This is a form I simply documented, attributing it to Emily Pauline Johnson, because in the four hundred twenty plus forms I have documented, I’ve never come across a quintet with this rhyme pattern. I used the first stanza of her poem “The Lost Lagoon” as the template for the metric schema.
The form is stanzaic, consisting of two or more quintets.
It is of Canadian origin.
The rhyme scheme is abbba accca…etc.
(Indicating that the ending words of L1 and L5 are repeated in each stanza.)
It is syllabic: 8/9/9/9/8
The short lines are anapest, anapest, iamb
da da DUM da da DUM da DUM
With the middle three lines being iamb,iamb,anapest,iamb
da DUM da DUM da da DUM da DUM
My example poem:
Surviving
When a brother is left behind
it’s seldom thought that his time was due.
No battle raged, and the sky was blue,
the day that Tim told us he was through.
“I’ve no more strength that I can find.”
We would not leave our friend behind.
he talked about his sweet wife, his mom,
his father’s farm, his young brother Tom
his faith in God, which so helped becalm
him all things good that he could find.
When we found those we’d left behind
to greet with loving so very warm
and praises we had escaped from harm–
we traveled next to Tim’s father’s farm
for in our hearts still Tim we find.
© Lawrencealot – February 19, 2014
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