Tag Archives: quintain

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

Seafonn

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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.

• Seafonn (Anglo Saxon for seven) is a verse form named for its total number of lines, introduced by Elizabeth Maxwell Phelps.An argument is presented in the first 5 lines and the counter point in the ending couplet. A lot to jam into such a short frame.

The Seafonn is:
○ a heptastich made up of quintain followed by a couplet.
○ metric, iambic tetrameter, with L2 and L5 catalectic.
○ rhymed, abccb aa.
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
Black Holes Debunked in 2014 (Seafonn)
Now, Laura Mercini-Houghton has shown
with undisputable Mathematics
that black holes are but fables, make-believe.
When stars collapse (some do, so do not grieve)
they emit what we hear as statics.
The therefore lose some mass. The theory’s blown.
No black hole singularity is grown.
© Lawrencealot – September 25, 2014

Quintanelle

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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 Quintanelle challenges the poet to write a complete sentence and break it into 5 metric lines with rhyme. This stanzaic form was introduced by Lyra Lu Vaile.

The Quintanelle is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of quintains.
○ metered, L1, L2, L5 pentameter, L3 dimeter and L4 trimeter. Each quintain should be one complete iambic sentence.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme aabbb, ccddd etc.

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

Winter Forage (Quintanelle)

I’ve left the apples where they’ve fallen, still; 
it’s natures harvest for the birds that will
not let them waste,
although there is no haste
for they’ll remain when fresh food is displaced.

© Lawrencealot – September 20, 2012

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Quintanelle

English Ballet (bal-lett)

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English Ballet (bal-lett)
stanzaic, written in any multiple of quatrains or quintains.
(The quatrains can be expanded to quintains by breaking L1 of each stanza into 2 lines at the end of the first phrase.)
Metered when quatrains, L1-L3 tetrameter, L4 dimeter.
Rhyme Pattern: aaaB cccB dddB, etc.  (aaaBcccBdddB)
Metered when quintains, L1, L2, and L5 dimeter, L3 & L4 tetrameter.
Rhyme Pattern: AbbbA AcccA AdddA, etc.  (AbbbAAcccAAdddA)
Description of form a copy & paste from PoetryMagnumOpus.com
http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=2247
Example Poem
Fall They Must  (English Ballet – Quintains)
The snowflakes fall
so powder dry,
they seem but dust upon the sky
unseen ’til on the ground they lie
The snowflakes fall.
The snowflakes fall
in twisting flight
large enough to hold when they light
on mittens to view with delight.
The snowflakes fall.
The snowflakes fall
They’re big and wet.
They taste good on my tongue, and yet
I’ll hate to shovel them I’ll bet.
The snowflakes fall.
© Lawrencealot – December 23, 2012
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