Tag Archives: stanzaic

Terzanelle

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The Terzanelle is a poetry type which is a combination of  the villanelle and the terza rima forms invenated by Lewis Turco.
It is a 19-line poem consisting of five interlocking tercets plus a concluding quatrain in which the first and third lines of the first triplet appear as refrains. The middle line of each triplet is repeated, reappearing as the last line of the succeeding triplet with the exception of the center line of the next-to-the-last stanza which appears in the quatrain.
The rhyme and refrain scheme for the triplets is as follows:
ABA’ bCB cDC dED eFE fAFA‘ or
ABA ‘bCB cDC dED eFE fFAA’ 
Meter is Iambic Pentamter
Example Poem:
Simpler times   (Terzanelle)
The simple times remembered are worthwhile.
Those memories are treasured gifts to keep.
We were innocent and lived without guile.
        
Our curiosity was very deep,
inviting us always to be alive.
Those memories are treasured gifts to keep.
        
Adults have designed their plans to survive
we have a docket that precludes just being–
inviting us always to be alive.
        
Adults predispose and look without seeing.
Now  we can’t dawdle, we all must compete
we have a docket that precludes just being–
        
As kids, a mistake was not a defeat,
we had no agenda but just to be
Now  we can’t dawdle, we all must compete
        
Adults must relearn that gift, to be free.
The simple times remembered are worthwhile.
we had no agenda but just to be.
We were innocent and lived without guile.
By Lawrencealot, © 2012, All rights reserved.
 
 
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Trijan Refrain

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The Trijan Refrain, created by Jan Turner, consists of three 9-line stanzas, for a total of 27 lines. Line 1 is the same in all three stanzas, although a variation of the form is not to repeat the same line at the beginning of each stanza. In other words, the beginning line of each stanza can be different. The first four syllables of line 5 in each stanza are repeated as the double-refrain for lines 7 and 8.

The Trijan Refrain is a rhyming poem with a set meter and rhyme scheme as follows:
Rhyme scheme: ababccddc
Meter: 8/6/8/6/8/8/4/4/8
Source: shadowpoetry.com

On the template below I have colored line 1, indicating that in the formal poem it should be first line of each verse.

Visual Template

In my example, I followed formal protocol for the first complete Trijan Refrain, then lapsed to the ever more popular technique of not requiring first line stanza repetition.

My Example

Crop Circles

Crop Circles are works to amaze.
Sources of awe and hate!
For two score plus, a world-wide craze
to shock and aggravate.
It aggravates the farmers who
lose cash when fields are trampled through.
It aggravates.
It aggravates,
but there’s not much that they can do.

Crop Circles are works to amaze
from ancient times ’til now.
A marvel upon which to gaze,
made in the night somehow.
They were simple in early days.
Mere circles. shown in diff’rent ways.
They were simple,
They were simple.
Complex now, harder to appraise.

Crop Circles are works to amaze
across our planet earth.
Hoaxers we know have made displays
Art forms of splendid girth.
Not all are false; most have proved true.
Could not be made by me or you.
Not all are false,
Not all are false.
Messages require a global view.

Crop formations they are now called.
Using geometry.
Mathematics leave us enthralled
with their complexity,
Math is the same in every land.
Greek, Chinese, Arab understand.
Math is the same.
Math is the same.
So global message must be planned.

Crop formations they are now named,
choose pre-historic sites
like Stonehenge and others so famed
to inscribe their delights.
Unsolved myst’ries believed to be
formed by some intelligentry.
Unsolved myst’ries,
Unsolved myst’ries
clues now distributed widely.

Since I began this poem to write.
This three-D box was made.
Of course it sprang up overnight.
It doesn’t look homemade.
It baffles me what it might mean
laid out so nicely on the green.
It baffles me,
It baffles me.
If it’s a hoax that will be seen.

