Tag Archives: ababab

The Donne

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The Donne is named for the English Poet, John Donne (1573-1631) patterned after his A Hymn to God the Father. John Donne was known as a metaphysical poet and his poetic style directly influenced the poetry of the 16th century.
The Donne is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of sixains.
• metered, L1 through L4 are pentameter, L5 tetrameter and L6 is dimeter.
• rhymed, with an alternating rhyme scheme ababab. The rhyme scheme maintains the same 2 rhymes throughout the poem ababab ababab etc.
Hymn to God the Father by John Donne (first stanza)
WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun,
— Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
— And do run still, though still I do deplore?
—— When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
—————- For I have more.
Done Donne by Rex Allen Brewer
How can I find a way to write like Donne,
When comes the fun, who cracks the door?
My words are poor, like weeds without the sun.
I can’t find rhyme or pun, I am a bore.
I walk the floor, what have I won?
Foul done, no score.
Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668>
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the find PMO resource.
My example poem
Look It in the Mouth (The Donne)
ILook It in the Mouth
Look It in the Mouth (The Donne)
I’ve got a chance where I might win a horse.
It was purchased for me by Johnny Black.
I was appreciative, and glad of course
though I’ve not been upon a horses back.
It’s likely something I’ll endorse
though I know jack.
Then searching for a proper clothing souce
for boots and buckle, hat and clothes I lack
I found with that I’d only be midcourse.
I’d need a saddle and the horses tack.
Don’t let me win! I’ve such remorse
please take it back.
© Lawrencealot – June 22, 2014
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The Donne

Sheshire

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Sheshire
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Isosyllabic, Pivot Requirement
Description:
A poem based on six-line verses with a closing couplet. Here are Chuck’s rules:
  1. The Sheshire is comprised of three stanzas of 6 lines with a rhyme scheme of either ABABAB or ABCABC. Completed by a rhymed couplet.
  2. Each line has the same number of syllables. The one exception to this is the last line, which may have up to six additional syllables. The additional syllables must a phrase that is set aside (by parenthesis or dashes, for example). If this aside is removed, the correct syllable count would be there and the line would remain a reasonable sentence.
  3. Each stanza should have a shift in tone. The ending couplet should leave the reader (or at least the poet) with a grin. It can be a darkly ironic grin, but a grin, nonetheless.
The derivation is from the Hebrew words shesh and shir or shira meaning six poem.
Attributed to:
Charles David Lipsig
Origin:
American (Jewish)
Schematic:
Rhyme: ababab or abcabc
Total schema:
ababab cdcdcd efefef gg or
abcabc defdef ghighi jj
Rhythm/Stanza Length:
6
Line/Poem Length:
20
Examples:
Status:
Incomplete
See Also:
My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for the wonderful resource quoted. 
  • The Sheshire is an invented verse form by Jewish-American poet Charles David Lipsig found at Poetry BaseThe name comes from Hebrew six=shesh and poem=shir.The Sheshire is:
    • a poem of 20 lines made up of 3 sixains followed by a couplet.
    • isosyllabic except the last line which includes the same # of syllables as the previous lines plus a finishing phrase separated from the base line by caesura.
    • rhymed, rhyme scheme ababab cdcdcd efefef gg or abcabc defdef ghighi jj.
    • composed with a pivot or change of tone from stanza to stanza and ends with a note of irony.
 My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource quoted. 
 
 
Example Poem
Shovel Snow (Sheshire)
When I was only nine or ten
and winter’s chilly nights dumped snow,
I loved to help my daddy then
We’d bundle up, he’d say, “Let’s go!”
Together, we two working men
would scrape and push and scoop and throw.
Into my teens I found it paid
to take my shovel- make the rounds
to work for those who were dismayed
how quickly that white stuff abounds.
While others in their warm homes stayed
I worked with scraping, grunting sounds.
I had no sons to share the task.
Our drive was shaded by our house;
“Please clean the walk,” my wife would ask.
Of course one ought to please one’s spouse
so covered up, and with ski-mask
I worked. It did no good to grouse.
Retired and lazy now I nap
or read or watch my football game. (Let teens now do that crap!)
© Lawrencealot – February 2, 2014
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Sicilian Sestet

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Sicilian Sestet
Possessing similar origins, as the Italian Sestet, 
the Sicilian sestet had no set meter, but the 
anglicised version uses Iambic tetrameter or pentameter.
The rhyme pattern is as follows; ababab
Example Poem
Write a Sicilian Sestet
Sicilian sestets have most simple rhyme. 
The metric foot can be both four and five,
(but not at once), just one poem at a time. 
Here pentameter iambs are alive. 
Don’t strain yourself in finding rhyme like I’m. 
Just think ahead and then you can survive. 
© Lawrencealot – July 25, 2012
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Inverted Refrain

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  • Inverted Refrain is an invented form found at Shadow Poetry, created by the winner of their 2007 Chap Book Competition, Jan Turner and published in Faery Folk and Fireflies.
    I believe the form took its name from the rhetorical device, “inverted refrain”, originally used by the ancient Greek poet Sappho. “Inverted refrain” is a writing technique in which the syntax of a line is reversed. eg ..the Sapphic line “I know not what to do”. I am not sure that the composition instruction at Shadow Poetry exactly fits the literary definition of “inverted refrain” but the form could still be a fun challenge to conquer as long as it enhances the delivery of the poet’s thoughts,    The Inverted Refrain as an invented verse form is:

    • stanzaic, written in any number of sixains, made up of a quatrain followed by an indented couplet.
    • syllabic, all lines are 8 syllables.
    • rhymed, rhyme scheme ababab or ababba, cdcdcd or cdcddc etc….
    • composed in the following manner, “the first four lines of a stanza create a statement from which the last 2 lines extract the meaning, and invert the way it is said.” Jan Turner @Shadow Poetry
  • Finding Faeries by Jan Turner (stanza 1) the whole poem can be read at Shadow Poetry.
    A sprinkling shine of faery dust
    is mica-layered on the rocks
    Pretending to be nature’s crust
    It really is a paradox:
    ——— A paradox of mica rocks
    ——— From faery dust on nature’s crust.
Many thanks to Judi Van Gorder of PMO (PoetryMagnumOpus) for maintaining a wonderful resouce site.
 
