Tag Archives: internal rhyme

Tina’s Zigzag Rhyme

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Tina’s Zigzag Rhyme is a form created by Christina R Jussaume and found at Poetry Styles (site no longer accessible).

  • It starts with a sestet, refrain, quatrain, refrain and quatrain.
  • It must be uplifting subject.
  • Rhyme in first two lines is at left,
  • next rhyme is center in lines 3 and 4,
  • and rhyme in lines 5 and 6 is an end rhyme.
  • Refrain is first two lines of poem.
  • After refrain you use center rhyme, then end rhyme, continue with refrain… etc.
  • It is an 8 syllable per line poem. No limit to stanzas but must have, at least one sestet, refrain, and quatrain.

My Example

Form: Tina’s ZigZag Rhyme

Now is a Present

Behold! It’s clear that I can think.
I’m sold that men are so imbued.
There is no need for fairy tales
or a dogma’s creed to comfort.
I think that if you think you’ll see
that things are just as they should be.

Behold! It’s clear that I can think.
I’m sold that men are so imbued.

All of us should enjoy right now
seeking what is good in others.
Happiness is an attitude
that worry’s likely to exclude.

© Lawrencealot – February 1, 2015

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Rannaicheacht Mhor Gairit

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Rannaicheacht Mhor Gairit (great versification with “clipped” or shortened line) is:
• written in any number of quatrains.
• syllabic 3-7-7-7.
• alliterated, 2 word alliteration in each line.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme aaba ccdc etc.
• if L3 ends in a 2 syllable word, aicill rhyme is employed and the end word of L3 rhymes internally in L4.

x x a
x x x x x x a
x x x x x (x b)
x x b x x x a

x x c
x x x x x x c
x x x x x (x d)
x x d x x x c
Squatters by Barbara Hartman
Prairie dogs
carry on shrill dialogues
outside apartment housing
— grumpy, grousing demagogues.
They moved in
last summer with all their kin,
dug tunnels in our pasture
— cool, cocksure, they always win.
All agog,
hungry rodents eat like hogs,
while poor farmers rue the day
God created prairie dogs.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1170#mhorgairit
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example
Puppy Poop (Rannaicheacht Mhor Gairit)
Doggy doo
is mom-speak for piles of poo.
Dad deems it be done outside.
Dignified dogs take that view.
Big is bad
when scooping poop, so said dad.
The pups chew shoes I confess.
Their scat’s less and that’s not sad.
© Lawrencealot – January 8, 2015
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Rannaicheacht Mhor Gairit

Englyn cyrch

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Englyn cyrch, én-glin circh (two rhyme englyn), the 5th codified Official Welsh Meter, an Englyn is verse that employs cyrch which means internal rhyme.

 

The defining features of the Englyn cyrch are:

  • stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains made up of 2 Cywydd couplets,
    the Cywydd deuair hirion[1] and Awdl gywydd [2].

  • syllablic, 7 syllable lines.

  • rhymed, AaBA with the end syllable of L3 rhymed somewhere in the first half of L4.

x x x x x x A (stressed last syllable)

x x x x x X a (unstressed last syllable)

x x x x x x B

x x B x x x A ( B ) can be in the 2nd 3rd or 4th syllables

el y cuddia’r llwyni gleision

ddolennog grwydriad Cynon

dymunwn innau lechu’r ferch

enynnodd serch fy nghalon

Fall by Judi Van Gorder

The wild wind and rain suppress
the dancing leaves in darkness,
telling time to disappear
while they clear away excess.

The Saguaro Cactus by Stephen Arndt 

Curses on the god of sun, 
His burn a crime like arson! 
Yet you battle him till night 
And fight until you have won. 

Curses on the gods of wind, 
Whose force is unimagined! 
When they bluster through your place, 
You face the attack, thick-skinned. 

Curse the gods of sand and dust, 
Who storm when winds wail loudest! 
Let them cloud the air and vaunt, 
Undaunted, you stand robust. 

Ball your fists to curse and cuss, 
Strong-armed Saguaro Cactus! 
Rail against the desert sky, 
Defy it for all of us!

