Tag Archives: amphibrach

Tulip

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Pathways for the Poet by  Viola Berg (1977) is a book for and by educators. Classic poetic forms as well as many invented forms which appear to have been invented as teaching tools or exercizes for use in workshops or classrooms are included. Some of these invented forms I have found in use in internet poetry communities, a testament to their staying power. On this page I include the metric invented forms found there in which appear to be exclusive to the community of educators from whom Ms. Berg drew her support. I have yet to find these in any other source… Whether classroom exercise or sharpening your skill as a writer, some of these forms can be fun to play with.

• The Tulip is an invented verse form, a tetrastich with a combination of metric patterns. It was introduced by Viola Gardener.

The Tulip is:
○ a tetrastich, a poem in 4 lines.
○ metric, L1 & L3 are iambic pentameter, L2 i dimeter, a spondee followed by an amphibrach and L4 is dimeter, an iamb followed by an amphibrach.
○ rhymed abab.
○ because of the amphibrach foot at the end of L2 & L4 they have feminine endings.
Starbucks by Judi Van Gorder

The price of java going up and up
Good God! Horrendous!
The cost of coffee is four bucks a cup.
The line, tremendous!

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1199#dionol
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My Example

Another Birthday (Tulip)

I hope you’re happy, laughing and content.
Hail! Years are mounting.
It’s more important how your day is spent
than annual counting.

© Lawrencealot – September 28, 2014

Visual Template
Tulip

The Stephens

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• The Stephens is a stanzaic form that uses alternating rising and falling end syllables and is patterned after The Watcher and named for the English poet verse James Stephens (1882-1950).

The Stephens is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of sixains. (original poem has 5 sixains)
○ accentual, dimeter.
○ rhymed, ababxb cdcdxd etc. x being unrhymed.
○ composed with feminine endings in the odd numbered lines L1, L3 and L5 and masculine rhyme in the even numbered lines L2, L4, L6.

The Watcher by James Stephens
A rose for a young head,
A ring for a bride,
Joy for the homestead
Clean and wide
Who’s that waiting
In the rain outside?
A heart for an old friend,
A hand for the new:
Love can to earth lend
Heaven’s hue
Who’s that standing
In the silver dew?
A smile for the parting,
A tear as they go,
God’s sweethearting
Ends just so
Who’s that watching
Where the black winds blow ?
He who is waiting
In the rain outside,
He who is standing
Where the dew drops wide,
He who is watching
In the wind must ride
(Tho’ the pale hands cling)
With the rose
And the ring
And the bride,
Must ride
With the red of the rose,
And the gold of the ring,
And the lips and the hair of the bride.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful PMO resouce.
I would just call it predominantly amphibrachic with alternating catalectic lines and not bother with trying to identify and duplicate every variation.  Stephens clearly wasn’t concerned with metrical regularity.  The only reason it works is that there are two distinctly stressed beats in each line that are separated by strategically placed unstressed syllables, but very few poets understand the principles of stress or have the innate sense of rhythm that lets them pull off something like this. –
Knot To Be Undone
My thanks to Mary Borne for the analysis above.
My example poem
Nighttime Revival (The Stephens)
A time for the lovers
the magic of night
no need for covers
not tonight.
Doubts, though minor
give way to delight.
Just touching for pleasure,
a kiss on the lips,
tender stroking
fingertips.
Mundane cares are
so surely eclipsed.
With morning’s arrival
we’ll wake and ascend;
another revival
My darling, my friend.
Hopes still remaining
that this never ends.
© Lawrencealot – July 19, 2014

