Tag Archives: aabb

Dipodic Quatrain

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Dipodic Quatrain is a quatrain written in podic or folk meter with 2 stressed syllables per line.
• Podic Verse or folk meter is a measure of verse simply based on the number of heavily stressed syllables in a rhymed line. The number of unstressed syllables are not considered. It is a hold over from Alliterative verse of the Anglo Saxons but instead of the irregular strophic verse, stanzas and rhyme are employed, something learned from the Normans.
The Dipodic Quatrain is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
• podic, written with 2 heavy stresses per line with no regard to the number of unstressed syllables.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme either abab cdcd etc. or aabb ccdd etc.

Crisis by Judi Van Gorder

Trouble is here
folks out of work
lost career
no pork.

Money tight
rolling up sleeves
taxes bite
family cleaves.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=669#dipodic
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My attempt

Sacrifice for Rhyme 

Any time
I pen a verse
And use bad rhyme
It makes it worse.

Heaven knows,
my thoughts aren’t deep,
attempts at prose
puts folks to sleep.

I think dipodic
quatrains could
be hypnotic
if written good.

© Lawrencealot – December 2, 2014

Nibelungen Strophe 

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The  (Middle High German) or Kurenberg Verse (Norse) is a stanzaic form named for the metric and lyrical structure of the 13th century Germanic, Norse legend of the Burgundians sometimes known as Nibelung hoard. It tells the story of their royal geneology, adventures and antics. It is epic poetry
 
The NibelungenStrophe (Middle High German) or Kurenberg Verse (Norse) is a stanzaic form named for the metric and lyrical structure of the 13th century Germanic, Norse legend of the Burgundians sometimes known as Nibelung hoard. It tells the story of their royal geneology, adventures and antics. It is epic poetry. One of the kings was a dwarf and is so portrayed in Richard Wagner’s opera, “der Ring des Nibelungen”. The name Niblung has become associated with a dwarf or a legendary race of dwarves.
 
The defining features of the Nibelungen Strophe are:

  • metric, accentual, long lines or Germanic lines, which are made up of 2 hemistiches, or short lines referred to as Anvers and Abvers.
Anvers, is the first hemistich or short line which always has 4 strong beats or stressed syllables. Usually ends with a feminine or falling syllable. Abvers, is the second hemistich or short line in all but the last line of the quatrain and usually carries 3 strong beats or stressed syllables ending in a rising or masculine end rhyme.
  • stanzaic, written in quatrains made up of 2 complete and closed couplets.
  • rhymed, rhyme scheme of the Abvers or 2nd short line is aabb ccdd etc. Only occasionally does the 1st short line or Anvers carry rhyme at the caesura.
  • composed with the last line of the poem written in 2 Anvers. In other words the poem almost always ends with a feminine or falling end syllable.
xX xX xxX xXx , xxX xX xAxxX xX xX Xx , xX xxX xAxX xX xX Xx , xX xX xB
xX xX xX Xx , Xx xX xxX Xb		 anvers , abversanvers , abversanvers , abvers 
anvers , anvers

 
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1911
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource
 

German and Austrian Poetic Forms:

Bar Form, Dinggedicht, Goliardic Verse, Knittelvers, Minnesang, Nibelungen, Schuttelreim

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For those wanting to give this a try. I’ll pass having no knowledge of the subject to inclination to pen an epic.

Nibelungen Strophe

Casbairdne

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Casbairdne (koss búyer-dne):
Each stanza is a quatrain of seven syllables. Lines two and four rhyme and lines one and three consonate with them. There are at least two cross-rhymes* in each couplet. In the first couplet, this isn’t necessarily exact. The final syllable of line four alliterates* with the preceding stressed word.

x x b x (x x ac)
x a x x x (x bc)
x x x b (x x dc)
x x c x x (x bc)

Dying II

In death comes dust’s solution.
A truth to breath- inclusion;
small particles’ pollution
in loss of cause- collusion.

Thin dry threads still intertwine,
fill failing eyes- unconfined;
as whispered wings recombine
the swirling realms- reassign.

