Tag Archives: rhyme optional

Retourne

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Like so many other French forms, the Retourne is all about repetition. It contains four quatrains and each line has eight syllables.
(16 lines, 8/8/8/8)
The trick is that the first stanza’s second line must also be the second stanza’s first line, the first stanza’s third line is the third stanza’s first, and the first stanza’s fourth line is the fourth stanza’s first.
Retournes do not have to rhyme. (rhyme optional)
Example Poem
Abandoned
I’d loved her only all my life.
She found another to her taste.
She left me– I now have no wife.
New city, no friends; joys erased.
She found another to her taste.
I begged, pleaded, asked her to stay
“I miss you, come back! what a waste,
keeping your lover is okay.”
She left me– I now have no wife.
Anquish bestirred me. I tried drink.
But quit to give my boys a life.
Work, feed the boys, cry, try to think.
New city, no friends; joys erased.
It took a long while, ‘ere I tried
to date– I was feeling disgraced
How could I ever lose my bride?
© Lawrencealot – April, 2012
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Puente

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“Puente” means bridge in Spanish. This form was invented by James Rasmusson.
Constructed in 3 stanzas, the 1st and 3rd are separate thoughts but share an equal number of lines and the center, bridge stanza. The middle stanza is one line and is enclosed in tildes (~) to distinguish itself as both the last line of the first stanza and the first line of the last stanza.
The meter and rhyming are at the poet’s discretion, free verse being perfectly acceptable. The title is has no guidelines; it need not match the bridge stanza like the example below.
 
Example Poem 
Opportunity Knocks 
A new form came upon the scene
and sep’rate topics are required
with bridging line in between
as linked by poet, so inspired. 
~ it’s both a test and opportunity~ 
Another contest has appeared
it features something yet untried
but that is nothing to be feared;
try it, you’ll be satisfied.
© Lawrencealot – May 31, 2013 

Cinquain

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(Standard) Cinquain
The cinquain, also known as a quintain or quintet, is a poem or stanza composed of 5 lines. Examples of cinquains can be found in many European languages, and the origin of the form dates back to medieval French poetry.
The most common cinquains in English follow a rhyme scheme of ababb, abaab or abccb. Sixteenth and seventeenth-century poets such as Sir Philip Sidney, George Herbert, Edmund Waller, and John Donne frequently employed the form, creating numerous variations.
Other examples of the form include “To Helen” by Edgar Allen Poe, which begins:
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore,
That gently, o’er a perfumed sea,
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.
A Visual Template:
Rhyme optional with Crapsey cinquain
Crapsey cinquain
American poet Adelaide Crapsey invented the modern form,[2] inspired by Japanese haiku and tanka.[3][4] In her 1915 collection titled Verse, published one year after her death, Crapsey included 28 cinquains.[5]
Crapsey’s cinquains utilized an increasing syllable count in the first four lines, namely two in the first, four in the second, six in the third, and eight in the fourth, before returning to two syllables on the last line. In addition, though little emphasized by critics, each line in the majority of Crapsey cinquains has a fixed number of stressed syllables, as well, following the pattern one, two, three, four, one.[citation needed] The most common metrical foot in her twenty-eight published examples is the iamb, though this is not exclusive. Lines generally do not rhyme. In contrast to the Eastern forms upon which she based them, Crapsey always titled her cinquains, effectively utilizing the title as a sixth line.
The form is illustrated by Crapsey’s “November Night”:[6]
Text
Syllables
Stressed
Listen…
2
1
With faint dry sound,
4
2
Like steps of passing ghosts,
6
3
The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees
8
4
And fall.
2
1
Variations
The Crapsey cinquain has subsequently seen a number of variations by modern poets, including:
Variation
Description
Reverse cinquain
a form with one 5-line stanza in a syllabic pattern of two, eight, six, four, two.
Mirror cinquain
a form with two 5-line stanzas consisting of a cinquain followed by a reverse cinquain.
Butterfly cinquain
a nine-line syllabic form with the pattern two, four, six, eight, two, eight, six, four, two.
Crown cinquain
a sequence of five cinquain stanzas functioning to construct one larger poem.
Garland cinquain
a series of six cinquains in which the last is formed of lines from the preceding five, typically line one from stanza one, line two from stanza two, and so on.
Another form,  Called a Didactic cinquain, sometimes used by school teachers to teach grammar, is as follows:
Line 1: Noun
Line 2: Description of Noun
Line 3: Action
Line 4: Feeling or Effect
Line 5: Synonym of the initial noun