An incidental visual template:
The Stephens

Trochadiddle

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This form started as a nonce form written by
Michael Fantina, aka Eusebius of Alllpoetry for his poem
“Magics”
Michael is much too busy writing beautiful and entertaining poetry to be bothered with the practice of giving names to forms which he writes on the fly, often consciously or subconsciously influenced by Algernon Swinburne, from whom he thinks he might have borrowed this pattern.  Definitely he was influenced to occasionally merge two un-stressed syllables, or to add an occasional syllable deviating from a strict syllabic or accentual pattern where his creativity and mind’s ears says that it works.
Neither was Swinburne the only great to invoke this technique.  In fact is it is hard to find truly creative and expressive poets where this technique has not sometime found deployment.
I have been just learning to conform to form and pattern, and like anyone just learning, have always felt safer abiding strictly to the defined pattern of a form.
I define and name each new form that I see (and/or like in any manner at all) so that we may speak of it by name and all be speaking of the same animal when we give it a try.
My specifications:
This is a stanzaic poem, consisting of one or more sestets.
It is syllabic, each stanza being 10/10/6/5 syllables.
Rhymes: aabcbc, where the b-rhymes are feminine.
Metered subject to the following pattern:
DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM da
da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM da
da DUM da da DUM
Note: if  you write this same form beginning each of the long lines with a Spondee as did Gary Kent Spain, writing as venicebard on Allpoetry, you will have written a Spondiddle.
Original poem Magics by Eusebius
Gather the stars and the moon for a spell,
With holly and sard and an umber conch shell.
And sing to the sound of
A bell left unrung.
With a pestle ground love
Till your song is re-sung.
Call on a harlot who’s pale as the moon,
Call on her nightly, but call on her soon.
And while she is weeping,
Take one crystal tear,
And when she is sleeping
One jewel from her ear.
Gather them there near your hearth at the dawn,
Drench them with dew from the grass on the lawn,
And while it is brewing
Like some frothing sea,
You’ll soon then be wooing,
But me, only me!
© February 2014
You will see that the above poem, and the one illustrated by the visual template below, stray 0ccasionally from the specified pattern.
That is what I refer to a creative diddling around, and led me to the name of this form.
This represents a step forward in my poetic growth, as my rigidity is lessened for I realize now that poets always have this license, but can never take a knock for exercising it in competition with this form.
My example poem:
Sweet Apparition     (Trochadiddle)
Watched as the moon and the clouds seem to pose
with stars bunched so closely the Milky Way glows,
with night now becoming
invitingly cool
I heard something coming
up out of the pool.
She’s an apparition it seems at first glance
formed with perfection and sure to entrance.
Her eyes are green emeralds
but tinted with blue
her voice sweetly heralds
sweet pleasure, I knew.
“Love me tonight while we’re here all alone,
I cannot stay for this form is on loan.”
I did I’m believing,
I slaked both our thirst
and she’s not now grieving-
relieved of her curse.
© Lawrencealot – February 26, 2014
I call this a Trochadiddle
Long lines begin with a trochee and end with an iamb.
You will note that in line 2, I added an unstressed
Syllable before beginning the pattern – and also added an extra unstressed syllable mid-line,
 as I did elsewhere.  This is the diddling!
So the stressed syllables become
STARS, CLOSE, MILK, GLOWS, as though “with” were on line1.
Visual Template

Double Seven

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This interesting form was created by Lisa La Grange of Allpoetry.
It is stanzaic, consisting of any number of quatrains.
Each quatrain will have its own abab rhyme pattern,
Where the a-rhymes will always be feminine.
It is isosyllabic, each line being seven syllables.
It is metric, each line having two metric feet, the first foot being four syllables, and the second foot being three syllables.
The a-rhyme lines consist of a secundus paeon + an amphibrach: da DUM da da / da DUM da
The b-rhyme lines consist of a tertius paeon + an anapest
 da da DUM da / da da DUM
So the meter of a stanza is thus:
da DUM da da da DUM da
da da DUM da, da da DUM
da DUM da da da DUM da
da da DUM da da da DUM.
Example Poem
Just-Married(Double Seven)
I wonder if the bridegroom
has accepted yet the fact
that access to the bathroom
will be science, inexact.
I she wants to go shopping
and he’s planned a poker game,
I think that he’ll be copping
friends a plea they’ll know is lame.
But he may find his laundry
looks much better than before
and find there is no quandary
for it’s him she does adore.
© Lawrencealot – February 24, 2014
Visual Template
Where the red letters indicate lines with feminine rhyme.

Black Narcissus Tercet Rima

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This form was invent by Barry Hopkins, aka Black Narcissus on Allpoetry.

