Tag Archives: a(b/b)a

Tho Sau Chu

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The following description and example are reposted with permission from Poetry Magnum Opus, with thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on that fine resource.

Tho Sau Chu or Six-Word Verse [Vietnamese] is measured by word count and uses either alternate of envelope rhyme. It can be written in quatrains or octaves. When written in octaves it is called Six-Eight Poetry  The elements of the Tho Sau Chu are:

  1. stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains. It can also be written in any number of octaves.
  2. measured by word count, 6 words per line.
  3. rhymed, either alternate, abab cdcd etc. (when written as Six-Eight abababab cdcdcdcd etc.) or envelope, abba cddc etc. (when written in octaves abbaabba cddccddc etc.)

My Example

Form: Tho Sau Chu

Old New Form Takes a Bow

This poetry form comes from Vietnam
which doesn’t rhyme with Uncle Sam
but with either mom or bomb.
Am I certain? Yes I am!

If my lines led you astray,
it’s because I’m a contrary guy.
I feel my misdirection is okay
when a second reading explains why.

I’m writing this Tho Sau Chu
(though English cannot do it proud.)
This form hereby makes its debut
with only one hundred words allowed.

I think none will be uptight
with a new form that’s presented
to shine and share the spotlight;
with ninety-six words I feel contented.

© Lawrencealot – January 31, 2015

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Tawddgyrch Cadwynog

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Type: Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Stanzaic

Description: (TOWDD-girch ca-DOY-nog) This is a Welsh line form consisting of three to five sections of tetrasyllabic verse with abbc or abba rhyme that continues into the next line.

Origin: Welsh

Schematic:

xxxa xxxb xxxb xxxc
xxxa xxxb xxxb xxxc

Or:

xxxa xxxb xxxb xxxa
xxxa xxxb xxxb xxxa

The scheme follows through at least two lines, then can change.

Pasted from Poetry Base/Poetry Gnosis, with thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his years of work on the wonderful resource.

This form consists of stanzas of usually four, lines, of four syllables: A. B. B. A.

Like the Rhupunt, it is common to join the lines together and end up with the two stanzas making a couplet.

X X X A X X X B X X X B X X X A.

X X X A X X X B X X X B X X X A.

In subsequent stanzas the rhyme may change, but not the pattern, C. D.D. C. and so on.

Pasted from The Poets Garret, with thanks to John Clitheroe for his work on the site.

My Example

Form: Tawddgyrch Cadwynog

A Variable Line Count Poem

To get it right
pen four by four
then add four more;
that’s how you write.

This form is tight
and furthermore
it is a chore
that does delight.

Two quatrains do
a couplet make;
and then you take
them up by two

(I know you knew),
for heaven’s sake
this takes the cake,
a brand new view.

OR

To get it right pen four by four
then add four more; that’s how you write.
This form is tight and furthermore
it is a chore that does delight.

Two quatrains do a couplet make;
and then you take them up by two
(I know you knew), for heaven’s sake
this takes the cake, a brand new view.

OR

To get it right pen four by four then add four more; that’s how you write.
This form is tight and furthermore it is a chore that does delight.
Two quatrains do a couplet make; and then you take them up by two
(I know you knew), for heaven’s sake this takes the cake, a brand new view.

© Lawrencealot – January 26, 2015

Retournello

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Retournello: Created by Flozari Rockwood
Any number of quatrains.
Syllabic Count: 4-6-8-4
Rhyme Scheme: a-b-b-a c-d-d-c e-f-f-e etc.

Doomsday: May 21, 2011

4a Some say Doomsday
6b earthquake cracks open graves.
8b Only the Christian dead God saves.
4a The rest Earth’s prey.
4c Believers rise–
6d the living and the dead,
8d rest in torment is what is said.
4c Fill crowded skies?
4e To date Rapture
6f some claim Bible reckons
8f October end of world beckons.
4e Left to nature.
4g We’ll wait and see
6h this is just another guess.
8h Time will tell if this time it’s yes–
4g this prophesy

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

My example

Our Parrot (Form: Retournello)

A neon green
and neon carrot bird
wears other colors quite absurd.
Isn’t it keen?

© Lawrencealot – January 13, 2015

Written for contest, exactly 15 words.

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Retournello

Englyn byr cwca

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Englyn byr cwca is a shortened crooked rhyme and is not one of the 24 Official Welsh Meters.

Englyn bry cwca is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of tercets.
• syllabic, 7-10-6 syllable lines.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme aba, cdc, etc. The L2 end rhyme appears internally midway in L3.
x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x x x b
x x b x x a

A Look Forward byJudi Van Gorder

Vows, “in sickness and in health”,
they’re hard to see when strong and young in love,
time is part of the wealth.
But years turn and visions blur,
the body slows and vitality goes,
hopes and woes are deferred.

