Tag Archives: isosyllalbic

NOTE:I have included the definition from two different sources here.  The first specifies the minimum number of quatrains, the 2nd does not.
The 2nd requires that the meter be TROCHAIC, the first is indifferent.
Well, boys and girls – indifferent wins.  I spent some time on 5 different sites and found NOT ONE trochaic poem in English, and several that did not have FOUR STANZAS.
This is simply a poem consisting of four quatrains in tetrameter, preferably iambic  or trochaic.  The rhyme scheme can be aabb, abab, or abcb.  (Although some sources will advise otherwise, syllable count is secondary to rhythmic flow).  Most descriptions do not mention meter.  I have found in the English language most use Iambic and any rhyme scheme, even mixing them.  (An insult, in my way of thinking.)
redondilla, a Spanish stanza form consisting of four trochaic lines,
usually of eight syllables each, with a rhyme scheme of abba.
Quatrains in this form with a rhyme scheme of abab,
sometimes also called redondillas, are more commonly known as serventesios.
Redondillas have been common in Castilian poetry since the 16th century.
The word is derived from the Spanish redondo, meaning “round.”
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/494744/redondilla
Example Poem
Tropical Storm (A Redondilla or a Serventesio )
Surging currents falling rain
cloudy grey and gasping sky.
Seabirds leaving, wonder why.
Season of the hurricane.
Board your windows stock your shelves
Candles, girlfriend, water, food,
Stranded people making feel good.
Living, loving, by ourselves.
“Mom and pop are coming too??”
“Having to evacuate!”
“Gosh and gee that’s really great.”
“Your folks too? Least we could do. ”
Moms crochet by candle light,
dads play cards and guzzle beer.
You and I with bed in here
writing poems day and night.
(c) Lawrencealot – July 24, 2012

Visual Template

Written in footless trochaic tetrameter.