Bibliographic Profile Acrostic

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This a poetry form invented by AP’s own Andre_ben-YEHU 
It is named — BIBLIOBIOGRAPHIC PROFILE ACROSTIC. It may be rhymed or blank verse on any poetic frame and verse’s length; and “Poetic License” is allowed in the meter.
The composition in this form must paint a profile on the Tributee, and use title (s) of the tributee’s literary production within the stanzas or stanza. (Thus is is a formulaic work)
The purpose of this form is to honor the Tributee-author, the poetic Art, and to promote the tributee’s works.
Here is an example poem by Lawrencealot
Example Poem
Eusebius     ( BIBLIOBIOGRAPHIC PROFILE ACROSTIC)
MIRROR, MIRROR, a horror story moved me,  lacking gore.
Intrigued by Michael’s mild approach I ventured to read more.
Clearly FLOWER FROM THE STARS comes ready to delight fans
Having thrived on fantasy taking place in many lands
And thrilling readers of his poems. There I’ve read him most.
Even active folks may miss him He’ll not compete nor host.
Look for GUILE, CAMILLE, or POUT, different forms everyone.
**
Forms used by Swinburne left unnamed, reemergence he’s begun.
AMERA IS penned by this swain is exemplar Trijan refrain.
Now, VOICE OF ANGELS, Swinburne’s work and CAMILLE is again.
THE CHATEAU and THE CENTAURESS are sonnets with distinction.
If we can learn from these- quality won’t face extinction.
Now that I’ve said my piece and presented this micro view.
Arise and go check Eusebius out- all six of you.
© July 22, 2013 – Lawrencealot
NOTE 1:
The Acrostic spells Michael Fantina
Note 2:
All of these works are posted on Allpoetry
Stories:
MIRROR, MIRROR
FLOWER FROM THE STARS
Poems:
GUILE
CAMILLE
POUT
AMERA IS
VOICE OF ANGELS
CAMILLE
THE CHATEAU
THE CENTAURESS

