Tag Archives: iambic pentameter

Quintette

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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 Quintette is an invented verse form with an unusually placed refrain. It was created by Fay Lewis Noble.

The Quintette is:
○ a poem in 15 lines made up of 3 quintains.
○ metric, stanza 1 & 3 are iambic pentameter, stanza 2 all lines are iambic, L1,L5 are dimeter and L3 is pentameter and L2,L4 are tetrameter.
○ L1 of the 1st stanza is repeated as L3 of the 2nd stanza and L5 of the 3rd stanza.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme Ababb acAca dadaA.

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.

The Quintette is:
A 15 line poem written in iambic meter
Stanzas 1 and 3 are iambic petameter,
Stanza 2 is dimeter, tetrameter, and pentameter
Rhymed, with refrains: Ababb acAca dadaA.

My example

No Promises to Break (Quintette)

I have no need for dogma in my life.
What is apparent makes me satisfied.
I scoff at those who need an after-life.
Religion’s dogma I cannot abide;
and science too buys dogma, and has lied.

I treasure life
and feel my spirit’s doing well;
I have no need for dogma in my life.
I need no promises to quell
some inner strife.

There’s many things I see, not understood,
and obstacles encountered sometimes rife.
Yet mostly things I see seem pretty good,
and frequently made better by my wife.
I have no need for dogma in my life.

© Lawrencealot – September 20, 2014

Contest entry using Title: Broken Promises
By Author: Clarence Shava

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Quintette

Louise

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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 Louise is a stanzaic form that seems to be an exercise in using feminine and masculine endings. It was created by Viola Berg.

The Louise is:
stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
metered. L1, L2, L3 are pentameter (5 metric feet), L4 is iambic dimeter (2 metric feet)
composed with L1 and L3 with feminine (unstressed) endings.
rhymed. L2 and L4 rhyme. Rhyme scheme xaxa xbxb etc x being unrhymed.
Land Ho! by Judi Van Gorder
So long ago, adventure for a sailor, 
with well supplied, staunch ships Columbus sailed 
without a means to navigate the water 
New land they hailed.
 
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

Commanding Stuff   (Louise)

 Commanding Stuff

The lightning slicing through the sky can frighten
the most established and contented folk
but others wait for thunder’s crash proclaiming
it’s not a joke.

 

© Lawrencealot – September 15, 2014

Picture credit: Theresa Clark from Pinterest

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Louise

Douzet

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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 Douzet is a verse form with a unique rhyme scheme in the last quatrain. An exercise in meter and rhyme found in Pathways but is attributed to an unknown which Berg found in Clement Wood’s Poet’s Craft Book 1936, a book I have yet to get my hands on.

The Douzet is:
a 12 line poem made up of 3 quatrains.
metered, iambic pentameter.
abba cddc abcd.
  

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

Tombstone Romance (Douzet)

I rode to Tombstone for to see a show. 
It weren’t a cultural center, that I knew
but Josephine was there, and Fabian too.
Despite the outlaws, I just had to go.
For me it was a break from daily strife
and for the touring troupe, I’d have to guess
not being shot was proof of their success,
and Wyatt Earp there met his future wife.

He married Josephine you surely know,
a fated match as she was passing through.
For forty-seven years they shared their life
for neither one would settle now for less.

© Lawrencealot – September 8, 2014

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Dionol

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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 Dionol created by Dion O’Donnell is another exercise in meter. This form employs a rentrament which is the repetition of a phrase from one line as a line elsewhere in the poem. 

The Dionol is:
an octave with a rentrament as an added line, the last phrase of L2 is repeated as L9.
metered, iambic pentameter with L9 iambic trimeter.
abcddcbab.
xx xx xx xx xa
xx xx rr rr rb
xx xx xx xx xc
xx xx xx xx xd
xx xx xx xx xd
xx xx xx xx xc
xx xx xx xx xb
xx xx xx xx xa
rr rr rb
 

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

Repayment (Dionol)

My happiness is not just mine to keep
I borrowed it, and loans must be repaid.
I borrowed it from dogs and cats and trees,
and jokes from friends and smiles from passers-by
and books I’ve read and flowers, creeks, and sky.
I’m never left without, for by degrees
each offering to others that I’ve made
have brought me more and set me more at ease,
and loans must be repaid.