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=983
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

[1] The Cywydd deuair hirion is: Wrenched Rhyme.
[2] Awdl gywydd is: internal rhyme with prior end-rhyme
Mid-line rhymes a and c can be various forms of rhyme but the end of line rhyme b should be perfect rhyme.

My example

Dragon’s Fire (Englyn cyrch)

Sean had a long scaly tail
he flew but left no contrail.
He feared not what warrior’s felt;
he’d just melt down their chain mail.

Cutie Pie teased a young Sean
often with flirty Come-on.
Sean (a dragon by the way)
came to play – the lady’s gone.

© Lawrencealot – December 9, 2014

Related Welsh Form are HERE.

Visual template
Englyn cyrch

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

Lyra Chord

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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 Lyra Chord is an invented verse form created by L. Ensley Hutton.

The Lyra Chord is:
an octastich.
metered, L1,L2,L3,L5,L7 & L8 iambic pentameter, L4 & L6 iambic dimeter.
rhymed, rhyme scheme abbcacdd. L1 & L5 also have internal rhyme.
 

 

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

The Ombudsman (Lyra Chord) with (Bob and Wheel)

The Ombudsman

As there he sat in ochre velvet hat
with mandatory shadow of a grin,
a trace, an echo where frequent smiles had been,
perhaps now cold.
He had to chat, his judgment called for that.
He’s frail and old,
His thoughts meandering, illusive too,
but incandescent when they’re brought to view.

The government
denied the hopes of folks behind the rope;
outside the window, drizzle hasn’t died.
Their man in burgundy’s no dope; he’ll cope.
The clotted crowd give plaudits – satisfied.

© Lawrencealot – September 16, 2014

Visual template
Note: only the top eight lines represent the Lyra Chord.
In multi-processing mode, I used this form to enter a
contest, where word-bank words (show in red) were all
required, thus I had to extend the piece, and I used the
Bob and Wheel form to do so.

Lyra Chord

Lady's Slipper

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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 Lady’s Slipper is a verse form that plays with internal rhyme within a very short line. The tiny poem with the close rhyme lends itself to silliness. It was originated by Viola Gardner

The Lady’s Slipper is:
a tristich, a poem in 3 lines.
metered, iambic trimeter lines. uS-uS-uS.
composed with internal rhyme in each line.
designed for the last line to leave the reader thinking, questioning. 
Training Day by Judi Van Gorder
Within the open pen
a filly kicks and tricks
a cowgirl with a curl
 
 
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

 I would!

 I would! (Lady’s Slipper)

Although you know Pablo,
suppose he has no clothes,
okay! Just who would say?

© Lawrencealot = September 13, 2014

(Illustration is a Pablo Picasso lithograph.)

