Tag Archives: 6 lines

Wreathed and Unwreathed Sestet

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The following description is reposted with permission from The Poets Garret. My thanks for the fine body of work maintained on that site.

Wreathed and Unwreathed Sestets


Wreathed poetry is simply a natural blending of English poetry with the Celtic Welsh. Its creator George Herbert was born into a wealthy artistic family in Wales and later was educated in Trinity College, Cambridge and was unpublished until after his death. It is believed that his poem A Wreath was inspired by the Welsh form Englyn cryrch which uses an internal rhyme scheme with an external one and gives a couplet scheme of:

 

 

x. x. x. x. x. x. x. a.

x. a. x. x. x. x. x. b.

 

The red in the second line indicates that the internal rhyme can be anywhere in the first part of second line and can be a repeat word rather than a rhyme. that is the poets decision. There is no internal rhyme in the first line, It was later that poets saw the possibilities and created the sestet with a rhyme scheme of:

 

 

x. x. x. x. x. x. x. a.

x. a. x. x. x. x. x. b.

x. b. x. x. x. x. x. a.

x. a. x. x. x. x. x. b.

x. b. x. x. x. x. x. a.

x. a. x. x. x. x. x. b.

 

Here is an example of that form:

 

 

Not Nerd

 

A simple envelope is not hard

What is hard is finding words

Words are a problem to the bard

Because bards are never nerds

As for nerdish be on your guard

Yes guard against all lollard’s 

 

Anon

 

Unwreathed Poetry

 

Later poets realised that some Irish forms led with an internal form and from that was born Un-wreath poetry, simply the reverse of Wreath in that the first line starts with an internal rhyme with the second external and so on, there being no seventh line there is no external rhyme, giving this sestet a basic rhyme scheme of:

 

 

x. a. x. x. x. x. x. b.

x. b. x. x. x. x. x. a.

x. a. x. x. x. x. x. b.

x. b. x. x. x. x. x. a.

x. a. x. x. x. x. x. b.

x. x. x. x. x. x. x. a.



My Example

Form: Wreathed Sestet

Hurry Earlier

“I think I’ve water on my brain –
all my hurry in vain to night.
And yet tonight with all this rain
I’ll miss the train though it’s in sight.
The lights shine brightly in the train.
Wasted time caused this pain and plight.”

© Lawrencealot – March 3, 2015

Visual Template

Note: although the template is for a poem of 8 syllables, length is up to the poet.

Pi-Archimedes

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• Pi-Archimedes is a simpler variation of the Cadae Verse. Named for the Greek mathematician Archimedes, (c. 287 BC – c. 212 BC) who defined Pi. In this verse, the first six digits of Pi are represented by 6 lines and word count per line. Pi = 3.14159 . . (My original source is lost to me and it was recently pointed out that I had incorrectly posted the sequential digits of Pi. I don’t know if this was my error or an error from the original source. I have corrected the 6 numbers and the word count for each line to the correct sequence.) 
The Pi-Archimedes verse is:
○ a hexastich, a poem in 6 lines.
○ measured by the number of words in each line 3-1-4-1-5-9 to match the numerical sequence of the first six digits of Pi.
○ unrhymed.
Pi by Judi Van Gorder

Not my thing,
numbers.
Algebra is an enigma,
mud
that mucks up my brain.
“You use math every day”, they say, not I.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1003#pi
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

What College Taught Me (Form: Pi-Archimedes)

“Pi r square
is
what they taught me
Dad.”
“Fools! Everyone knows
Pies are round and cornbread are square, son.”

© Lawrencealot – January 6, 2015

Laurette

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Laurette: Created by Etta Caldwell Harris. 28 syllables. 6 lines.
Syllable Count: 4-4-6-4-4-6 Rhyme Scheme: a-b-c-d-e-c

All Souls Eve Traffic Jam

4a Angels confront
4b more witch traffic.
6c Brooms, wings sweep breezily..
4d Airways get clogged.
4e Hot air breath steams
6c fog and tempers break free.

End of School Flash Dance

After Field Day
students flash dance.
Gym coach leads them to sweat.
Surprise teachers.
Then teachers dance.
Surprise not done yet.

http://www.rainbowcommunications.org/velvet/forms/
My Thanks to Linda Varsell Smith for her contributions above.

My example
Brief, Quick, Easy (Form: Laurette)

Should you want to
avoid meter,
thought, and very much rhyme,
give this form a
a try; I know
it won’t take up much time.

© Lawrencealot – December 27, 2014

Visual template

Joybell

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The Joybell is another shape poem from Pathways.

When centered on the page it should form the outline of a bell. 

The Joybell is:
a hexastich, a poem in 6 lines.
syllabic, 1-2-2-2-4-4 syllables per line.
unrhymed.

Many Thanks to Christina R Jussaume for her work on the Poetry Styles site.

My Example
Christmas Spirit (Joybell)

As
many
helpers
decrease
the load for each,
share your efforts.

© Lawrencealot – December 16, 2014

Cherita

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Cherita (pronounced CHAIR-rita) is a linked poetry form of one-, two-, and three-line stanzas.
Cherita is the Malay word for “story” or “tale”.

A cherita consists of a one-line stanza, followed by a two-line stanza, and then finishing with a three-line stanza. It can either be written solo or by up to three partners.