© Lawrencealot – Septembet 8, 2014

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 Dionol

Caprice

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The Caprice form was invented in a whimsical moment by Mary Lou Healy, aka Mlou on Allpoetry.com.

The caprice is:
Stanzaic: It is a poem consisting of any number of cinquain stanzas
Metered: It is written in iambic pentameter except for L2 of each stanza being iambic dimeter
Rhyme Pattern: ababa cdcdc efefe, etc.

What Meaning by Mlou

What meaning in an autumn afternoon
when the sun, low sinking in the west
goes down too soon,
when breeze that whispered, dear, I love you best,
now sighs the farewell notes of mournful loon?

The chill that rattles every browning leaf
echoes through my blood and stills my bones
beyond belief.
I grudge the ticking clock those mellowed tones,
knowing Time is an accomplished thief.

I fear that falling leaves can’t be denied,
can’t be returned to limbs now growing bare
although I’ve tried.
Those melancholy endings float on air
and mirror my forebodings deep inside.

_____

My example

Community Pup  (Caprice)

What pleasure’s taken when I take a stroll.
My puppy patient; anytime I stop
he plays his role.
For meeting folks, my dog’s a natural prop.
But playing ball with kids is his real goal.

We walk three quarters of a mile each way;
a park with slides and swings is near the school
where dogs can play.
The kids think playing catch with Griz is cool,
so now we do it nearly everyday.

I walk because the doctor said I should
but stopping at the park is just for Griz,
And that is good.
Each day before school starts that’s where he is,
and he’s well-known throughout our neighborhood.

© Lawrencealot – September 6, 2014

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Caprice

Canopus

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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. I have included the syllabic invented forms on a separate page. Whether classroom exercise or sharpening your skill as a writer, some of these forms can be fun to play with.

• Canopus is an invented verse form which stresses a “continuous flow of thought”. This is attributed to author Clement Wood of The Complete Rhyming Dictionary and Poet’s Craft Book 1936.

Canopus is also the 2nd brightest star in Earth‘s sky, though not visible to anyone living above latitude 37 degrees north of the northern hemisphere.

The Canopus is:
○ a heptastich, a poem in 7 lines.
○ metric, written in iambic pentameter.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme ababcbc.

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

Pending Love  (Canapus)

My love for you was quietly ensconced
in silent hidden realms where love resides
and flourishes when touched by thought just once.
We never met where such a love abides,
but my imagination holds a view
that time will cure that fault for us; besides,
to love is next to being loved by you.

© Lawrencealot – September 3, 2014

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Canapus

Keatsian Ode

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Keatsian Ode Description: The Keatsian or English Ode is written in iambic pentameter with three verses with rhyme scheme ababcdecde. Each verse has new rhymes, although it follows the same scheme, so technically: ababcdecde fgfghijhij klklmnomno for the whole schmeer. Another expert says it can be any number of verses, and since Keats himself wrote an eight-verser, we’ll agree with him. Attributed to: John Keats Origin: English Schematic: Rhyme: ababcdecde

Pasted from http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/001/158.shtml My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for years of work on this fine Poetrybase resource.

Other Odes: Aeolic Ode, Anacreontic Ode, Choral Ode or Pindaric Ode or Dorian Ode,
Cowleyan Ode or Irregular Ode, Horatian Ode, Keatsian or English Ode, Ronsardian Ode

Thematic Odes:
Elegy, Obsequy, Threnody Ode
Elemental Ode
Genethliacum Ode
Encomium or Coronation Ode
Epithalamion or Epithalamium and Protholathiumis
Palinode Ode
Panegyric or Paean
Triumphal Ode
Occasional Verse

My example

Owed to My Coffee Cup (Keatsian Ode)

My coffee cup begins my daily grind.
Oh coffee cup you are my calming friend;
you pacify and organize my mind.
I use you for most any coffee blend,
yet holding drinks is least of what you do.
I hold you sometimes just to strike a pose
It buys me time to think upon my feet –
contemplative while sipping from my brew
you are a point of focus I suppose
while I compose a thought that seems complete.

