Tag Archives: 2 octaves

The Fletcher

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• The Fletcher is a verse form that employs long and short lines, from the poem Away, Delights by John Fletcher (1579-1625)

The Fletcher is:
○ 2 octaves made up of 2 quatrains each.
○ metered, L1, L3, L5, L8 are pentameter and L2, L4, L6, L7 are dimeter*.
○ rhymed ababcdcd efefghgh, L1 and L3 of each octave are feminine rhyme.

Away, Delights! By John Fletcher
AWAY, delights! go seek some other dwelling,
For I must die.
Farewell, false love! thy tongue is ever telling
Lie after lie.
For ever let me rest now from thy smarts;
Alas, for pity go
And fire their hearts
That have been hard to thee! Mine was not so.
Never again deluding love shall know me,
For I will die;
And all those griefs that think to overgrow me
Shall be as I:
For ever will I sleep, while poor maids cry–
‘Alas, for pity stay,
And let us die
With thee! Men cannot mock us in the clay.’
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the fine PMO resource.
CORRECTION: Line 6 is trimeter.

My Example poem

Drinking Time (The Fletcher)

The bar’s a proper place to start your drinking –
but not too soon
for only drunks and chippies, I am thinking
begin at noon.
If you’re despondent, casting only gloom
we’d rather you just stay
within your room.
our bar’s a place to hunt and flirt and play.

The advantage of starting drinking later –
for normal guys
the early girls will find you looking greater,
surprize, surprize!
And you can differentiate before
you find yourself a ten
that’s but a four.
But then, a four’s a ten compared to men.

© Lawencealot – July 26, 2014

Octameter

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Octameter, created by Shelley A. Cephas,
is a poem made up of 16 lines
divided into two stanzas of 8 lines each.
Each line has a syllable count of 5.
The set rhyme scheme is: abcdedfd ghcgigdd  (abcdedfdghcgigdd)
I found this form defined on Shadow Poetry.
Of all the poetry forms I have studied none has been affixed with a more misleading and potentially confusing name.
Example Poem
T-aint Octameter  (Octameter)
Most mis-named form seen–
the Octameter.
That’s a standard line
length measured in feet.
I ambs, trochees, such
which decide the beat.
Confusing girth with
length was not too neat.
It’s an octastitch.
Can’t quarrel at all.
If this form were mine
There’d be a name switch.
Say.. an octapent;
gone the need to bitch.
Current name is scat,
Cephas should fix that.
© Februrary 5, 2013
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