As it turns out this is NOT a new form, indicated be the comment below: but the poet thought it was, and I am not knowledgeable enough to recognize historic precedents all of the time.  I’m leaving it, as it is a friendly form that has already gained some traction on Allpoetry, but a reading of the link below will give some proper attribution to previous users.
_____
Quote from Mary Boren:
“I agree that it’s a very pleasing metrical pattern, Larry, but I wouldn’t call it a newly invented form.  It has been used extensively in traditional verse of  the past and is especially popular in Australian Bush Verse.  I can’t point to any specific examples from famous poets, but
was written in 2001.”
________
It consist of tercet stanzas.
It is syllabic 8/8/11
Rhyme Pattern: aab ccb dde ffe...(aabccbddeffe…)
Meter: Anapest,
Sort lines:  Amphibrach,Trochee for the short lines.
                   da da DUM da DUM da DUM da (hence feminine rhyme)
Long Line   Anapest, Amphibrach,Trochee,Amphimacer for the long line
                   da da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM
Example
Cricket. ( By Jiminy! ) – Black Narcissus
It’s the willow on the leather
and the doubts about the weather
that make cricket, lovely cricket, great for me.
There’s a batsman and a bowler
and a light or heavy roller
that make cricket more like outdoor poetry.
There’s a googly and a flipper,
there’s the team and there’s the skipper,
there is D.R.S and snicko for an edge.
There’s a twelfth man and a third man,
there was body line and Bradman
and the Aussies who are often known to sledge.
There’s a bouncer and a beamer
and the wily English seamer
who can move the ball in ways I can’t describe.
There are pace men there are spinners,
there are losers there are winners
and some cheaters who’ve been known to take a bribe.
We’ve created twenty/twenty
where the runs are scored a’plenty
and one fifty is about an average score.
Yet I much prefer test cricket
on a fifth day turning wicket;
after five days though it might just be a draw.
Visual Template

Amaranth poetry form

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Amaranth is an invented verse form that was probably created as a teaching tool by Viola Gardner. It makes deliberate use of the 9 most common metric feet. Each line is one metric foot, the pattern changing from line to line. 
The Amaranth is:
  • 9 lines strophe. It is a stand alone poem.
  • metric, the 9 most common metric feet are used in sequence.
    L1 Spondee SS
    L2 Iamb uS
    L3 Pyrrhic uu
    L4 Dactyl Suu
    L5 Trochee Su
    L6 Amphimacer SuS
    L7 Choriamb SuuS
    L8 Anapest uuS
    L9 Amphibrach uSu
  • rhymed at the discretion of the poet, although the metric restrictions are probably enough to contend with in this verse form.On the Cross by Judi Van GorderBehold!
    I am
    without
    sinfulness.
    Blameless,
    innocent
    guileless, bereft
    pleasing God
    forever.
With sincere thanks to Judi Van Gorder  for the above from the wonderful PMO site.
My Example Poem
Psychiatry     (Amaranth)
Wisecracks
are made
in the
analyst’s
office
shedding light,
clearing the way
for a true
discourse.
© Lawrencealot – November 27, 2013
Visual Template

Swinburne Octain

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This is a refrain poem, the form was one of many un-named forms invented by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909).

 I  have interpreted the specifications from looking at the work of one of Swinburne’s most dedicated students, AP’s own Eusebius.

 

There are at least TWO significant versions of an octain he created.  This first, presented here is  written in iambic meter, the second  written in trochaic.  The is the first:

 

Rhyming pattern: ABccabAB, where the capital letter indicate verbatim repetition of a line.

The “b” rhymes are all iambic trimeter,  all other lines  are feminine rhymes utilizing footless (or catalectic) iambic tetrameter.

Syllabic:  7/6/7/7/7/6/7/6

 

The first stanza, is repeated as the final stanza of the poem, thus it seems sensible that the minimum poem length should be at least four stanzas.

 

 

The Trochaic version is written with the Rhyming pattern: ababcccb

Syllabic: 9/8/9/8/9/9/9/8

 

The accent is as two trochee feet, an amphibrach and a trochee with all “b” rhymes being catalectic.

Example Poem

 The Tart (Swinburne Octain)

This tart so thin, bewitching,
with beauty, fay and pale.
Her tattoos all parading,
Her ebon curls cascading,
until I am just itching
to see her all in Braille.
This tart so thin, bewitching,
with beauty, fay and pale.

She seems an apparition
both siren myth and tramp,
who sells her pleasures cheaply
to those who want her deeply.
I feel I must audition
to win time with this vamp.
She seems an apparition
both siren myth and tramp,

Her long smooth legs inviting
all who may simply glance.
Though men might once demean her
they’ll dare not come between her
and one she is inviting.
Each man would like his chance.
Her long smooth legs inviting
all who may simply glance.

To me she whispered lightly,
“I’ll show you realms of love.”
Her word were most insightful
Her movements were delightful
I longed to have her nightly
beneath the moon above.
To me she whispered lightly,
“I’ll show you realms of love.”