© Lawrencealot – August 12, 2014

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Keatsian Ode

Swinburne Decastitch

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This form combining the rhyming pattern of an interrupted Petrachan Sonnet, with the breathing  cadence of common meter may have somewhere been used before, but it was definitely used and captured for us by Algernon Charles Swinburne in his “A Ballad of Death”.
I merely record it here and give it a name by which we can refer as we attempt to write such poems of our own.
It is stanzaic, consisting of any number of stanzas.
It is Syllabic: 10/10/6/10/10/10/6/10/10/10
It is Rhymed: abbacdecde
It is composed in iambic meter.
Example Poem
Cultural Patrimony     (Swinburne Decastitch)
When any culture deems it right to maul
and kill, inflicting pain, can you explain
away my great disdain?
Can you excuse the citizens and all
who legislate and rule who use as tool
the very worst impulses of man’s mind?
Against such things let’s rail!
We simply cannot fool ourselves- it’s cruel
to torment any species that we find.
With that in mind I’d like to tell this tale.
Young boys are often wooed by danger’s taunt
and while still teens endeavor to learn skills
to please the crowds with thrills.
‘Tis machismo alone that these boys flaunt,
and doubtlessly they want to earn the fame
accruing to the greatest in this “sport”
so fam’lies can be proud.
And many boys who play this dangerous game
will end up lame or have their life cut short
where death and torture’s commonly allowed.
In training some are killed or truly maimed.
and never set their feet into bull’s ring.
This is an honored thing!
But culture failing still persists unnamed,
where people think this cost perhaps is small;
and small it well may be when men have learned
compassion has no role.
If humankind is not herewith appalled
by acts dispensing pain where it’s unearned
each man accepts canker on his soul.
When man pits bull against a lion foe,
again to entertain and titillate,
we each should fee self-hate.
The gladiator games we must outgrow,
like burning ants and pulling off fly’s wings.
Each species may do harsh things to survive.
But evil has its cost.
When man accepts it’s right to torture things
which share our space and roam our earth alive,
compassion for all life will soon be lost.
© Lawrencealot – April 13, 2014
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Decrina

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Decrina
Type:
Structure, End Word Requirement, Isosyllabic
Description:
10-keyword version of a sestina for 105 lines.
Attributed to:
Bob Newman
Origin:
England
Schematic:
End-word enfolding pattern:
0123456789
1357902468
3704815926
7419630852
4938271605
9876543210
8642097531
6295184073
2580369147
5061728394
Rhythm/Stanza Length:
10
Line/Poem Length:
105
A big thanks to Bob Newman.
  • Decrina is a longer version of the Sestina attributed to Bob Neuman but I couldn’t find it at his website Poetry By Way. I did find it at Poetry Basehowever. Having written a Sestina, I can’t imagine why anyone would even consider attempting a longer version of the form.The Decrina is:
    • stanzaic, ten 10 line stanzas with a 5 line envoy, a total of 105 lines.
    • metered, lines of equal length, like the Sestina, iambic pentameter or iambic tetrameter.
    • repeated end words in a specific pattern. (Numbers represent words)
      0123456789
      1357902468
      3704815926
      7419630852
      4938271605
      9876543210
      8642097531
      6295184073
      2580369147
      5061728394      I can only assume the envoy is like the Sestina with even #ed words midline and odd #ed words as end words. 0-9,8-7,6-5,4-3,2-1
A big thanks to Judi Van Gorder
 
My Example Poem
Non-Compliant (Decrina)
Catherine born of Spanish royalty
was destined from her crib to be a queen.
Fredinand and Isabel ruled people
of Aragon, Leon and Castile, all
with an unquestioned linage their daughter
would inherit with devotion to God
through Catholicism that never wavered.
At age of three a treaty pledged the crown
of English queen would be reserved forher,
she spent her youth preparing for that time.

