirements of the form in her own words  are:
Verses 1, 3 and 5
Rhyme scheme abab
L1 and L3 – 11 syllables, stressed syllables needed on beats 3, 6, 8 and 11
L2 and L4 –  9 syllables, stressed syllables needed on beats 3, 5, 7 and 9
Verse 2 and 4
Rhyme scheme baab
L1 and L4 – 9 syllables, stressed syllables needed on beats 3, 5, 7 and 9
L2 and L3 – 7 syllables, stressed syllables needed on beats 3 and 5.
MUST be a metaphoric poem, preferably dark and deeply emotive.
Rhyme scheme “abab cddc efef ghhg ijij” for the easy version (ababcddcefefghhgijij) or
Rhyme scheme “abab baab abab baab abab” for the more challenging version. (ababbaabababbaababab)
Example Poem
This was written for a contest to name the form, I thought LaAnapestia would have been descriptive, but my thinking did not prevail.
Liberty’s Tree     (LaDan)
Disagreeable though it may be my friends,
a time comes when men who are born free,
(as all are), must leave kings who won’t make amends.
They are kings because we let them be.
The untried Americans-to-be
who’d displayed recalcitrance
now displayed recognizance
of the threat to their own liberty.
As the spirit of patriots now depends
on the Jefferson’s and Paine’s to see
better ways to assure the power extends
to the common man, they write their plea.
They were radicals,  to disagree,
and they lacked the competence
to deny the providence
of the kings throughout our history.
It seems sometimes the voice of reason portends
a much greater change than taxing tea,
and revolution comes when man comprehends;
But it may cost blood from you and me.
© Lawrencealot – July 24, 2013
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La’Tuin

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The La’Tuin, a poetic form created by Laura Lamarca, consists of 4-line stanzas with an ‘abca, abca‘ rhyme scheme that is consistent throughout each stanza. Stanzas 2, 3 etc. must all follow the same rhyme sounds as the first stanza. With the first stanza being repeated again at the end of the piece (Refrain). It contains a minimum of 4 stanzas, with no maximum length limit.
A strict syllable count of 9/8/9/8 is required per stanza.
In-Depth Explanation of rhyme:
Lines 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16 etc., all rhyme – this is the ‘a’ rhyme.
Lines 2, 6, 10, 14 etc, all rhyme – this is the ‘b’ rhyme.
Lines 3, 7, 11, 15 etc, all rhyme – this is the ‘c’ rhyme.
The La’Tuin is named after A’Tuin, a giant turtle from the Diskworld series. A turtle is a symbol of Mother Earth. La is Laura Lamarca’s signature.  Rhyme scheme: A1BCA2abca…A1BCA2.
Example Poem
Many Ladies-in-Waiting   (La’ Tuin)
While wives of King Henry were waiting
Their turn to be axed or booted,
they had to abhor his penchant for
extracurricular mating.
Except for queen Kath’rine, the grating
was less, their auditions suited,
the king’s volition.  He wanted, more
of those young ladies-in-waiting.
Kath’rine loved Henry, while awaiting
her end, yet strongly refuted,
his demands.  I’m the queen, evermore!
…That seems as history’s weighting.
While wives of King Henry were waiting
Their turn to be axed or booted,
they had to abhor his penchant for
extracurricular mating.
© Lawrencealot – April 9, 2012
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La'Tuin LaFemme

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This form created by Lawrence Eberhart, aka Lawrencelot
It is an altered version of the La’Tuin form to facilitate feminine rhyming.
The La’Tuin, a poetic form created by Laura Lamarca, The La’Tuin is named after A’Tuin, a giant turtle from the
Diskworld series. A turtle is a symbol of Mother Earth. La is Laura Lamarca’s signature.
It contains a minimum of 4 stanzas, with no maximum length limit.
A strict syllable count of 9/8/9/8 is required per stanza.
It has abac rhyme consitent through-out the stanza.
Lines 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16 etc., all rhyme – this is the ‘A’ rhyme.
Lines 2, 6, 10, 14 etc, all rhyme – this is the ‘B’ rhyme.
Lines 3, 7, 11, 15 etc, all rhyme – this is the ‘C’ rhyme.
Therein lies it’s structural weakness. By requiring that the  9 syllable lines rhyme with 8 syllable lines,  if the poet choose iambic (or trochaic) meter it disallows a more natural and pleasing feminine rhyme.        
The improved rhyming scheme of the La’Tuin LaFemme is:
A B A2 C   abac  abac  …  AB A2 B C, (ABA2Cabac…ABA2C)
Example Poem
More Ladies-in-Waiting
The wives of Henry were all waiting
Their turn to be axed or booted
while extracurricular mating
was Henry’s favored night-time sport.
Except for queen Kath’rine, the grating
was less ironically suited,
for the others all been creating
their turns by schemings at the court.
Kath’rine loved Henry, while awaiting
her end, but strongly refuted,
his claims, yet without denigrating
him.  Majestic was her support.
The wives of Henry were all waiting
Their turn to be axed or booted
while extracurricular mating
was Henry’s favored night-time sport.
(c) Lawrencealot – April 9, 2012
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la2lafemme