The Mormons have not staked a claim,
nor have the Jews, I think.
Christians, Buddhists don’t seek acclaim,
some odd cults may, don’t blink.
We don’t know how just over night
Huge shapes appear, proportions right.
We don’t know how,
We don’t know how.
Energy remains at each site.

Mayan themes have been oft addressed.
Celestial cycle lore
hints that earth shall soon be distressed
by changed magnetic core.
We can have help as ancients did,
in building the great pyramid
We can have help,
We can have help.
It could be; that would be splendid.

(c) Lawrencealot – July 6, 2012

(This poem in the strictest sense is NOT a Trijan Refrain, for it violate TWO of the requirements. It is NOT three stanzas, AND it does not repeat the first line of the first stanza, as the first line of the other stanza. It’s failings may make it instructional.)

Trilonnet

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Created by Shelley A. Cephas
A 14 line poem made up of four tercets and one rhyming couplet.
Meter: iambic tetrameter or iambic pentameter.
Each 3 line verse is an unrhymed triplet, but there is rhyming between the stanzas..
2 rhyme schemes: abcabcabcabcdd  or abccbaabccbadd
Example Poem
Little Brick Library
When I was young,  and that means wee,
My nearby library did astound.
I started stopping every day.
I’d roam the shelves from about  three
’til five o’clock or ’til I’d found
one book I could not put away.
It was wonderful they were free;
the best resource that I had found
and books had so darn much to say.
This was long ‘fore girls intrigued me.
The building was a good friend found,
where I’d rather hang-out than play.
Those short years opened wide the door.
to much I still plan to explore.
(c) Lawrencealot – May 4, 2012
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Triolet

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A Triolet is a poetic form consisting of only 8 lines.           
Within a Triolet, the 1st, 4th, and  7th lines          
repeat, and the 2nd and 8th lines do as well.           
The rhyme scheme is simple:  ABaAabAB, capital          
letters representing the repeated lines.    
 
There is no set syllable count, although the preferred one for repeating forms is the standard of eight syllables but there are many good examples around using iambic pentameter and similar meters.
Example Poem:
Pug Peed Too     (Triolet)
Into the copse we walked to take a pee.
I watched for cops, Pug just lifted his leg.
I’m glad Ms. Klag, the nag, saw him not me.
Into the copse we walked to take a pee.
I’ll merely bail him out and set him free.
and remember my next Pug should be Peg.
Into the copse we walked to take a pee.
I watched for cops, Pug just lifted his leg.
 
(c) Lawrencealot –  June, 2012
 
Picture Credit:  www.pinterest.com
 
 
Visual Template
 
 

Tritina

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The pattern of word-repetition is as follows, where the words that end
the lines of the first tercet are represented by the numbers “1 2 3”:
  1 2 3          – End words of lines in first tercet.
  3 1 2          – End words of lines in second tercet.
  2 3 1          – End words of lines in third tercet.
  (1 2 3)        – Words contained in the final line.
Your Composition.
The repetition of words in a Tritina makes this form a good match for
a story that uses common speech, for in conversation the repetition
of key words is common. The Tritina is a more “natural” form than the
Villanelle (which is comparatively artificial in repeating whole lines)
and the Sestina (which is significantly more challenging because it is
longer (39 lines) and reuses six words
in six six-line stanzas and a closing tercet).
Example Poem
Fido
I have  always liked dogs.
Almost all dogs I like.
And almost all like me.
Their faithfulness moves me.
I prefer smaller dogs
‘Cus big poop, I  don’t like.
Of course I  still do like
gals who are nice to me.
as long as they like dogs.
I like dogs;  dogs like me.
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Triquatrain