The cherita tells a story. It was created by ai li (A UK poet and artist) on June 22, 1997 in memory of her grandparents who were raconteurs extraordinaire. It was also inspired by Larry Kimmel’s sensitive recognition of a shorter form contained within the opening three-verse stanza of ai li’s LUNENGA, which was created May 27, 1997.

The cherita arose out of the English-language haiku and tanka tradition, but is more anecdotal, or nano-narrative, in nature than are the “momentary” haiku and the more lyrical tanka, though it is easily adaptable to lyrical expression. It is imagistic and depends on conciseness and suggestion for its effect.

Pasted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherita

The “Cherita” is a creation of ai li, the founding editor of “still: home for short verse,” and now its independent e-zine offshoot “dew-on-line.”

Cherita [pronounced CHAIR-rita] is the Malay word for story or tale. A Cherita consists of a single
stanza verse, followed by a two-line verse,
and then finishing with a three-line verse.
It can be written solo or with up to three partners.
It is not titled.
The Cherita tells a story.

after seeing you off

taking the path along 
the canal

a rustle of
leaves
underfoot
 
Copyright © Larry Kimmel 2007 (was presented centered)

Pasted from http://larrykimmel.tripod.com/cherita.htm

Restated specifications:
A 6 line poem in three separate stanzas, a single line, a couplet, then a tercet.
Each stanza is a complete strophe
The line lengths are at the poets’ discretion
The poem should be presented, centered and untitled.
It should be imagistic and concise.

My Example

A Cherita

[untitled]

My puppy was missing and silent.

I found out why he was so quiet
He’d opted to try a new diet.

He held in his feet
A P-butter treat
I thought it sweet, he thought it neat.

Termelay

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  • The Termelay is similar to the Roundelay. This invented verse form was created by Viola Berg.The Termelay is:
    • a hexastich, a poem in 6 lines.
    • syllabic, 4/4/4/8/8/4 syllables per line.
    • unrhymed.
    • composed with a refrain, L3 is repeated as L6. 
My Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource at PMO
My example poem
What Do Nattering Nannies Know?    (Termelay)
When power groups
say “No you can’t”,
Do something else.
Some want constraints acts that seem fine;
Just stick a finger in their eye.
Do something else.
© Lawrencealot – April 7, 2014
Photo Credit: Viewed on FaceBook
All rights belong to the photographer, if anyone can give
me his name I would  love to provide attribution.
Visual Template

Compression

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This form is a Compression invented by Sector-Hunter
The first line is in a syllable count of 4
The next line is in a count of 5
The next is in a count of 6 and has to rhyme with the first line
Line four is in a count of 6
Line five is in a count of 5
The last line of the poem is in a count of four
and has to rhyme with the third line and first line in the poem.
Restated:
A syllabic sestet with syllables 4/5/6/6/5/4
Rhyme pattern axaxxa
Example Poem
Compression Form Example
The time is now
Compression tightens,
frightens, and this is how.
Sector-Hunter designed
this form.  Make it work.
Well, Holy cow!
© July 12, 2012
Visual Template

 

Harrisham Rhyme

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This form created by Harrishma Minhas of Allpoetry.
 
This form consists of a six-line rhyming stanza.
In this form, the last letter of the first word of each line
is the first letter of the first word of next line.
Rhyming scheme : ababab.
There is no restriction on the starting letter of the first line.
No restriction upon line length or meter.
Invented by:  Harrisham Minhas
Example Poem
Stuck?              (Harrisham Rhyme)

Deoppilate exsuflicate concerns.
Enter some eximous and friendly verse 
removing problem words that meter spurns.
Get stuck during day?  Then try the reverse. 
Try to dinurate ’til the muse returns.
Yet a geck? Oh what the heck?  I’ve done worse.

© Lawrencealot – March 2, 2013
*Deopillate – remove an obstruction
*Exsuflicate – “something which is silly or trifling”
*Eximous “choice or excellent”
* Dinurate – sleep during the day
* Geck – 2. An object of scorn; a dupe; a gull
Visual Template

 

Italian Sestet

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Italian Sestet
The original version of the Italian Sestet had no set meter, 
but after it was introduced into England by Spenser, 
eventually the poets there began to use iambic tetrameter 
or pentameter. The rhyme pattern example is as follows (Using iambic tetrameter)
x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x b
x x x x x x x c
x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x b
x x x x x x x c
 
Example Poem
 
Let’s Write an Italian Sestet
 
An Italian Sestet we’re to write. 
da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM. 
Use Tetrameter- (four fine feet). 
Delay the rhyme that makes it right. 
There’re only two more rhymes to come 
then we are done.  Now ain’t that sweet? 
 
© Lawrencealot – July 25, 2012
 
Visual Template

Sedoka

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The Sedoka is an unrhymed poem made up of two three-line katauta
 with the following syllable counts: 5/7/7, 5/7/7.
A Sedoka, pair of katauta as a single poem,
may address the same subject from differing perspectives.
Katauta is an unrhymed three-line poem with
the following syllable counts: 5/7/7.
Example Poem
Getting Trained
Baby learning speech
“Lo, Papa”, points down to floor.
I look for object on floor.
“No, grandpa”, say mom.
The baby wants you closer
She wants you to “Stand there please.”