©Leny Roovers 05-10-2004

Pasted from http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/celtic1.html

The Casbiardne (koss búyer-dne) is bruilingeacht, a modified dán díreach, an ancient Irish Verse Form which uses consonant rhyme and cross internal rhyme. 

The Casbairdne is:
• written in any number of quatrains,
• syllabic each line has 7 syllables.
• composed with L2 and L4 end rhyme and the end words of L1 and L3 consonate with the rhyme of L2 and L4
• often written with at least two internal cross rhymes in each couplet. (the 1st couplet near rhyme OK)
• composed with 2 words alliterated in each line.
• written with the final syllable of L4 alliterates with the preceding stressed word.
• written with the defining features of most Celtic poems, cywddydd (harmony of sound) and dunadh (ending the poem with the same word, phrase or line with which the poem began) Irish Verse Forms

capital = true rhyme / lower case = near rhyme / italics = consonant rhyme
x x a x x x b
x x x b x x A
A x x x x x b
x B x x x a A

Laughing in Fall Colors by Judi Van Gorder
Tall and golden stalks of wheat,
wet meadow painted for fall,
squall of autumn Earth whirls wit,
fae fit for a season’s scrawl.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1178
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

Casbairdne
Type: Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Other Requirement, Isosyllabic, Stanzaic
Description: Pronounced coss-BUYer-dne, this is an Irish syllabic form. The verse is a quatrain composed of seven syllable lines. Beyond that, the form gets rather messy.
• These lines have trisyllabic endings. (Rhymes go across three syllables: higgledy, piggledy, but usually real words)
• Lines two and four rhyme.
• Line one consonates with two and three consonates with four.
• There are at least two cross-rhymes per couplet, although they can be off true in the first couplet. These cross-rhymes might appear anywhere between the second and fourth syllables. (As indicated in the schematic by the italicized letters.)
• The final syllable of line four alliterates with the preceding stressed word.
• Like most Celtic forms, the end should be the beginning in syllable, word, phrase, or line. (See Dunadh link below.)
My thanks to Professor Lewis Turco for clarifying this definition.
Origin: Irish
Schematic:
x x b x (x x ac)
x a x x (x x bc)
x x x b (x x dc)
x x c x (x x bc)
Rhythm/Stanza Length:
4

Pasted from  http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/000/33.shtml
My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his years of work on the wonderful Poetrybase resource.

FORM:
Casbhairn or Casbairdne (koss búyer-dne) is a traditional Irish quatrain of 7-syllable lines ending in 3-syllable words, its old form (followed here) requiring it be rimed aabb (last syllables properly rimed, the other two syllables slant-rimed), with cross-rimes in each couplet (near rime okay in first couplet) and alliteration in every line (always between end-word and preceding stressed word in the second couplet). Being Irish, it requires the dunedh, that is, to end where it began (first word, phrase, or line repeated in closing).  The modern specs differ, as can be seen here:
http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/celtic1.html#cas

They Just Wouldn’t Stay Still
-by Venicebard (Gary Kent Spain)

Mortimer the mortician,
Bored, became a beautician.
Yet, scared by his scrutiny,
Dared many to mutiny.

Where others might mollify,
He didn’t quite qualify.
Hence he served them certainer:
Murdered them did Mortimer.

Pasted from http://allpoetry.com/poem/9055687–They-Just-Wouldn-t-Stay-Still—Casbairdne–by-venicebard

My example

Medicinal Music (Casbairdne)

Melanie self-medicates
moreover she meditates,
and contemplates certainly
with cerebral certainty.

Hating to act harmfully
she gets high on harmony
finding that’s no felony
she’s mild, is our Melanie.

© Lawrencealot – October 8, 2014

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(Old style)

Casbairdne

Deibhidhe Guilbnech Dialtach

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Deibhidhe (jay-vée) and its variations are dán direach. These ancient Irish Verse Forms carry a deibhidhe or light rhyme. Meaning that each rhymed couplet rhymes a stressed end syllable with an unstressed end syllable. In English rhyme is usually between 2 stressed syllables (yellow/ mellow, time/ rhyme ) but Celtic verse often deliberately rhymes a stressed and unstressed syllable (distress / angriness, west / conquest), easier said than done. As with most ancient Irish forms the Deibhidhes are written with cywddydd (harmony of sound) and dunadh (ending the poem with the same word, phrase or line with which the poem began)Note: When writing in English it is sometimes very difficult to meet the stringent requirements of dan direach, so example poems are included that may not always demonstrate all of the features described.