Awdl

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Awdl
An awdl is a Welsh ode. Awdlau (that’s the plural) come in twelve different varieties, and it will take me a while to get through them all (if I ever do). All the poems on this page will be awdlau. 
There are 24 Welsh standard verse forms altogether. The other twelve are made up of eight kinds of englyn and four kinds of cywydd.
One important reservation: I believe all Welsh-language awdlau are required to exhibit some kind of cynghanedd in every line. In the descriptions below, this will not be mentioned (and in the examples, I will not attempt it). It is just too difficult and complicated for us non-Celts. If you really want to get to grips with this, I recommend the book Singing in Chains (see books page). 
As Confucius once remarked, the page of a dozen awdlau begins with a single form:
Hir a Thoddaid
According to Singing in Chains, the Hir a Thoddaid is the most common form of awdl nowadays. Here’s a silly example:
Lovesick
I take back what I said about your knees –
They hardly knock at all. Forgive me, please.
My meaning and my words are chalk and cheese.
I love to cuddle you. You’re not obese.
I have caught a rare disease of the heart
When I see you I start to want to sneeze.
I didn’t mean to speak ill of your chin.
In pointing out it emphasised how thin
Your body was, I thought I’d make you grin.
Is paying you such compliments a sin?
I see I’ll have to discipline my tongue –
The songs I would have sung must stay within.
I’m sure that I did not suggest your arms’
Uneven lengths failed to augment your charms.
Believe me, love, they caused me no alarms.
I’ve seen far worse on girls from local farms.
A little skewness often calms me down.
So please, my love, don’t send round the gendarmes.
I never did complain about your nose,
Although it’s quite surprising that you chose
That singular proboscis. I suppose
It makes you quite distinctive, like your clothes.
More easily described in prose than verse,
You’re better active, worse when in repose.
And darling, though it’s true I said you smelt,
I meant “of roses”, honestly! I’d spelt
It out clearly. I don’t know why you felt
That I’d been less than kind. You’re sweet, you’re svelte,
My poor heart raced when I knelt to request
Your hand. Your bum’s the best I’ve ever felt.
Each line has 10 syllables – in no particular metre, though I seem to have lapsed into iambic pentameter here. All lines of each stanza, except for the penultimate one, rhyme together in the conventional way. The penultimate line rhymes with them all in an unconventional way – its seventh, eighth or ninth syllable contains the rhyme. Furthermore, the word at the end of the penultimate line rhymes with a word somewhere in the middle of the last line. In the first stanza above, for example, there’s disease/sneeze and heart/start. 
The first 4 lines are the hir, and the last two are the toddaid (which mutates to thoddaid when you put the phrase together, due to the endearing pecularities of the Welsh language). The hir can have 2 lines or 6, rather than the 4 used here, but all its lines must always rhyme together. 
The books by Hopgood and Skelton agree about this form, and that’s good enough for me. Some sites on the web say the last line should have only 9 syllables, but I suspect they are wrong. 
And if you don’t believe CYNGHAHEDD makes this difficult poetry to write, with the expertise to determine is praiseworthy or even correct limited to a few Welsh and a very few other poets, take a look at what Wikipedia has to say about it

I have found little joy in reading such poems as they almost always appear stilted.

 

So I am (after viewing others) going with Bob Newman’s interpretation and recommendation – let those writing in English write enjoyable poetry.

Restated specification for Hir a Thoddaid:

A poem of either 6 or 8 lines.

Stanzaic:  Consisting of a hir (being either a mono-rhymed quatrain or sestet,

                   and a toddaid which is a couplet with interlaced rhyme.

Isosyllabic: 10 syllables

Rhymed: aaaa(ab)(ba)

 

Here is my example poem:

Crinoline Tease (Hir a Thoddaid)

 

You dressed in fancy silks and satin clothes 
and feather boas, hats, and nylon hose, 
and crinoline as well to augment those. 
and not in frequently you would expose 
a flash of flesh to decompose a guest. 
I liked that best, and therefore I proposed. 
Somehow you liked me wearing my plainclothes. 
You ate me up with eyes just like a doe’s. 
When we’re together we forget our woes 
I thrill to sit nearby when you repose 
and lean and touch you with my nose and lips 
and touch your breast and hips while still you pose. 
© Lawrencealot – December 26, 2013

 

Related Welsh Form are HERE.

 
Visual Template
 
 