Acrostic

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The following are “lifted” from the Allpoetry Acrostic Course, free to all.
It is known that people do not always realize how impressive you can make an acrostic. And sometimes they are not thought of as poetry, because they do not rhyme….
But, here is breaking news for you! Poetry does not have to rhyme. And the glorious thing about acrostics, is that they have a hidden message down the side as well!
 ‘Standard Acrostic’.
To start. There are two main stages…
First, remember your brainstorming?
Did you pick a word or sentence? Put it down the side.
R
E
M
I
S
S
I
O
N
Now that you have your word, or phrase, think of the things that would fit. What does this word make you feel? How could you describe it? Use the brainstorm you had in assignment one. Your finished product should look a little like this…
Really happy now!
Excited too…
My Mum
Is nearly better
So thank you for your prayers!
So thank you for being generous
I love you all for
Opening lots of happiness to my Mum
Now she’s in remission.
Your next form has two names,
 Shadow or Mirror acrostic.
 I prefer shadow, so I’ll probably use that, but it does get called both.
This acrostic is similar to the standard form, but a bit harder.
The idea here is that you have the same message at the left side of the poem and at the right side.
Start work with the same idea.
Choose your word or sentence, for example:
F F
E E
E E
T T
And fill the middle. This is to add an extra ‘hidden message’ in the poem, a clever twist that sometimes people miss. Therefore, these poems work better if they actually make sense.
Feel the love on the shelf,
Expel your anger into torture.
Expect to be fueled by coffee,
To be dancing on that caffeine shot!
Acrosteleostic
The third form…
     Acrosteleostic.
This does not appear to be official in any way (or at least I have found no outside information on it). It seems it was created by a genius here on AP. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting form, and therefore worth teaching!
To start, you need a word. Then you need another with around the same number of letters for the other side.
Here, I shall write it, and see if you can view the message.
(A clue: I am not a ‘normal’ English woman. Why?)
Countless cups I drink with appreciatioN
Of liquid with it’s caffienated echO,
Feeling loved by it’s mental thoughT
Fell in love, the day it was boughT.
Everyday life spent with my friend coffeE…
Everyone knows I prefer it to teA!
Mesostich.
This is not quite as hard as the previous form. It requires a poem of almost any form, but the letters in the middle spell out the message.
For example, if every line had 13 letters, the 7th letter would form part of the message.
It would be wise to choose your message first, and then build your poem around it.
I have used the name TOYA.
Sitting here surrounded by dusT on all sides. I think all talking
is a must. I am alone in this old rOom. So, I can talk from birth to doom.
You may think I am crazy, but what Yelling will achieve? Everybody
knows you wear your heart on an Apron string. Tell me your belief?
Telestich.
Easier still. This form requires only the end letters to spell a message.
Again, it is wise to choose your word or sentence, and work around it.
If you get stuck, a tool I’ve learned to use is Google or a similar search engine. Type into the search bar “words ending with the letter ‘_'” and it will find pages for you. Same with the mesostich, type in the search bar “words with ‘t’ as the third letter,” or equivalent. No problems there…!
The hidden message here is mildly dire: read the last letter of every line to determine what the poem is about…
It is not to be confused (when you go out of your mind,
With being alive. People will care when you’re
Breathing whispers of Omega,
And meeting Alpha…a melancholy must.
Just waiting for the day you again grace earth.
Cross Acrostic. (I believe they may have run out of names!)
This form is a little trickier, but easier to understand, I think. There was a very famous one written by Edgar Allen Poe. Now even though most of you may never have studied his works (I’ll be honest and say that I have not…), his is a name that most of you should recognize as a famous poet. His poem was entitled ‘A Valentine,’ and was written to include the name of a sergeant. 
The idea behind this is that the message is hidden across the acrostic. The first line has the first letter, the second line with the second letter, and so on.
Feed me with love and energy,
Treat me with respect.
You can use me in so many ways…
But I ask only one thing.
Start your diet another day!
My word? Fruit.
Feed
tReat
yoU
but I
starT
Clever, huh? 
Triple Threat
You have learned several forms so far. You have practiced the art of hidden messages in several places within a poem: at the end, in the middle, spread out….
The first form here is called a Word Acrostic. Essentially, you must think of a sentence, small or long, and then make it into a poem. To further explain what I mean, I’ll demonstrate. (Pay attention, you will be writing one!)
‘I am teaching you’ will be my sentence.
I
Am
Teaching
You
…will go down the side, like that. Then you will fill the rest out, and, hopefully, it will still make sense. These work better if you like to be clever, and make the message completely the opposite of the poem.
I only want to know what you have to show me.
Am I presuming too much?
Teaching me the basics of your chosen trade…
You tell me everything I need to know.
This is the word acrostic.
Now, we get clever.
This is where we amalgamate (mix) three different things together, and it is one of my favourite ways to write. I will be honest and say I’ve not seen anyone else write one…so I am sharing my knowledge with you…we can spread the word!
I have coined it as a Triple Threat.
(Note to everyone, if you have seen it elsewhere, let me know, and I’ll happily share the credit!)
This little beauty mixes the wholeness of a poem, with two hidden messages.
To make this, you need to do an acrostic, then a word acrostic, then the rest of the poem.
Sound complicated? I’ll show you how… Maybe you’ll enjoy them as much as I?!
Here’s one I wrote earlier.
Sentence- I will win yet…
I
W
I
L
L
W
I
N
Y
E
T
Now you have your basis, you need to work out a sentence that runs alongside it…
I
Wish
I
Lived
Lots,
When
I
Needed
You.
End
This!
  Remember
  Failure.
There is a sentence or two. Sometimes, if you can include the punctuation, it helps people see the hidden message; however, this is not always possible.
On top of this, if the poem feels ‘unfinished’ with the sentence as it is, you might need to add a couple lines. I have done this, and indented them so they are seen as part of the poem but not part of the standard acrostic. However, they make sense as part of the word acrostic.
And the poem in full…
I know one thing only.
Wish myself to have been more.
I dream of better endings.
Lived for myself, for others-
Lots of love shared…
When I go,
I will regret one thing, I
Needed more. Just more
You. You were everything I had.
End draws near- I look back.
This Is It.
      Remember one thing…
      Failure is an option.
You may have noticed that the poem and the message are opposite? Again, a nice touch you might see often in acrostics.