• Deibhidhe Guilbnech Dialtach is:
○ written in any number of quatrains,
○ each line has 7 syllables.
○ rhymed, aabb.
○ alliterated, alliteration between two words in each line,
○ all end-words should consonate.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1173#guilbnech
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

A wonderful example I found:

A Deibhidhe* on Clocks Stuck at Midnight
by Gary Kent Spain

angel imp with withered wing
from chains delivered limping
then bossed, denied might and means
while men tossed you pied pipedreams

drab duality’s fall meant
full equality’s advent:
did distaste since harbored hide
hate’s misplaced ardor inside?

how clamped tight is your grasp, ghost
of the past: light the lamppost
change the spinner, hound out hell
bound by your inner angel

* (pronounced “jay-vee”)

Kent’s notes
Deibhidhe (pronounced “jay-vee”) is an ancient Irish measure consisting of 7-syllable lines rimed in couplets on the last syllable, stressed with unstressed. This poem has all the bells and whistles of Dan Direach (‘strict meter’): cross-rimes on every stress, alliteration in every line—preferably between last two stressed words (this last a requirement in the 3rd and 4th lines of each quatrain)—and the dunadh (first syllable, word, phrase, or line repeated in closing).
This poem (I think fairly obviously) addresses keeping up with the last half-century’s change in the general attitude towards race in America (on the part of those who were once victims of widespread discrimination and prejudice).

My example poem

Or, More Likely, Snow (Deibhidhe Guilbnech Dialtach)

Streamlets rushing from mountain’s source
become cascading creeks of course.
Creeks combine in the course of time
with mountain’s mandate being prime.

The brooks that babble then will merge
into a river’s rapid surge
and kissing, carve the mountain’s face
removing, rock which slowed its pace.

Great and ginormous rivers flow
to seas– there seized into escrow
where they await their great refrain
on mountain tops to fall as rain.

© Lawrencealot – August 7, 2014

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Deibhidhe Guilbnech Dialtach

Coin Poem

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Coin Poem
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Pivot Requirement
Description:
A two-couplet poem where the first couplet states a thought and the second flips it, or shows the other side. It is syllabic, showing some relation to many Japanese poems by alternating seven and five-syllable lines, but has rhyme. The rhyme can be as rhymed couplets or merely the second and fourth line of the poem.
Schematic:
Rhyme: ab cb or aa bb
Meter:
xxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxx
Rhythm/Stanza Length:
2
Line/Poem Length:
4
My Thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for the wonderful PoetryBase resource.
My Example Poem
Early to Bed, Late to Rise   (Coin Poem)
Early in and out of bed
helps one get a head.
if sleeping late is allowed
you avoid the crowd.
© Lawrencealot – April 29, 2014
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Dansa

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Dansa
The dansa is an Occitan verse form i.e. it’s from the troubadour territory of southern France. All the verses except the first are the same: they rhyme aabb with the last line a repeated refrain. The first verse has five lines, and consists of the refrain followed by four lines similar to all the other verses. No particular metre is essential, but Skelton says six-syllable lines are common in Occitan verse, so that’s what I used.
A Load of Rot
Mulching is the future!
Let those clippings lie there,
Proving how much you care.
For lawns needing nurture,
Mulching is the future.
Don’t clear up that cut grass!
Lie down; let the urge pass.
Be at one with nature –
Mulching is the future.
You need no-one’s pardon;
This is your own garden.
For your private pasture,
Mulching is the future.
Your leisure is well-earned.
Relax; don’t be concerned.
Look, see the big picture:
Mulching is the future.
What you leave will decay.
It will provide one day
Nutrients and moisture.
Mulching is the future.
Don’t get up; better far
To stay right where you are.
As with any creature,
Mulching is your future.
I saw a lawnmower on sale with the slogan “Mulching is the future”. I found it a catchy slogan but a depressing thought. Still, there had to be a poem in it… It was just a question of finding a suitable verse form. I think the dansa was a fair choice.
I cheated slightly by altering one word in the final repetition of the refrain.  Poetic licence.
Thanks to Bob Newman for his wonderful Volecentral resource site.
My example poem-
Since Bob used a slogan, I did too.  Though meter optional, I chose iambic trimeter.
Intrigue     (Dansa)
Does she? Or doesn’t she?
If you but only knew.
Instead you have no clue.
So what is it to be?
Does she? Or doesn’t she?
A guy, you can just ask,
it’s such a simple task
It can’t sound like a plea,
Does she? Or doesn’t she?
Why should you really care
what color is her hair.
But when it comes to me,
Does she? Or doesn’t she?
© Lawrencealot – April 12, 2014
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Deibide Baise Fri Toin