She was to wed Arthur and become queen
when he ascended the throne but all
was modified, first by the acts of God
Then by the machinations of the crown.
Henry the seventh wanted at one time
to wed her to enhance his royalty
That would never help the Spanish people
or King; there’d be no role for his daughter,
in kingdom’s design; he never wavered
for Ferdinand expected much from her.
She was Princess of  Wales and loved by all
before young Arthur died.  She had no crown
and now was no part of the royalty.
A treaty next pledged Ferdinand’s daughter,
to Arthur’s brother, Henry who liked her
and who when his father died made her queen
immediately, now assured by God
and Pope, that Catherine was at that time
still virgin. Still embraced by the people
who in their respect had never wavered.
When Henry the eighth put upon the crown
he relished the insights of the daughter,
of the King of Spain, her input as queen
conjoined the countries int’rests for a time
but the queens love for Henry n’er wavered.
Their first years, a romantic time for all,
and they elevated the royalty
to a source of pride.  Henry trusted her
advice counsel and shared her love of God.
The kings court improved things for the people.
The queens first child was a still-born daughter,
a year later she birthed a son, this time
alive but he died soon after.  In all,
she bore six children- all of them but her
fifth, Mary, died to the grief of people
now hoping for an heir.  To keep the crown
safe was deemed the prime duty of the queen.
The king’s interest in his wife wavered,
and in search of continued royalty
he bedded many not consulting God.
Despite that, he shared power for a time
and while Henry fought in France it was her
direct leadership that won for the crown
more important campaigns; the troops wavered
not one bit with her and her faith in God.
It was three years later that her daughter,
Mary was born and lived; she focused all
That she did thereafter to give people
That her daughter might someday be queen.
She fought to preserve Mary’s royalty
When Henry’s mistress, Bessie Blont had her
son, he was deemed a prince. he King wavered
then in his devotion to his daughter.
The queen had always wanted the people
to have the schooling there for royalty
and strengthened women’s options over time
and educated Mary for the crown.
She always placed her faith in her one God.
So while she lived she worked and gave her all
that her own daughter, Mary might be queen.
Wanting Anne Boleyn, he never wavered
after demanding a divorce. People
hated, and taunted Anne at any time
she would appear in public so  both God
and man seemed to be aligned with the queen.
Thus the King denounced his faith to wed her
and changed the religious world his daughter,
would face with rage in her own royalty.
Now God, and man must answer to the crown.
Catherine loved King Henry through it all.
With royal supremacy the law, people
had to abandon now their Catholic God
and accept the Church of England but her
majesty refused. Stripped of royalty
And power by the announced divorce, all
hope seemed gone, yet she sill never wavered.
She refused inciting war at that time
though there was talk of war to save the queen.
She was not allowed to see her daughter.
Visitors required assent by the crown.
In lesser castles she still beseeched God
and behaved with apparent royalty.
Her support of Mary never wavered
though some were killed for thinking as the queen,
that Mary ought to someday wear the crown.
The winds of change ignore simple people
but history’s cyclone paid heed to her.
I’m not a fan of religion at all;
in tolerance the harvest all the time,
to wit: Bloody Mary, the queen, her daughter.
Despite the royalty of Henry’s time
revoking her claim to possess the crown
she never wavered for that sake of God
and for her daughter, Mary, through it all
the English people always deemed her queen.
© Lawrencealot – December 30, 2013

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Yabba Dabba Do

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The YABBA DABBA DO was created by Havyk Dementius of Allpoetry
It is syllabic 5/10/10/10/10  15/10/10/10/10  15/15 (5/10/10/10/10/15/10/10/10/10/15/15)
It is a complete poem consisting of two quintets and rhyming couplet.
Line 1 consists of 5 syllables.
Lines 2-5 follow an ABBA rhyme scheme in iambic pentameter.
Lines 6 & 11 &12  consist of 15 syllables.
Lines 7-10 follow an ABBA rhyme scheme in iambic pentameter.
Lines 11 and 12 must rhyme.
Thus the Rhyming pattern is xabbaxabbacc
It is a poem of 12 lines.
 
Example Poem
 
Cluttered Nest     (Yabba Dabba Do)
I’m motivated
yet have so many things I have to do
I have no notion where I  ought to start.
Sometimes I wish that I had had a clue-
I should have started with another part.
You left to visit relatives living several states a way.
I’ve cleaned out what was called garage- in fact
the cars can now be driven right inside.
A double storage shed I’ve built out back
for all the detritus we must abide.
Since we’re storing the kids stuff ’til they decide to move away
out of sight it’s hiding now;  our kids and stuff will always stay.
© Lawrencealot – December 13, 2013
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