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The form name “Triquatrain” was most likely contrived by Robert L. Huntsman as found listed on shadowpoetry.com. However he most likely stole the credit by giving a name to simple didactic verse. 
This is obvious because “Jack and Jill” was written in the 1760s.
There is also reference to it in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the end of act three: “Jack shall have Jill; Nought shall go ill.”  (Just a little history there) 
It is a quatrain poem in tri-rhyme with a specific rhyming pattern (see below). 
Lines 1 and 3 have internal rhyme whereas lines 2 and 4 do not. 
Rhyme Pattern:
(a,a)
b 
(c,c)
b 
(d,d)
e 
(f,f)
e
(g,g) 
h 
(i,i)
h
Example Poem:
 
Fred Meets Trixie
Now Fred was nice; he worked in vice
and could not be corrupt.
Take the money, have a honey.
He made them all shut-up.
He closed down rooms that reeked of fumes,
that turned out to be meth.
He smashed their tools, then told the fools,
“Wages of sin are death.”
Prostitution?  His solution:
Arrest each whore and John.
So straight he played, that I’m afraid.
Some councilmen are gone.
Some lovely chicks had turned some dicks,
(Detectives),  I should say.
But, no cutie, or real beauty
Could cause our Fred to sway.
Business was down all over town,
confession booths were slow.
The internet was busy yet
it brought no local dough.
Then just by chance one day Fred glanced
across the cafe floor.
As Trixie came (the perfect dame)
right through the joint’s front door.
Passions promised in some fashion
many times thru the years,
It seems  absurd without a word
said,  she had meshed his gears!
After they talked, together walked,
She put him to the test.
“Play on my range,” she said,” for change
is as good as arrest.”
 
 
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Trois-par-Huit

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The Trois-par-Huit is a short eight line poetic form that is striking and fun to play with.
This form was created by Lorraine M. Kanter
and goes by a few other names as well, the Octa tri and the Three by Eight just to name a couple.
The structure of the Trois-par Huit is easy to compose as it only has three stanzas of 3,3,2 or 3,2,3, lines which can be decided on your own personal taste.
As with many forms the Trois-par-Huit has a syllable count: 3/6/9/12/12/9/6/3.
Rhyme scheme: aabbbccc.
The last line of the poem should be the title of the piece
and should summarize what the poem is about.
Example Poem:
Finish Forms
Quench my thirst.
The unknown  is the curse.
I must scour pages of AP sages
Find their every form though it may take me ages.
Then if they keep inventing… put  them in cages.
In cases where changes come in swarms
document  all the norms.
Finish forms.
© Lawrencealot – April 21, 2012

Whyquain

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A form invented on AllPoetry.com by Gloria Kim, aka Porphery. 
It is a single verse of five iambic tetrameter lines in monorhyme
which answers some asked or un-asked question.
 
Example Poem:
 
Why Do Cats Purr
 
While dogs can bark and growl and grrrr
and guard, and stealthy thieves deter,
which earned their place with men for sure,
The cats had only pretty fur,
so asked if God would add a purr.
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ZaniLa Rhyme

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The ZaniLa Rhyme is a poetry form created by Laura Lamarca.
A ZaniLa Rhyme has an minimum of three quatrain stanzas with a specific rhyme scheme and syllable count.
There is no maximum length requirement for the form.
In each stanza, the rhyme scheme is abcb 
and the syllable count is 9/7/9/9.
Along with the end-line rhyme scheme, the ZaniLa Rhyme
also has an internal rhyme in line 3 of each stanza.
Line 3 repeats in all odd-numbered stanzas, as written in stanza one.
In all even-numbered stanzas, line 3 repeats
but the order of the line is reversed.
Example Poem:
Right ZaniLa Wrong   ( ZaniLa Rhyme )
ZaniLa threw me a couple times
So I’ll write another one.
Internal rhyme in this line this time
to illustrate how it should be done.
I had a d-rhyme within my rhymes
and of d’s there should be none.
In this line this time- internal rhyme
in reversed order from when begun.
I can toot the horns and ring the chimes
for I’ve got the battle won.
Internal rhyme in this line this time.
Finally my errors are undone.
     © Lawrencealot – December 30, 2012
 
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