Tag Archives: 8 lines

Ochtfochlach

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The ochtfochlach is an Irish verse formof 8 lines with a consistent but unspecified length and meter. The rhyme scheme is aaab cccb. (aaabcccb)
The Ochtfochlach
I like the form and rhythm, too;
It fits and wears like well-made shoe.
With luck it lasts a whole life through
And looks no worse for wear.
Iambic feet can march along
And lend their cadence to a song
With beats that switch from soft to strong,
A pace that’s light to bear.
My example poem
Fochlach It   (Ochtfochlach)
The Ochtingfochlach rocks
it’s not some damn flummox;
I penned this wearing socks,
and yes, without my shoes.
Define most any style
this form will soon beguile
and render forth a smile.
So what is there to lose?
© Lawrencealot – December 4, 2013
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There is no requirement for meter or line-length, though I chose iambic trimeter for this write.

Octelle

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Octelle
The Octelle, created by Emily Romano, is a poem consisting of eight lines using personification and symbolism in a telling manner. The syllable count structure for this verse is 8/8/7/7/7/7/8/8, and the rhyme scheme is A1A2bbccA1A2. The first two lines and the last two lines are identical (refrain).
Example Poem
I’ve Heard It All Before
  
I am the bottom of the mug 
You see me when you chug-a-lug. 
Look down here for answers, dear. 
I am sure they won’t appear. 
That’s been tried by many men. 
What the hey, you’ll try again. 
I am the bottom of the mug 
You see me when you chug-a-lug. 
   © February 14, 2013
 
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Amanda's Pinch poetry form

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 Created by  Amanda J. Norton, Oct. 18, 2013 on Allpoety
This is a syllabic form with syllable count 12/12/10/8/8/10/12/12
with Rhyme Scheme abcDDcba, (with line 5 a refrain of line 4)
Alliteration is required in every line.
It looks well centered.
Its structure giving the impression of being gently pinched together,
then springing back in a mirror image.
It may be doubled.
Sample Poem
Unhooked Hook-up     (Amanda’s Pinch)
Two sailors seeking girls inclined to kiss and pet;
I kissed my choice until my lips looked botox filled.
My girl had double D’s that suited well
until I bumbled with the bra!
Until I bumbled with the bra
my every effort seemed to work out swell.
She was prob’ly put off that I was so unskilled.
That was an undone date that I just can’t forget.
© Lawrencealot – October 24,2013
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Oxylet

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Invented by Bhaskar Datta  writing on Allpoetry.com.
Within a Triolet, the 1st, 4th, and  7th lines
repeat, and the 2nd and 8th lines do as well.
The rhyme scheme is simple:  ABaAabAB, capital
letters representing the refrain lines.
Make writing a Triolet more challenging!
Make each line 8 syllables in length (4 metrical feet),
written in iambic tetrameter (the more common way),
or try it in pentameter (English version)
NOW that you have done that, add an oxymoron to each line and you have an OXYLET.
Example Poem
Left Ain’t Right
Now we will try to right a wrong 
for we don’t find the left is right. 
We are aroused, but passive throng. 
Now we will try to right a wrong 
We’ll loudly sing our quiet song 
and wage this year our peaceful fight. 
Now we will try to right a wrong 
for we don’t find the left is right. 
 
 
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Amphibrach Trimeter

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The amphibrach is a trisyllabic metrical foot, which in accentual meter consists of an accented syllable between two unaccented syllables.
Rhyme optional
Isosyllabic 9 syllables
A single octave.  (8 lines)
Example Poem
Bird Watching
Reclining relaxed in the garden
the cat was ignoring my  calling,
indifferently birds kept on chirping,
idyllic conditions for poets.
Amusing deception, cat lazy
and silent just waiting for breakfast.
Indolent or working at trapping
a birdie who thinks that he’s sleeping?
I’ll leave now before I spoil something.
© Lawrencealot – May 5, 2012
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Joseph's Star

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The Joseph’s Star, is a poetry form created by Christina R Jussaume on 08/06/07 in memory of her Dad. This poem has no rhyme, and is written according to syllable counts. Syllables are  1/3/5/7/7/5/1.
The poem may be written on any subject, be center aligned, has no stanza limit, is unrhymed, and should have complete statements in each.
Example Poem
Automate    (Joseph’s Star)
Drip
coffee is
what I’m making now.
When I used to percolate
I had to pay attention
if I wanted good
to the last
drop.
© Lawrencealot – March 18, 2013

Double Dactyl

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A dactyl is a term used in formal English poetry to describe a trisyllablic metrical foot made up of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones. Matador, realize, cereal and limerick as well as the word poetry itself are examples of words that are themselves dactyls. A double dactyl can therefore simply mean two consecutive dactyls.
A double dactyl is also a verse form, also known as “higgledy piggledy”[citation needed], purportedly[1] invented by Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal in 1961, but having a history as a parlor word game earlier in the century. Like a limerick, it has a rigid structure and is usually humorous, but the double dactyl is considerably more rigid and difficult to write. There must be two stanzas, each comprising three lines of dactylic dimeter followed by a line with a dactyl and a single accent. The two stanzas have to rhyme on their last line.
The first line of the first stanza is repetitive nonsense. The second line of the first stanza is the subject of the poem, a proper noun (marked in these examples with a single asterisk, *, or where not exactly a proper name with a parenthesized asterisk (*)). Note that this name must itself be double-dactylic. There is also a requirement for at least one line of the second stanza to be entirely one double dactyl word, for example “va-le-dic-tor-i-an” (marked with two asterisks, **). Some purists still follow Hecht and Pascal’s original rule that no single six-syllable word, once used in a double dactyl, should ever be knowingly used again.[1]
A self-referential example by Roger L. Robison:
Long-short-short, long-short-short
Dactyls in dimeter,(*)
Verse form with choriambs
(Masculine rhyme):
One sentence (two stanzas)
Hexasyllabically**
Challenges poets who
Don’t have the time.  (Source: Wikipedia)
Example Poem
Dedicated to Ms Moore (Double Dactly)
Nickitty Pickity
Octagenarian
normally worrisome
abstinent gent.
Enlivened due to a
fan-fuckingtastical
Sexy Librarian’s
erotic bent.
(c) Lawrencealot – May 22, 2012
Author’s Note:
The 6th line above is an invented portmanteau created by inserting the common crude cultural expletive “fucking” inside of the existing word “fantastical”.
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8 lines, rhyming xxxaxxxa