Gwadodyn

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This is a complex form for which I found disparate specifications on the internet.
What is certain is:
It is an old Welsh form
It is syllabic, usually 9/9/10/9
It is stanzaic, usually quatrains or sestets
It is rhyming, usually mono-rhyme of the 9 syllable lines
And with internal and/or interleaved rhyme for the long line.
Here are the better references I used:
The gwawdodyn is a Welsh poetic form with a couple variations. However, both versions are comprised of quatrains (4-line stanzas) that have a 9/9/10/9 syllable pattern and matching end rhymes on lines 1, 2, and 4. The variations are made in that third line:
  • One version has an internal rhyme within the third line. So there’s a rhyme somewhere within the third line with the end rhyme on the third line.
  • The other version has an internal rhyme within the third line that rhymes with an internal rhyme in the fourth line.
In both cases, the rhyme starts somewhere in the middle of the third line and it is a unique rhyme to the end rhyme in lines 1, 2, and 4.
Here’s a possible diagram for the first version (with the x’s symbolizing syllables):
1-xxxxxxxxa
2-xxxxxxxxa
3-xxxxbxxxxb
4-xxxxxxxxa
Note: The “b” rhyme in the middle of line 3 could slide to the left or right as needed by the poet.
Here’s an example I wrote for the first version:
“Cheat,” by Robert Lee Brewer
The rumors you’ve heard are true: I run
to forget my past. What I have won,
I’ve lost in lasting memories, blasting
through my brain like bullets from a gun.
As you can see, “run,” “won,” and “gun” rhyme with each other, as do “lasting” and “blasting.”
*****
*****
Here’s a possible diagram for the second version:
1-xxxxxxxxa
2-xxxxxxxxa
3-xxxxbxxxxx
4-xxxbxxxxa
Note: In this version, both “b” rhymes can slide around in their respective lines, which affords the poet a little extra freedom.
Here’s my example modified for the second version:
“Cheat,” by Robert Lee Brewer
The rumors you’ve heard are true: I run
to forget my past. What I have won,
I’ve lost in lonley moments, my sorrow
my only friend while others are stunned.
In this version, “run,” “won,” and “stunned” rhyme (okay, “stunned” is a slant rhyme), while “lonely” and “only” rhyme inside lines 3 and 4.
Please play around with the form this week, because it’ll be the focus of the next WD Poetic Form Challenge starting next week.
******
A big thanks to Robert Lee Brewer
Gwawdodyn, gwow-dód-in-heer (gwad = poem) is the 20th codified, Official Welsh Meter, an Awdl. It is a combination of a cyhydded naw ban couplet followed by either a toddaid or cyhydedd hir couplet.The Gwawdodyn is:
  • is stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains made up of a Cyhydedd Naw Ban couplet followed by either a Toddaid or Cyhydedd Hir.
  • syllabic, L1,L2,L4 are 9 syllable lines and L3 is a 10 syllable line.
  • when written with a cyhydedd hir couplet the stanza is
    • rhymed aaba, with L3 internal rhyme and L4 cross rhymed b.
  • when written with a Toddaid
    • mono-rhymed.
    • composed with gair cyrch following the main rhyme and caesura of L3. The gair cyrch end rhyme is echoed in the first half of L4 in secondary rhyme, assonance or consonance.
x x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x x a
x x x x b x x x x b
x x x x b x x x a
x x x x x x x x c
x x x x x x x x c
x x x x d x x x x d
x x x x d x x x a
with Toddaid
x x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x b – x c
x x x x c x x x b
x x x x x x x x d
x x x x x x x x d
x x x x x x x e – x f
x x x x f x x x e
House of Stone Turns to Sand by Judi Van Gorder
Ballots stolen, voters turned away,
but dead men will vote twice on the day.
No new fields to plow, there is no work now,
no sweat on the brow, no one to care?
Mugabe builds his army of boys
they now shoulder guns instead of toys
He took back white-farms without care – the fields
without yields leave black cupboards bare.
Sick mother has no milk for baby,
a crocodile barks in the belly.
Mother is dying, baby is crying
no one defying, no one will dare.
(Zimbabwe is Shona for house of stone)This poem uses Cyhydedd Hir end couplets in stanza 1 & 3 and Toddaid end couplet in stanza 2. I couldn’t resist creating a main rhyme in stanza 2 that was also a linking rhyme between all stanzas.
A big thanks to Judi Van Gorder
Gwawdodyn Hir
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Stanzaic
Description:
(gwow DOD in heer) A syllabic form that can go in two ways. Either way it consists of a syllabic sestet where all lines except the fifth are nine syllables and monorhymed. The fifth line is ten syllables and has a separate rhyme that may be internal (fifth and tenth syllable) or cross-rhymed with the sixth line (seventh through the ninth syllable of fifth line cross-rhymes with third through the fifth in sixth line).
Origin:
Welsh
Schematic:
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxbxxxxb
xxxxxxxxa
or
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxa
xxxxxxbxxx  (Syllable 7 to 9)
Rhythm/Stanza Length:
A Big thanks to Bob Newman
My Example
Uninvited      (Gwadodyn
My girl gone- my love unrequited
left me lonely and not delighted.
I gave girl next door transport from the store,
that and nothing more! How short-sighted.
You’d think perhaps I’d been benighted
I did not know what I’d ignited
That gal didn’t knock; my door wasn’t locked
from sleep I was shocked yet excited.
That she was nude was now high-lighted
by her chills that I soon had righted.
That she had applied could not be denied,
but midnight rides must be invited.
© Lawrencealot – December 25, 2013

Related Welch form at HERE.

