Bar Form

The Bar Form is a medieval, German stanzaic form. Lutheran chorals and minnesingers of the 12th thru 14th centuries used the form. The Star Spangled Banner is written in Bar form.

The Bar form is:
• stanzaic, any number of octaves made up of 2 couplets followed by a quatrain. The 2 halves of the octave are known as Aufgesang and the Abgesang “after song”. (the Abgesang can use portions of an Aufgesang phrase.)
• metered, at the discretion of the poet as long as the rhythm of the lines of the first couplet is repeated by the 2nd couplet, the following quatrain has a different rhythm in each line which is not repeated within the octave. It might be clearer described in music the first 2 couplets repeat a melody, the quatrain carries a different melody.
• rhymed, ababccdd

Star Spangled Banner by Frances Scott Keyes stanza 1

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1081
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

The “bar form” term is still used by songwriters today. The popular “Over
the Rainbow” is written in this form, as are all of the classic blues.

German and Austrian Poetic Forms:

Bar Form, Dinggedicht, Goliardic VerseKnittelvers, Minnesang, Nibelungen,Schuttelreim

 

My attempt

Nor Can I Now Whistle (Bar Form)

My cohorts often found me singing in the halls
or maybe whistling as I walked from place to place.
When taking showers notes were ringing off the walls
for happy music puts a smile upon my face.
A melody that you can sing together
Will get you through all kinds of stormy weather.
Old age has robbed my voice of any pleasant pitch
but if I keep it down nobody seems to bitch.

© Lawrencealot – November 13, 2014

Rispetto

rispetto, ( Italian:: “respect,” ) plural rispetti,  a Tuscan folk verse form, a version of strambotto. Therispetto lyric is generally composed of eight hendecasyllabic (11-syllable) lines. In its earliest form the rhyme scheme was usually abababcc. Later, the scheme ababccdd became more prominent, and other variations can also be found.
The form reached its pinnacle of both artistic achievement and popularity in the 14th and 15th centuries, particularly in the work of Politian, to whom some 200 rispetti are ascribed. Lorenzo de’ Medicialso wrote rispetti.
Pasted from <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/504518/rispetto>

A Rispetto, an Italian form of poetry, is a complete poem of two rhyme quatrains with strict meter. The meter is usually iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of abab ccdd. A Heroic Rispetto is written in Iambic pentameter, usually featuring the same rhyme scheme.
Pasted from <http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/rispetto.html>

Restated and consolidated rules:
The Rispetto is:
a poem in an octave, made up of 2 quatrains.
most often written in iambic tetrameter 
or it can be syllabic with lines between 8 and 12 syllables.
rhymed rhymed ababccdd or abababcc or abab cddc
 
The Heroic Rispetto is:
a poem in an octave made up of 2 quatrains.
always written in iambic pentameter.
rhymed ababccdd or abababcc or abab cddc
It appears that either may be separate quatrains or
a single octave as the poet prefers.

Example Poem
Heroic Rispetto by Lawrecealot
Rispetto Be or Not to Be
Rispetto is an old Italian form.
It’s English use has been neglected here.
It’s not in books that are the writers’ norm.
But searching yielded samples quite unclear.
What once was standard tetrameter changed.
It now can stretch to hexameter, dear.
If you have penned two stanza poems arranged
in quatrains your Rispetto may be here.
(c) Lawrencealot – April 16, 2012
Visual Template
Rispetto