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Deibide Baise Fri Toin
A similar name, but not much in common with the common-or-garden deibide, apart from being Irish. I don’t know how to pronounce this one, or the literal meaning of its name, but here’s what the verse form looks like:
Against Vegetation
Move! Without
doubt it helps to get about.
Except for triffids, a plant
can’t.
Poor daisies!
In peril as cow grazes,
prospects of survival not
hot.
Such fodder
can’t flee even a plodder;
inferior to the least
beast.
No better,
the shiftless non-go-getter,
potato sat on a couch.
Ouch!
The syllable count is 3/7/7/1 and it rhymes aabb. It is essential to the form that the a rhymes have two syllables, and the b rhymes have one syllable. There are a fair number of Irish forms – some of them with longer and more unpronounceable names – and most of them stipulate the type of rhyme as precisely as this.
Thanks to Bob Newman for his wonderful Volecentral resource site.
My example poem
Wet Cats     (Deibide Baise Fri Toin)
Don’t worry
although they’re sometimes furry
it’s okay to get a pet
wet.
Don’t insist
on fresh fish they can’t resist;
cats can convert once they’ve tried
fried.
I’m inclined
to think cats are not refined,
but just aloof. I don’t know
though.
© Lawrencealot – April 11, 2014
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Note: two syllable rhyme

Deibhidhe

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Deibhidhe
The deibhidhe is an Irish form. In English it is more often spelt deibide, but you still have to pronounce it jayvee. (The Irish language uses a lot of unlikely-looking clusters of consonants, and most of them seem to be either pronounced as “v” or not pronounced at all. Exercise: pronounce the name of the poet Medbh McGuckian.) 
Here’s a deibhidhe about the time I spent working in the oil industry:
No, Watercolour…
Of a subject dire I sing:
Reservoir Engineering
I could never understand –
A queer and quaggy quicksand!
I was sent away to learn
About it in climes northern,
But while at Herriot-Watt
My zeal did not run riot.
All the years I worked in oil,
My conscience was in turmoil.
I floundered through the fog
Like a bogged-down wan warthog.
My colleagues would make a fuss.
Those strata – were they porous?
It bothered me not a whit
How the drill bit grey granite.
The mysteries of the rock
Made me feel like a pillock.
Underground movements of gas
Alas, my mind can’t compass.
I don’t work there any more,
Redundancy my saviour.
Not a tragedy at all –
A small but welcome windfall!
There was a TV advert for an airline some years ago which featured the following exchange between two passengers on a flight to Aberdeen. Large outgoing American: “D’you work in oil?” Weedy-looking bespectacled Brit: “No, watercolour.” Hence the title. Herriot-Watt University is situated near Edinburgh and offers week-long courses on such arcane subjects as Reservoir Engineering, cleverly sugaring the pill by making them coincide with the Edinburgh Festival.
As for the form, each stanza has 4 lines of 7 syllables each, rhyming aabb, and both of these rhymes are deibide rhymes i.e. in the first line of each rhyming pair, the rhyming syllable is stressed, and in the second it is unstressed.
The form also demands an aicill rhyme between lines 3 and 4 i.e. the word at the end of line 3 rhymes with a word somewhere in the middle of line 4 (as whit/bit, gas/alas above). 
Finally, there must be alliteration between the last word of each stanza and the preceding stressed word (as quaggy quicksand, welcome windfall above).
This amounts to a lot of constraints for the fourth line to satisfy in the space of only 7 syllables. I found this form a tough one, except when writing the last stanza. Perhaps I was getting into the swing of it by then.
Thanks to Bob Newman for his wonderful Volecentral resource site.
Specifications restated:
Isosyllabic: 7/7/7/7
Rhymed: aabb
My example poem
Night Nymph     (Deibhidhe)
I was mesmerized, entranced
when she stood in the entrance.
Just one glance at her’d confer
instantly a pure pleasure
The nymph caused my heart to sing
and set my nerves to dancing
I viewed her in near undress
and dreamed she’d be my mistress.
But it was not meant to be,
this maiden oh so pretty.
for she was gone with the sun
a nighttime visit vision.
© Lawrencealot – April 10, 2014
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Tanaga