Alliterisen poetry form

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The Alliterisen (Complex and Rhyming), a form created by Udit Bhatia, is a simple seven-lined poem with a specific syllable pattern and two alliterations per line.  For example: Glorious Graves, and wonderful waves. Alliteration is the succession of similar consonant sounds. They are not recognized by spelling, but rather by sounds.

 The syllable structure for the Complex Alliterisen is as follows:

 1st line- x syllables
2nd line- x+2 syllables
3rd line- x-1 syllables
4th line- (x+2)-1 syllables
5th line- x-2 syllables
6th line- (x+2)-2 syllables
7th line- x syllables

 which allows for infinite syllable sequences.

 Pasted from <http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/alliterisen.html>

 

Example Poem 

 The Knight of the Shopping Queen (  Complex Alliterisen with monorhyme) 

 Momma mumbles and grandpa grumbles but off they go.
She’s got stores selected and he’s got gumption and lots of dough.
Solicitous salesmen appear, all with grand goods to show
needles, brass bobbins, templates and many fine fabrics to sew
Gramps grabs her next favored choice;  takes it in tow.
Store after store momma’s  proven plaza pro
And Gramps just grins and waits until when momma says whoa.

© Lawrencealot – Feb 3, 2012

 

ALLITERISEN – Rhyming

–Must have only 7 syllables in each line (isosyllabic 7)
–Must use aabbccd rhyme scheme.
–Must have only 7  lines in the stanza.
–Must have one alliteration per line.

–Must be only one stanza (7 lines) although you could create one with two stanzas and call it a Double Rhyming Alliterisen-which means a three stanza one would be called a Triple Rhyming Alliterisen, and so on.

 

Example Poem 

 

Facing Off    (Rhyming Alliterisen) 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 


My clock was clearly mocking

with its tick-ing and tock-ing.
“Get to work, write right away.
I track time through-out the day.
I’m not mocking you, fine friend,
just prodding your plodding pen.”
His song’s sure despite his face.

© Lawrencealot – April 13, 2013

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Amphibrach Trimeter

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The amphibrach is a trisyllabic metrical foot, which in accentual meter consists of an accented syllable between two unaccented syllables.
Rhyme optional
Isosyllabic 9 syllables
A single octave.  (8 lines)
Example Poem
Bird Watching
Reclining relaxed in the garden
the cat was ignoring my  calling,
indifferently birds kept on chirping,
idyllic conditions for poets.
Amusing deception, cat lazy
and silent just waiting for breakfast.
Indolent or working at trapping
a birdie who thinks that he’s sleeping?
I’ll leave now before I spoil something.
© Lawrencealot – May 5, 2012
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Cascade

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Created by Udit Bhatia, the Cascade form “is all about receptiveness, but in a smooth cascading way like a waterfall”. There is no set meter or rhyme scheme. The defining feature of the form is that the lines of the first stanza are repeated as refrain lines in subsequent stanzas to give a “cascading effect”. S1 L1 is repeated as the last line of S2, S1 L2 is repeated as the last line of S3, and so on until all lines in S1 have been used. The number of stanzas is therefore one more than the number of lines in S1.
Example rhyme scheme for a three stanza Cascade: ABC xxA xxB xxC, (ABCxxAxxBxxC)
Rhyme optional, Meter optional, 6 lines or more, line refrain.
 Example Poem
Write a Cascade
The cascade poem can grow in length and width. It’s flexible.
If three lines in one stanza, then stanzas will add up to four.
That means a cascade can be used for many types of contests.
This is an example , a small sample, meter is ignored.
Allowing able alliteration,  but without end rhyme.
The cascade poem can grow in length and width. It’s flexible.
You shall see in Cascade Two that rhyme was planned for and was used.
This monstrous, frigging thing  clamors for abundant verbiage.
If three lines in one stanza, then stanzas will add up to four.
Since this was didactic write, with no metaphor and image.
The flowing effect of my repeating lines might not appear.
That means a cascade can be used for many types of contests.
(c) Lawrencealot – April 22, 2012
Visual Template
 This poem by Discoveria of AllPoetry
(A four line Cascade)