Strambotto

The Strambotto has three primary versions:
All are presented here.
The Siciliano,  rhymed abababab
The Tuscano,  rhymed ababccdd (preferred), abababcc,  aabbccdd
and the Romagnuolo, rhymed ababccdd
It is:
Lyrical – Written as one octave, or with the Tuscano, possibly one sestet.  It you wish to write several stanza it becomes an Ottava Rima.
Rhymed – Each with its specific pattern(s).
Isosyllabic – Each line has precisely eleven syllables.
Below are additional resources with history and added information.  At the end you will find my Visual Templates.
________________________________
Strambotto
This was an early form of Italian poetry that was set to music by composers of the frottola and madrigals of the 16th century. The poetry is set into very strict stanzas of eight lines of eleven syllables. This type of stanza is known as rispetto or ottava rima. The musical rispetto was usualy dedicated to a lady love, Aside from the fact the ottava rima had no set form length and later became Iambic it also came from literature and generally had multiple stanzas, but musical version, the strambotto was typically created with a single stanza.
There are three basic types of strambotto and they are identified by their rhyme scheme.
1. Strambotto Siciliano
It will be noted that this is similar to the Sicilian Octave, but follows the Strombotto rules and consists of eight strict hendecasyllable lines (11 syllables), and similarly for multi stanzas.
a. b. a. b. a. b. a. b. 
2. Strambotto Toscano
This form is most used for stand alone poetry, but can be used for multiple stanzas. When writing muliple stanzas (as in a song), it is usual to link each stanza by either a refrain or using the whole or part of the last line of the previous stanza as the first line of the next stanza:
a. b. a. b. a. b. c. c. 
3. Strambotto Romagnuolo
This form has the octave constructed from a Sicilian quatrain and a quatrain of two couplets. The same rules apply about stand alone poems, and multiple stanzas.
a. b. a. b. c. c. d. d
My thanks to the poetsgarret.
The Strambotto is thought to have influenced the development of the Sicilian Octave and the birth of the sonnet. The Strambotto is one of the earliest Italian verse forms and can be found in works from the 12th through the 19th centuries usually set to music. The name comes from the Occitan,estrabot which refers to sentimental and or amorous rhymes. Sources suggest the early Strambotto varied between 6 or 8 lines long however it was eventually recognized as an 8 line form holding fast to a strict 11 syllable line. Rhyme seems to be delineated by territory, Tuscan, Sicilian and Romano. The frame appears to be the same as the Ottavo Rima Stanza. However, the forms are quite different in that the Strombotto is limited to a single lyrical, octave while the Ottavo Rima is a narrative, stanzaic verse written with any number of octaves. 
 IN ADDITION THE OTTAVO RIMA may be decasyllabic LARRY
The Strambotto is:
  • lyrical.
  • an octastich, a poem in 8 lines. (When written in narrative stanzas it is better known as Ottava Rima)
  • syllabic, strict hendecasyllabic lines. In English it has been found in iambic pentameter.
  • rhymed, most often follows the Tuscan patterns of abababcc and occasionally aabbccdd and is sometimes called Strambotto Tuscano. TheSicilian Strambottos followed the rhyme pattern of abababab and the Strambotto Romagnuolo carries a rhyme scheme of ababccdd.
My thanks to PoetryMagnumOpus
Strambotto (Sicilian)
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Other Requirement, Stanzaic
Description:
Hendecasyllabic lines rhymed abababab. Usually is lyrical and sentimental or amorous.
Origin:
Sicily
Schematic:
Rhyme: abababab
Meter: xxxxxxxxxxx
Rhythm/Stanza Length:
8
See Also:
Status:
Incomplete
Strambotto (Tuscan)
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Other Requirement, Stanzaic
Description:
Stanzas of 6 or 8 hendecasyllabic lines rhymed ababccdd (preferred), abababcc, aabbccdd, ababcc, ababab, or aabbcc. Usually is lyrical and sentimental or amorous.
Origin:
Italian
Schematic:
Rhyme:
ababccdd (preferred),
abababcc,
aabbccdd,
ababcc,
ababab, or
aabbcc
Meter: xxxxxxxxxxx
See Also:
My thanks to Poetry Base.
Example Poem
This Drink’s on Me, Err… You (Strambotto)
While I drank sociably, the crowd grew pressing
I’d come because the band was recommended.
Folks were rowdy, unfriendly, rude, depressing.
A girl approached, her lovely hand extended
“May I have your stool to sit next to my sis?”?
“Sure.?” I’d been taught manners are not hit or miss.
Her “sis” rose, gave seat to girl’s male friend (I think.)
When they danced I spilled upon their stools, my drink.
© Lawrencealot – December 12, 2013
VISUAL TEMPLATES. These show the rhyme patterns and syllable count.
                                      No specfic meter is mandated, I have shown both
                                      iambic and trochaic possibilities.