Double Swap Ottava

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An Octet,  Rhyme: abababcc,  Meter: Iambic Pentameter
This is a form invented by Discoveria, of Allpoetry.com
The form has an Ottava Rima framework in which the sections of the first line are swapped to become the last line of the stanza, thus creating a Swap Ottava.
A Double Swap Ottava
requires that technique to be applied to two of the early lines, normally Line 1 and 2, to become the closing couplet of the octet.
Minimum length 8 Lines, no maximum
Meter: Iambic pentameter
Rhyme: ababaabcc
Example Poem
Social Schism (Double Swap Ottava)
Some do less, some do more to help the whole.
all members knew the score when tribes were small.
Great hunters, all the members would extoll.
Their prowess was a benefit for all.
The tribes were healthy when each played their role,
Our tribe will fail if no one heeds that call.
When tribes were small all members knew the score.
To help the whole,  some do less, some do more.
© Lawrencealot – January 2, 2013
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Huitain

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Huitain

Type:

Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Isosyllabic, Simple

Description:

A complete poem composed of one ballade stanza: eight or ten-syllable isosyllabic lines rhyming ababbcbc.

Also known as the Monk’s Tale Stanza.

Origin:

French

Schematic:

ababbcbc

Rhythm/Stanza Length:

8

Line/Poem Length:

8

Pasted from <http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/001/145.shtml>

My Thanks to Charles Weatherford for the fine resource above.

  • Huitain, is an octastich, a poem in 8 lines. It is made up of a single Ballade stanza without an envoy. The verse form was most popular in the 16th century and was often used for epigrams in the 18th century. One source suggests the Hutain may have begun in Spain with the simple 8 syllable by 8 line frame which is typical of early Spanish verse. Which came first and who influenced who, who knows. The French were sometimes known to use the frame for a collaborative poem between 2 or more poets. Each poet contributing a hutain around a central theme.The Huitain is an octastich written in octasyllabic lines, the most common rhyme scheme ababbcbc.

 

Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=690#huitain>

 My Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the fine resource above.
The true Huitain is a single verse, eight line poem with eight syllables per line.
The French form began as the Spanish with eight lines of eight syllables, but it also allowed for the continuation of the poem in additional eight line stanzas. It was even accepted as a form of collaborative poetry with several poets each contributing their own eight line stanza.
The English, with their fondness for iambic pentameter, also accepted ten syllable lines, but to me this strays too far from the original intent of the form. Myself, I stuck to the original, Spanish rules. My example is eight lines of eight syllables each. 🙂

Various rhyme schemes that have been accepted:
French/English #1: ababbcbc
French/English #2: abbaacac
Spanish #1: ababacac
Spanish #2: abbaacca 
Example Poem
Today’s Press Too (Huitan – French/English # 2)
“First get your facts said young Mark Twain,
then …distort them as you (may) please,”
an editorial newsprint tease.
The politicians all do feign
to patiently their points explain,
but facts seem bothersome at best,
when asked details they will abstain.
They give just “views” then let you guess.
Lawrencealot – November 12, 2012
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Lento

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A poetic form created by Lencio Dominic Rodrigues, the Lento is named after it’s creator, taken from his first name Lencio and rhymed to Cento, an existing form of poetry.
A Lento consists of two quatrains with a fixed rhyme scheme of abcb, defe as the second and forth lines of each stanza must rhyme.  To take it a step further, but not required, try rhyming the first and third lines as well as the second and forth lines of each stanza in this rhyming pattern: abab, cdcd. (abcbdefe, ababcdcd)
The fun part of this poem is thrown in here as all the FIRST words of each verse should rhyme. There is no fixed syllable structure to the Lento, but keeping a good, flowing rhythm is recommended.
For an added challenge, one may write a four-verse Lento and call it a Double Lento, or a six-versed Lento to become a Triple Lento.
Below is an example of a Lento: (Formatting is instructional only)
Composed in winter of Two Thousand Five, (a)
Proposed by my dreams, this entire theme, (b)
Exposed now for all to write and have fun, (c)
Supposed to be easy though it doesn’t seem. (b)
Two verses of four lines each you will write, (d)
Do rhyme the beginning word in every line, (e)
Pursue to keep last rhymes in line 2 and 4, (f)
Chew your brain a little, you’ll do just fine! (e)
Example by Lawrencealot
Write a Lento
Designed in Two Thousand twelve with you in mind.
Refined to rhyme lines one and three (not required).
Aligned (also not required) but more refined,
Opined this poet.  Done because I so desired.
Write two verses of four lines each.  Be astute
right off the bat, rhyme lines two and four. They are
quite necessary, that one cannot refute.
Bright planning for first word rhyme will get you far.
© Lawrencealot – April 18, 2012
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