Tag Archives: isosyllabic 8

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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Quintilla

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The Quintilla is a 16th century Spanish quintain with a rhyme scheme that is more about what cannot be done than what can be done. 

The Quintilla is:
• syllabic verse, octasyllabic (8 syllable lines)
• stanzaic, written in any number of quintains (5 line stanzas).
• rhymed. In each quintain only 2 rhymes can be used and it cannot end in a rhyming couplet.
• There is choice of rhyme schemes of ababa, abbab, abaab, aabab, or aabba
• when written as a decastich, (2 quintillas) the verse is known as Copla Real

El Viejo by Judi Van Gorder 7/1/03
The ancient cur begins to rise 
ignoring stiff, defiant bones. 
Foolishly focused on the prize, 
his awkward pounce elicits groans. 
To snub one’s age, not always wise.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1015
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.
My example

I’m Shocked, I Did It!  (Form: Quintilla)

Impossibly demanding task
when twenty-two whole words are asked
and forty syllables I need
according to Quintilla’s mask
but perseverance did succeed.

© Lawrencealot – January 9, 2015
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Quintilla

Copla Real

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Copla Real, popular in 15th century Spain, is a decastich which is made up of 2 Quintillas.

The Copla Real is:
○ a decastich (10 line poem) made up of 2 Quintillas (Spanish 8 syllable line quintains turned on only 2 rhymes of any combination other than never ending with a rhymed couplet.)
○ syllabic, all lines are 8 syllables.
○ rhymed, the rhyme scheme established in the first quintain is repeated in the 2nd quintilla. Possible rhyme schemes ababa, abbab, abaab, aabab, or aabba. The one no-no is it should never end in a rhyming couplet.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?/topic/1031-copla-copla-real-pie-quebrado/
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

To Pee or Not to Pee (Form: Copla Real)

I put my first foot on the floor
then know I want to sleep some more.
It’s early yet; there’s snow outside
Get up? Stay here? It’s either/or.
My need to pee might soon subside.

The trip to pee I do abhor;
to go and pee’s no little chore.
You think I’m silly? Don’t be snide.
I’d have to open our backdoor.
Your own bathroom must be inside.

© Lawrencealot – December 22, 2014

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This template is for iambic tetrameter.

Copla Real

Acrostic Decima poetry form

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Acrostic Decima

Acrostic Decima: the Decima form with an acrostic. Write the two five words used in the poem vertically to start the line.
Syllable Count: 8 syllables per line.
Rhyme Scheme: a-a-b-a-b a-a-b-b-a.
Only two rhymes a & b. Not a rhyming couplet at the end.
OSPA=Oregon State Poetry Association. Wilma Erwin was an
OSPA president.

A Poem of Praise and Healing
For Wilma Erwin

Wisdom flows from vision and hand.
Ideas become poetry.
Lover of all humanity.
Many poems formed from her command.
Advocates nature, family.
Energetic in every way–
Rose Festival, OSPA–
Writing, teaching, our dear friend
Imagines real haiku. We send
Now our love and prayers today.

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

My example

Quill Quota ( Form: Acrostic Decima)

Quit worrying, there is no need
Unless much haste has been decreed.
Instead, pretend you’re having fun
Lets write instead as you’ve agreed
Lots of new forms done one by one.

Quaaludes or any other speed
Undoes one’s mind you must concede.
Organize what you have begun,
Then someday soon you’ll be all done.
All that’s left now is to proceed.

© Lawrencealot – December 20, 2014

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Acrostic Decima

Décima Italiana

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• The Décima Italiana appeared in 18th century Spain. There are 2 variations, the first true to the original 8 syllable 10 line Décima with the only variable the rhyme scheme. In Italian verse, this variation is called the Décima Rima. The 2nd variation is written in Italianate lines with a variable rhyme scheme. 

The Décima Italiana is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of 10 line stanzas.
○ syllabic, 8 syllables per line, or in Italianate lines (mixed or irregular 11 and 7 syllable lines).
○ rhymed, ababc : dedec , the c rhyme must be oxytone or masculine rhyme, L5 must be end stopped. Variation: rhymed and paused at the discretion of the poet as long as a oxytone rhyme is placed at the end of the pause and end of the line. Something like aaab : bccabb or ababbc : aabc etc 

Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1029
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Unburnished (Décima Italiana)

Oh, let me die, and thus improve
the way you mother seemed to do.
Her every fault did death remove
when now I read you Facebook view.
We all get polished when we die.