This tart so thin, bewitching,
with beauty, fay and pale.
Her tattoos all parading,
Her ebon curls cascading,
until I am just itching
to see her all in Braille.
This tart so thin, bewitching,
with beauty, fay and pale. 

© Lawrencealot – June 17, 2013

 

 

Visual Template

 

 

 

Amphibrach Trimeter

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The amphibrach is a trisyllabic metrical foot, which in accentual meter consists of an accented syllable between two unaccented syllables.
Rhyme optional
Isosyllabic 9 syllables
A single octave.  (8 lines)
Example Poem
Bird Watching
Reclining relaxed in the garden
the cat was ignoring my  calling,
indifferently birds kept on chirping,
idyllic conditions for poets.
Amusing deception, cat lazy
and silent just waiting for breakfast.
Indolent or working at trapping
a birdie who thinks that he’s sleeping?
I’ll leave now before I spoil something.
© Lawrencealot – May 5, 2012
Visual Template

Limerick

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A limerick (is):
  1. is five lines long,
  2. is based on the rhythm “da-da-DAH” (anapest meter)
  3. has two different rhymes.
  4. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have three of those da-da-DAH “feet,” and rhyme with each other.
  5. Lines 3 and 4 have two, and rhyme with each other.
So the basic form is:
da da DAH / da da DAH / da da BING
da da DAH / da da DAH / da da DING
da da DAH / da da BAM
da da DAH / da da WHAM
da da DAH / da da DAH / da da PING
Limericks can:
  1. drop the first “da” in a line, changing that foot to da-DAH (iamb).
  2. add an extra “da” or two at the end of a line IF it’s used for an extended rhyme, such as people and steeple or cannibal and Hannibal.
  3. use special fonts or characters to make a point,
A Limerick is a rhymed humorous or nonsense poem of five lines which originated in Limerick, Ireland.
The Limerick has a set rhyme scheme of : a-a-b-b-a with a syllable structure of: 9-9-6-6-9.

Limericks can also be written in AMPHIBRACH meter

– two lines of amphibrachic trimeter, two lines of amphibrachic dimeter,

and a final line of amphibrachic trimeter.

Below my visual template shows two perfectly acceptable Limerick Forms.
In the strictest sense limericks should be a single five line poem.  Currently you find many poets stringing them together as stanzas.
Example Poem

The Lady and the Hat

The Lady in the Hat

The lady was well put together
with her tats and hat with a feather
I longed so to treasure
her feminine pleasure
at my place or hers, if she’d rather.

A limerick in amphibrach meter.

With a hat with a feather in place
and a corset constricting her waist
She said, nodding at me
“Take me home if you’re free
I so need a young man to embrace. “

A limerick in anapest meter
(c) Lawrencealot – 2013
_______________________________________________-
For most of three years, that is all I had to say about the subject. During which I a learned a great deal about the permitted mechanics and devices formally allow in writing a poem in a specific meter.
Note: The following explanation is the most correct I have seen, and shows that one FOOT can easily morph into another, because headless feet, and catalectic feet are always s permitted poetic devise which denies counting syllables any validity in defining metrics.
THE STRUCTURE OF A LIMERICK
 
 
Limericks are short poems of five lines having rhyme structure AABBA. It is officially described as a form of ‘anapestic trimeter’.
The ‘anapest’ is a foot of poetic verse consisting of three syllables, the third longer (or accentuated to a greater degree) than the first two: da-da-DA. The word ‘anapest’ shows it’s own metric: anaPEST.
Lines 1, 2 and 5 of a limerick should ideally consist of three anapests each, concluding with an identical or similar phoneme to create the rhyme.
Lines 3 and 4 are shorter, constructed of two anapests each and again rhyming with each other with the overall rhyme structure of AABBA.
 
The anapest metric must show the following pattern:
(da) da DA da da DA da da DA (da) (da)
(da) da DA da da DA da da DA (da) (da)
(da) da DA da da DA (da)
(da) da DA da da DA (da)
(da) da DA da da DA da da DA (da) (da)
Meaning that you can leave off the syllables in parentheses.
But 1, 2 and 5 should match each other, and 3 and 4 should match.
Pasted from
http://whvvugt.home.xs4all.nl/Archives_TCCMB/Limericks/Structure.htmlI
I would love to give attribution, but can do no better than the URL, which belongs to a private domain, but I do thank Andrea Detriech for bringing it to my attention.
But you will note, that by paying attention to these requirements our amphibrach limerick is indeed anapestic as well.

 

Visual Templates

Anapest version

Amphibrach Version