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Rishal

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The Rishal is a recent invented form which appears to be a “chained” version of the Terza Rima without a linking rhyme. It was created by “Chindarella” at All Poetry.

Stanzaic:                Three tercet stanzas plus a single line stanza
Isosyllabic:             Decasyllabic lines  (10 syllables) (10/10/10)
Rhyme Pattern:   aba cdc efe ghg x (end-rhyme and internal rhyme)
Refrain:                 The first line of each stanza consists of two
five syllable sections, The last section of line 1
becomes the first section of line 1 in the next stanza.

The 2nd line in each stanza must have internal rhyme with the 5th syllable
rhyming with the 10th.

The final line does not need to rhyme;

____

The Rishal is:
○ Stanzaic, written in 3 or more tercets with a concluding single line, the same as the Terza Rima.
○ Syllabic rather than metric, lines of 10 syllables each, (iambic pentameter without the iambic pattern requirement). L1 of each stanza is written in 2 hemistiches.
○ Rhymed, internal rhyme is employed in L2 of each stanza, the 5th syllable of the line rhyming with the end syllable, (I imagine a little flexibility in the placement of the internal rhyme could be overlooked by other than the purist.) Rhyme scheme a (b-b) a / c ( d-d) c / e (f-f) e / etc . The single end line is unrhymed.
○ Written in a chain from stanza to stanza by repeating the 2nd hemistich of L1 of the previous stanza in the 1st hemistich of L1 of the next stanza and so on. . . including the last single line repeating the 2nd hemistich of L1 of the previous stanza as the 1st hemistich of the single line

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1146
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

Example Poem

NOTE: It was confirmed by Chindarella on DEC. 26th, 2014 that the original specifications for the Rishal were for exactly three tercets, not three or more.  

All But Children Know  (Form: Rishal)

We all are forewarned, no one is surprised.
Though death awaits all, we all may ride tall.
We can’t write death out; script can’t be revised.

No one is surprised that our days will end
By some grand design, while most parts are fine
there are no clues that Death’s presence portend.

That our days will end, all but children know.
How poor we’d be served if fear were deserved.
Such in not the case, play, love, give, then go.

All but children know what we have is now.

(c) Lawrencealot -April 29, 2013

Visual Template

Rishal

 
 

Rannaigheacht mhor

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Rannaigheacht mhor (ron-á-yach voor, the ‘great versification’) is an ancient Irish quatrain using 7-syllable lines with 1-syllable end-words rimed abab—a-rime can be assonance, but b-rime must be rime, here meaning perfect ‘correspondence’ or Comharda, in which consonants of the same class (p-t-k, m-n-ng etc.) are interchangeable—plus alliteration in every line—preferably between end-word and preceding stressed word (always thus in each quatrain’s closing couplet)—with at least two cross-rimes per couplet (assonance okay in leading couplets), one being L3’s end-word rimed within L4.  Being Irish, it requires the dunedh(first word, phrase, or line repeated in closing).  Each quatrain, as well as each leading couplet, must be able to stand on its own.
Modern specs for this form are given here:
Great Versifiers
Men sometimes are dreamers, lost,
lust-driven schemers who, when
hunting, deceive.  With trust  tossed
at great cost; none believe men.
(c) Lawrencealot – May 16, 2012
No template can be more than a rough guide, but here one is:
Note here, I failed to use proscribed alliteration in the final line! Damn.
And upon sober review I find that this fails also, in that the first
couplet cannot stand alone.  Someone competent, please provide me with a perfect example.  I shall replace this.