She was not always there I think,
for you the way your words recount.
I hope my faults will also shrink
when this frail life I shall surmount. 
In death I’ll be a real grand guy.

© Lawrencealot – December 1,2014

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Decima Italiana

Décima

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Décima, Décima Espinela, Espinela, the Décima Italiana and the Italian Décima Rima

  • Décima is a Spanish term of the 14th and 15th centuries referring to any 10 line stanza. In the 16th century, the poet adventurer Vencinente Espinela developed the Décima into the verse form of today the Décima orDécima Espinela or simply Espinela . By whatever title, it is commonly referred to as “the little sonnet”. 

    The Décima or Décima Espinela or Espinela is:

    • stanzaic, written in any number of 10 line stanzas.

    • syllabic, 8 syllables per line.

    • rhymed, abba : accddc . The colon represents a pause, therefore L4 should be end stopped.

    • composed with the 7th syllable of every line stressed. (This is probably easier to do in Spanish than in English.)

    • variable. There is a variation of the Espinela that is written in 12 line stanzas rhyme abba : accddcxd, x being unrhymed.

 

 
Pasted from  http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1029
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Turkey Gaffe (Décima)

My dad had a quirky turkey
that was thin as macaroni,
very skinny, and quite bony;
so dad turned him into jerky.
Dad’s neighbor thought that was quirky,
deemed all birds were meant for roasting,
all marshmallows meant for toasting,
what’s not fried was meant for baking.
Dad’s jerky he was forsaking
at the luncheon he was hosting.

© Lawrencealot – November 29, 2014

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Decima

Cyhydedd fer

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Cyhydedd fer cuh-hée-dedd ver (short equivalence rhyme), the 14th codified ancient Welsh Meters is a stanzaic Awdl. It is simply couplets in rhymed 8 syllable lines. It is less commonly used by the Welsh who seem to prefer 7 syllable lines. In the ancient poems, these couplets were often multiplied into long stanzas all carrying the same rhyme or employed to present a riddle dyfalu.
The is:
• written in any number of rhymed couplets.
• made up of 8 syllable lines.
• rhymed aa bb cc dd etc.
x x x x x x x A 
x x x x x x x A
“in many old Welsh poems, a mood is established by a
description of the season of the year….”

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=974
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Decision Time in Ferguson (Cyhydedd fer)

Excuse me if I hesitate.
I’m white and this town’s filled with hate.
Gun shops this week made a killing.
selling guns to people willing
to be their own line of defense
or punish those who give offense.
Going downtown just for viewing
Seems a very stupid doing.
A mob’s a mob with little thought
of acting the way people ought.
I’ll get ready for Thanksgiving,
and remain among the living.

© Lawrencealot – November 24, 2014
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Cyhydedd fer

Mid-Swap

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Mid-Swap
Created by England’s Jenny Buzzard, this form requires adherance to a strict structure.  It contains four quatrains with a center couplet, at a syllable count of eight per line.  The rhyme scheme is:  A1abb   ccdd   A2A1   eeff   ggaA2    Or, to put that in an example: Start out with a line in rhyme “A,”  XXXXXXXa   XXXXXXXb   XXXXXXXb   XXXXXXXc  XXXXXXXc   XXXXXXXd   XXXXXXXd   Do once more a line in rhyme “A.” Start out with a line in rhyme “A.”  XXXXXXXe  XXXXXXXe  XXXXXXXf    XXXXXXXf   XXXXXXXg   XXXXXXXg   XXXXXXXa   Do once more a line in rhyme “A.”

Pasted from http://the.a.b.c.of.poetry.styles.patthepoet.com/ItoN.html

Specifications restated:
The Mid-Swap is:
An 18 line poem
Stanzaic, consisting of four quatrains separated by a couplet.
Isosyllabic, consisting of 8 syllable lines.
Rhymed: A1abb   ccdd   A2A1   eeff   ggaA2
Refrained, as indicated by the capital letters in the rhyme scheme.

My example

Off-balance (Mid-Swap)

When you went crazy as a kid
like loosening the pepper lid
you managed then to stir the pot,
and frequently you were not caught.