Example Poem
White Man’s Heaven      (Inverted Refrain)
He didn’t know about the Lord
so was exempt from Cath’lic hell.
The church tried bringing him aboard
but he was fallible and fell.
        Instead of finding Lord’s reward
        he now in mortal fear must dwell.
© Lawrencealot – November 28, 2013
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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
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Roundelay

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There is some confusion online as to the meaning of the term “roundelay,” with some references confusing it with the French “rondelet” and others describing it as any poem with a refrain. Actually, the roundelay, rondelet, rondeau, rondel, and other similar sounding poems all spring from a common French origin, but are all very different in contemporary use. The roundelay’s many repeating couplets and limited rhymes can make it a difficult form to write, but as with many successful poems with refrains, can also make for profound or esoteric poetry.
The roundelay consists of four sestets (six-line stanzas) made up of twelve repeating couplets (two-line stanzas, one of which repeats as each stanza’s last two lines. The stanzas’ couplets A,B,C,D ,E and R (the continuing refrain) combine in the following pattern:
A B R … B C R … C D R … D E R
So, in the second stanza, “B C R” represents six-lines (three couplets), with couplet “B” repeating from the first stanza, couplet “C” repeating in the following stanza, and its last couplet “R” repeating as every stanza’s last two lines. In addition, each couplet’s first line rhymes with other couplets’ first lines and all second lines rhyme with each other as well, making the rhyme scheme:
a-b-a-b-a-b … a-b-a-b-a-b … a-b-a-b-a-b … a-b-a-b-a-b
Remember that in a rhyming pattern, lines ending in a sound designated by “a” only rhyme with other “a” lines, “b” lines only with other “b” lines, and so on.
Trochaic tetrameter (four feet of “DUM-dah” per line, see “Meter”) is a requirement, but it is permissible for some of the lines to be one syllable short.

Related forms: Dryden’s Roundelay, Rondelet, Roundelay, Termelay

 
Example Poem
Write a Roundelay
Write in Trochees, DUM da sounding.
Search for words with good rhyme rating.
Rhymes once used will be compounding.
Words that fit will be elating.
Couplets through the verse, go bounding.
stuck together as though dating.
Rhymes once used will be compounding.
Words that fit will be elating.
Doubters now you’ll be confounding.
Roundelays you’re now creating.
Couplets through the verse, go bounding.
stuck together as though dating.
Doubters now you’ll be confounding.
Roundelays you’re now creating.
Couplets you composed.. astounding.
Each of them adds their own weighting.
Couplets through the verse, go bounding.
stuck together as though dating.
Couplets you composed.. astounding.
Each of them adds their own weighting.
I’m glad this poem is abating.
This is getting aggravating.
Couplets through the verse go bounding.
stuck together as though dating.
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Sestina – Rhymed

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The Rhymed Sestina
The most important recognized sestina variant is the rhymed sestina, which was devised by Swinburne. Here keywords 1, 3 and 5 rhyme with each other, as do keywords 2, 4 and 6. The permutations are revised so that every stanza has the same rhyming scheme ababab. In terms of the keywords, the revised structure is:
stanza 1: 123456
stanza 2: 614325
stanza 3: 561432
stanza 4: 256143
stanza 5: 321654
stanza 6: 432561
tornada:  14/23/56
This is the structure that MUST be used if you write a rhymed sestina and
should NOT be used for an un-rhymed sestina.
Example Poem
Checking Your List       ( Rhymed Sestina )
I think today I’ll itemize our woes
then tomorrow I’ll pick out one to solve.
I can accomplish that much I suppose
if I approach the problem with resolve.
I’ll Itemize the problems in neat rows
then find the means to make them all dissolve.
All things that are soluble will dissolve.
If I can disassemble all our woes
I should find components we can resolve.
An ordered list is needed, I suppose
For surely world-wide problems I can’t solve.
I must therefore prioritize my rows
Put those deemed easiest in the top rows
A solution makes most all things dissolve.
A binding to insolubles makes woes
an aggregate resistant to resolve.
We must demote those woes I shall suppose
reserving strength for those we’re apt to solve,
Fixating on what we expect to solve
al lows us to dispose of early rows
and thus our will to win will not dissolve.
Our work will soon disclose imposing woes
Solutions will evolve, building resolve.
Some I’ll solve while in repose, I suppose.
I suspect there’s no reason to suppose
discouragement over those we can’t solve
won’t whittle our will, (and add to our woes).
Don’t add that to the list.  It will dissolve.
Wiggle your toes when progress slows on rows;
Think of Poe’s work or write prose with resolve.
Decide to ignore the list with resolve.
Some solutions one surely should suppose
will spring from things we’re not trying to solve.
At last unchangeables fill all our rows
World-wide differences will not dissolve.
Omit God’s will and nature from your woes .
I think the woes I know I can resolve
I’ll quickly solve forever, I suppose.
Concern for rows remaining will dissolve.
  © Lawrencealot – January 12, 2013)
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