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  • The Tanaga is a Filipino stanzaic form that was originally written in Tagolog which to my ear is one of the more musical of languages. (Kumusta ka? Mabuti salam at) The form dates back to the 16th century and has an oral tradition. The poems are not titled. Each is emotionally charged and asks a question that begs an anwer. This form was found at Kaleidoscope.The Tanaga is:
    • stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
    • syllabic, 7-7-7-7 syllables per line.
    • rhymed, originally aaaa bbbb cccc etc., modern Tanagas also use aabb ccdd etc or abba cddc etc or any combination rhyme can be used.
    • composed with the liberal use of metaphor.
    • untitled.

Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource at PMO.
My Example Poem
(Tanaga)
Casually boys contemplate,
Carefully they cogitate,
what will they appreciate
when they’re searching for a mate?
Will she need to cook and sew?
I suspect the answer’s no.
Will she need to use a wrench,
or speak Mandarin or French?
Need she work with quilting thread,
or perform with brush or pen?
I think I’ll say no again-
if she pleases him in bed.
© Lawrencealot – March 3, 2014
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Note: For example only I used one of each rhyme pattern here.

Chatushka

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A Russian Quatrain form. The name derives from the Russian meaning ”to speak fast”. Covering subject that range across the whole human experience and written in a manner that is usually satirical, ironic or humourous this is the Russian equivalent to theLimerick.
 
Form Type:           Metrical
Origins:                 Russian
Creator:                Unknown
Number of Lines:  4
Rhyme Scheme:  a,b,a,b or a,b,c,b or a,a,b,b
Meter:                   Trochaic Tetrameter
 
 
Rules
1. The form is composed of a single quatrain, though often they are placed together with others in a string, in either case each quatrain is a complete self contained unit.
 
2. The most common rhyme scheme is a,b,a,b though a,b,c,b is also fairly common. The a,a,b,b rhyme scheme is fairly rare.
 
3. The form is written using trochaic tetrameter. Though it is common to use catalectic final feet in a line giving a strongly stressed ending.
 
4. Content wise Chastushkas cover all subjects, though the style is usually satirical, ironic or humourous, tending towards lewd,
 
5. Traditionally they are recited to music, if they are in a string then there is a musical interlude between them to give the audience time to laugh.
 
6. Often they are composed on the spur of the moment and used in contests, such Chastushka are highly prized.
 
Pasted from <http://bensonofjohn.co.uk/poetry/formssearch.php?searchbox=Chastushka> 

Get Back Chicken
Chicken, get back; don’t peck me
For the cleaver in my hand
Just think, could be, soon chopping thee.
Dinner captured, cleaned and panned.
 
© February 16, 2012
Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen
 
Written for Poetry Soup Member Contest: Chastushka Form-Russian Poetry 
 
 
Example Poems 
 
Three Chastushkas 
 
Mabel’s clothing at their feet
under chairs and kitchen table.
Freddy focused not on neat,
Freddy merely wanted Mabel. 
Scribbled thoughts upon a napkin
Serve as plans of grand intention.
Dreams without an active effort
freeze in idle cold suspension.
Anxious Arabs show misgiving
watching western people living.
letting females speak their voices
countermanding masters choices. 
 
© Lawrencealot –  January 23, 2013 
 
 
 
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Actually not one of each, I omitted abab!