Cheyenelle

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Cheyenelle
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
5:35 PM
This form was invented by Silent_Cougar and it’s structure honors native American Heritage.
The Cheyenelle follow the ‘circle of life’, and that all life is connected.
The words creating their own circle, forming the connection in the closing stanza.
Free Verse Format  (No way!)
The title must relate to the poem, but also adjoin
 the opening single line creating a rhyming couplet.
The first line and stanza are trimeter (two syllable feet)
The next three stanzas are tetrameter,
and the final unspecified, (depending upon word syllable)
The following four stanzas then become the creation of the final fifth stanza,
where each lines final word builds into the lines of the fifth stanza.
which holds only four words per line.
The fifth stanza must also read as a stand alone poem.
This form results in automatic internal rhyme in the closing stanza.
The FOLLOWING are the specifications for the Rhymed Version.
Rhyme scheme:
a
a
bcbc
dede
fcfc
hehe
cece
The opening line and first stanza are 6 syllables
Stanza two is 7 syllables
Stanza three is 8 syllables
Stanza four is 9 Syllables
Stanza five is undefined.
Specifications restated:
The Cheyenell is a poem of 22 lines.
It is formulaic: Title requires 6 syllables and must form couplet with first line;
                               the final stanza is made up or 4 words from each preceding stanza.
It is syllabic: 6/7/8/9/any
It is rhymed: aa bcbc dede hehe cecd (aabcbcdedehehececd)
Example Poem
We Are All Brothers  (Cheyenelle)
From different mothers
Indeed we all do come.
We can all get along
If when we meet we hum
a tune or sing a song.
Tribal chants – many voices
recognizing all are swayed
by Earth’s gifts – that our choices
hinge on those others have made.
DNA has proven and we’ll
all soon know that we all belong
to a common tribe and can feel
at home on earth with kinship strong.
Once all people know they are mankind’s
blood-brother all will join the parade
which will find humanity enshrined
at peace with earth and quite unafraid.
Come along hum a song.
Voices swayed choices made.
We belong; feel strong
mankind’s parade, enshrined, unafraid.
(c) Lawrencealot – Sept 28, 2012
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I just noticed that this template does NOT comply with the specifications, in that it uses 5 words, the poem was corrected.

Cortes Nonet

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Invented by Josephine Ann Louise Cortes-Love  aka MajesticRose on AllPoetry, March 2012.
It was inspired by the original Nonet.
TO WRITE IN THIS FORM YOU NEED THE FOLLOWING RULES:
14 lines (2 stanzas, 7 lines each)
First stanza syllable count as follows:  5/7/9/11/13/15/17
Second stanza syllable count as follows:  17/15/13/11/9/5
The last word of each line is the first word of the next line.  (word form)
The first word of the second stanza can either be the last word of the first stanza OR a new word
The poem can rhyme or have no rhyme at all
Example Poem

Dedicated to Majestic Rose
To write a Cortes
Cortes Nonet , I do mean,
Mean minded MajesticRose means that
that requirement that each line carries on so
so smoothly  with the last word from the prior line  if you,
you ambitious poet, think your muse can run free you may lose.
Lose just one word and you will be hitting delete way too many times.
Due to the already significant demands save trying to rhyme.
Rhyme if you wish.  It is allowed I shall attempt it this time.
Time is on my side for I am half way through this verse.
Verse being used here to mean stanza, what’s worse,
worse than that, I’ll run out of couplets-
couplets needed to rhyme more.
More is out the door.
   (c) Lawrencealot – June 1, 2012

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