You lobbed a snowball high and far,
before we even saw the car.
Of all our throws, that one was tops
despite the fact you nailed some cops.

You did for fun the things you did
When you went crazy as a kid.

The camp advisor you’d short-sheet
each time we went on our retreat.
In college you moved drunk guy’s bed
from quiet dorm to quad instead.

You disregarded proper form,
exciting times became our norm.
Don’t let age stop you, God forbid!
You did for fun the things you did.

© Lawrencealot – October 21, 2014

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Note: this template shows iambic tetrameter, but meter is not mandated.

Mid-Swap

Sextilla

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Sextilla
Type:  Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Stanzaic
Description:  Six-line stanzas of eight-syllable lines rhymed either aabccb or ababcc.
Origin:  Spanish
Schematic:  Rhyme: aabccb or ababcc
Meter: xxxxxxxx
Rhythm/Stanza Length: 6

Pasted from http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/002/252.shtml

My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his years of work on the wonderful Poetrybase resource.

________

The Sextilla or sextuplet is originally a Galacian-Portuguese stanzaic form of the 14th century and can be found among the Cantigas with several rhyme variations. However the form as it has developed has now been limited to one of two rhyme schemes. The most famous sextillas are by Spanish poet Jorge Manrique Verses by the Death of His Father in 80 stanzas. 

The Sextilla is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of sixains.
• syllabic, most often 8 syllables per line, but sometimes less. (remember in Spanish prosody the syllable count really depends on where the last accented syllable falls, so a 7 syllable or a 9 syllable line can both be counted as 8 syllables.)
• rhymed, either aabccb or ababcc (When rhymed in the later scheme it is sometimes called a sestina. This should not to be confused with the more popular, French Sestina in which end words are repeated in lexical order).

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?/topic/1996-the-sextilla/
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.
My example

The Sun’s Set (Sextilla)

He stands there looking like he knows
the secret of how our sun glows.
A myth has been well propagated
that power – nuclear’s the source
(it fit the theory once of course),
but now new theories are debated.

Electromagnetism’s strong
and gravity alone is wrong.
The Birkland currents tell us how
but men are far from knowing why,
their power source, when will they die.?
Forecasting future’s out for now.

Since everything’s uncertain kid,
Let’s live today, be gald we did.
I’ll swing with you, you swing with me;
we’ll take a cruise beneath that sun
devoting time to having fun
The here and now is fine for me.

© Lawrencealot – August 20, 2014

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Sextilla

Serventisio

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Serventesio
Type:  Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Stanzaic
Description:  An eight-syllable quatrain rhyming abab. A variant on the redondilla.
Schematic:
Rhyme: abab
Line meter: xxxxxxxx
Rhythm/Stanza Length:  4
Pasted from http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/002/249.shtml

My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his years of work on the wonderful Poetrybase resource.

_____

Redondilla Stanza (from redondo meaning round) is one of the most popular Castillian stanzas since the 16th century. It appears to have been the standard for Spanish dramatic dialogue at one time. Apparently experimentation with the form by Ezra Pound brought about a resurgence in popularity in the 20th century.

The Redondilla is:
• syllabic, usually written in 8 syllable lines. (In Spanish an 8 syllable line can vary to 7 0r 9 syllables depending on the placement of the last accented vowel. In English sources suggests trochaic tetrameter.)
• stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains. This could also be written in verse form, limiting the poem to 16 lines made up of 4 quatrains.
• rhymed, assonant or consonant rhyme. (Remember, consonant rhyme in Spanish prosody refers to full rhyme in English)The most common rhyme scheme abba. No where could I find a change of rhyme, this would suggest the entire poem is limited to 2 rhymes throughout. Luckily assonant rhyme is not true rhyme which could make it easier in English than if you chose “consonant rhyme”. abba abba abba abba etc.
• called the Serventesio when rhyme abab is used.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?/topic/1013-redondilla-and-serventesio/

My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example poem

Slight Shadows (Serventisio)

Trees provide small shade at night
when the moon is sliver thin.
Shadows fall, obscured from sight
nestled ‘tween the leaves they’re in.

Even stars lend night some light
drifting through the woods again
further filtering it’s right
to dispel the black cat’s grin.

Clouds deny that meager bright
Making graveyard dark begin.
Only feline eyes still might
See enough to find din-din.

© Lawrencealot – August 19, 2014

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Serventisio