Here we are in winter’s dawn,
through grace or luck our days continue bright.
We shun the night upon
which one life will first depart.
Only “death and taxes” they say, “are sure”.
mature, we play our part.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=960\
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

AM and PM (Englyn bry cwca)

Relentlessly time moves on
with urging when we’re young; we’d like a blitz
until it’s almost gone.

In the winter of life’s year
time slows our body making us aware
we ought share our lives cheer.

© Lawrencealot – December 9, 2014

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Englyn bry cwca

Cuarteto

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The Cuarteto, Spanish for quartet, is an Argentine genre of music and also a stanzaic form which is simply a quatrain made up of rhymed hendecasyllabic lines.

The Cuarteto is:
• stanzaic, a poem made up of any number of quatrains.
• syllabic, hendecasyllabic (11 syllable) lines.
• rhymed, either abab or abba rhyme scheme.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1433
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Re-connected (Cuarteto)

I imagined hearing whispers from above
When my travels took me far away from you,
and from whence the whispers came I saw a view –
an image that must have been of you, my love.

Or perhaps the breeze had whispered through the tree
which had seemed to say, “Please hurry home my dear.”
I’ll accelerate the tasks that I have here
and return to one who means so much to me.
© Lawrencealot – November 23, 2014

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Cuarteto

La'libertas

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La’libertas
The La’libertas, a 22-line (4/6/4/6/2) poetic form created by Laura Lamarca. The stanza rules are as follows:

Stanza 1 – rhyme scheme ABBA, 8 syllables per line.
Stanza 2 – Free verse, 6 lines ONLY
Stanza 3 – Rhyme scheme BAAB, 8 syllables per line.
Stanza 4 – Free verse, 6 lines ONLY
Couplet – Italian (Any language acceptable except English)

How the La’libertas for got its name is from the word “libertas” which is Latin for “liberty” and “La” is Laura Lamarca’s signature.
Example:
Gentle Kisses

Once wandered lonely world alone
‘neath skies that drenched in icy rain,
encompassed soul within its pain;
winds chapped fiercely, chilled and blown.

Soul grew old
in cold array,
displayed distress
in velvet vestige
& sorrows splayed
‘neath edges frayed.

Till hope gave warmth in ev’ry vein
and inner self escaped, now grown
from darker days of life once thrown –
it’s time for me to dream again.

Soul grew wise
in waking eyes,
surprised by
survival’s strength
& faith re-wrote
love’s antidote.

La grazia me ha benedetto con i baci gentili,
le ali delle libertà sulla mia faccia.

Copyright © 2007 Laura Lamarca

Pasted from http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/lalibertas.html

Being that I have no foreign language skills, this will be one of the few forms for which I have not posted my own example.

Restated Specifications

The La’libertas is:

a poem of 22 lines,
syllabic, having lines of 4/6/4/6/2 syllables
stanzaic, having 5 stanzas, 2 quatrains, 2 sestets, and a couplet
formulaic, mandating mixed rhymed, free verse, and non-English language,
rhymed: abba and baab

 

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.

Soft-Songed Tercet

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Soft-Songed Tercet
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Other Requirement, Simple
Description:
This form has four requirements.
  1. It is iambic.
  2. The schema is:xxxxxa
    xxxxxbxxxxxb
    xxxxxa
  3. There must be an unusual image or turn of phrase.
  4. It must have a soft feel to it.
There is also a multi-stanza form called the soft-songed triplet.
Schematic:
Rhyme/Syllable:
xxxxxa
xxxxxbxxxxxb
xxxxxa
Meter:
xX xX xX
Thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for the wonderful resource.
  • Soft Songed Tercet is an invented verse form found at Poetry Base that has an unusual request, the verse must have a “soft feel”.The Soft Songed Tercet is:
    • a tristich, a poem in 3 lines. When written in more than one tercet the form is oddly named the Soft Songed Triplet. (“Tercet” is 3 line unit as is a “triplet”, both of which can be written in any number within a poem. The words are often used interchangeably however, the classic English “triplet” is usually monorhymed. So technically the name Soft Songed Tercet properly should apply to both a single tristich or the stanzaic form of any number of tercets.)
    • metered, iambic, L1 &L3 are trimeter, L2 is hexameter.
    • rhymed, rhymed a(bb)a L2 has internal rhyme.
    • composed with an unusual image.
    • composed with a “soft feel”.
      x x x x x a
      x x x x x b x x x x x b
      x x x x x a       
      Furry Fix by jvgSilky fluff warms my palm
      as I cup a small plump rabbit waiting to jump
      free. Its fine fur a balm.
Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource.
Example Poem
Fluppet
So fluffy I’ve been made
I’ll bring your daughter joy – become her favorite toy,
she’ll never be afraid.
© Lawrencealot – February 6, 2014
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