Tag Archives: stanzaic

Double Five

By | | ,
Comments Off on Double Five

Type:  Structure, Other Requirement
Description:  The double five is two quintet stanzas of short lines. It should be done as a portrait of a person (loved one), preferably titled with the individual’s name. This form was referenced in Sol’s Magazine.
Schematic:  Since this is a nonce form other than the number of lines
requirement, a schematic is unavailable.
Rhythm/Stanza Length:  5
Line/Poem Length:  10

Pasted from http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/000/91.shtml
My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his years of work on the wonderful Poetrybase resource.

I Include this is my list, merely to make the list complete.
Since my normal contribution is to make a visual template available, and such a thing would be meaningless here, I have included no personal example.

Bop

By | | , ,
Comments Off on Bop

A recent invention, the Bop was created by Afaa Michael Weaver during a summer retreat of the African American poetry organization, Cave Canem. Not unlike the Shakespearean sonnet in trajectory, the Bop is a form of poetic argument consisting of three stanzas, each stanza followed by a repeated line, or refrain, and each undertaking a different purpose in the overall argument of the poem.
The first stanza (six lines long) states the problem, and the second stanza (eight lines long) explores or expands upon the problem. If there is a resolution to the problem, the third stanza (six lines long) finds it. If a substantive resolution cannot be made, then this final stanza documents the attempt and failure to succeed.

Pasted from <http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-bop>

Poetic Form: The Bop
Like most modern forms, The Bop has both contextual and structural aspects. Also, like most modern forms, the structural part is pretty loose, that is, the poet is given complete freedom concerning syllable stress, number of syllables or words, to rhyme or not to rhyme, etcetera. The contextual aspect is that the poem tells a certain kind of story in a certain order.
It goes like this:
• First stanza, six lines, outlines a problem
• Second stanza, eight lines long, describes the problem
• Third stanza, six lines, solves or demonstrates the failure to solve the problem
• Each stanza is followed by the same “refrain” line
This same contextual structure is used in novels and short stories as well. Take the Trojan War, for instance:
• Problem: Troy abducts Helen
• Expansion: Though the Greeks are angry, Troy is fortified and well armed
• Solution: Trojan (actually Greek) Horse
You get the idea.
A variation on the The Bop adds a fourth six-line stanza, once again followed by the refrain line. Following is an example of a three-stanza Bop:
Me and Sisyphus

All my life I’ve rolled a big ball
Of money up the mountain
Of desire. Sisyphus and me
We are not getting any younger
Serving out sentences
Doled out by vengeful gods

Sisyphus keeps rolling that rock up the mountain.

Each day the mountain gets steeper
As I get older my knees get weaker
Wind blows some dollars away
Bandits in helicopters grab fistfuls and fly
While I continue to try, day by day
Life seems only to get worse
Me and Sisyphus, both cursed 
With endurance

Sisyphus keeps rolling that rock up the mountain.

Come a day the load gets too heavy
The knees too weak, all a body
Can do is just to let it go
Watch the big ball bounce on down
“Look,” said Sisyphus. You got no money!”
I said, “I know, pal. I’ll see you around, okay?”

Sisyphus keeps rolling that rock up the mountain.
It’s fun, sometimes, to get a mythical character involved in your work, and useful, too. They always symbolize a human trait or condition of life: heroes, victims, the loyal and the faithless, the one who rises to power, the one who fails and falls into despondency and death. This is the stuff of drama.

Pasted from http://tomrubenoff.hubpages.com/hub/Poetic-Form-The-Bop

My example

Multiculturalism (Bop)

From tyranny some of them came,
or poverty no end in sight.
A brand new country, brand new game,
a chance to work to solve their plight.
They’d get naught upon arrival
but a change for their survival.

The huddled masses came ashore.

Some bought with them religions scorned.
Some wanted unblocked avenues.
Unpretentious, and un adorned
some came with skills that they could use
while others were indentured men
who’d bend for years to other’s will
’til time came they could start again.
Those very thoughts brought forth a thrill.

The huddled masses came ashore.

They’d bond with others of their kind
to keep sub-cultures of their own
but they’d adopt and they’d align
embracing their new country’s tone.
But now they merely storm our gate
and infiltrate to spread their hate.

The huddled masses came ashore.

© Lawrencealot – October 5, 2014

Sevenelle

By | | ,
Comments Off on Sevenelle

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.

• Sevenelle is a stanzaic invented form created by Virginia Noble which cannot only be found in “Pathways…” but is also in the Study and Writing of Poetry by Amy Jo Zook and Wauneta Hackleman, 1996.

The Sevenelle is:
○ stanzaic, written in no less than 2 septets, each made up of a rhymed couplet, tercet and couplet in that order.
○ metric, iambic tetrameter.
○ rhymed, aabbbCC ddeeeCC etc.
○ composed with L6&L7 of the first stanza repeated as refrain in the last 2 lines of all subsequent stanzas.

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

California Smoke (Sevenelle)

I left the teeming crowds behind
with auto’s smoke so I could find
a healthy place to walk my dog
where one could if he cared to, jog
without the blight of all the smog.
Unhealthy ash from fires ablaze
corrupt Nevada’s autumn days.

But forests burning in the west
has messed my plans, you may have guessed.
My doctor says I must take care,
with particles now in the air
can’t take my puppy anywhere.
Unhealthy ash from fires ablaze
corrupt Nevada’s autumn days.

© Lawrencealot – September 27, 2014

Visual template

Sevenelle

Caprice

By | | , ,
Comments Off on Caprice

The Caprice form was invented in a whimsical moment by Mary Lou Healy, aka Mlou on Allpoetry.com.

The caprice is:
Stanzaic: It is a poem consisting of any number of cinquain stanzas
Metered: It is written in iambic pentameter except for L2 of each stanza being iambic dimeter
Rhyme Pattern: ababa cdcdc efefe, etc.

What Meaning by Mlou

What meaning in an autumn afternoon
when the sun, low sinking in the west
goes down too soon,
when breeze that whispered, dear, I love you best,
now sighs the farewell notes of mournful loon?

The chill that rattles every browning leaf
echoes through my blood and stills my bones
beyond belief.
I grudge the ticking clock those mellowed tones,
knowing Time is an accomplished thief.

I fear that falling leaves can’t be denied,
can’t be returned to limbs now growing bare
although I’ve tried.
Those melancholy endings float on air
and mirror my forebodings deep inside.

_____

My example

Community Pup  (Caprice)

What pleasure’s taken when I take a stroll.
My puppy patient; anytime I stop
he plays his role.
For meeting folks, my dog’s a natural prop.
But playing ball with kids is his real goal.

We walk three quarters of a mile each way;
a park with slides and swings is near the school
where dogs can play.
The kids think playing catch with Griz is cool,
so now we do it nearly everyday.

I walk because the doctor said I should
but stopping at the park is just for Griz,
And that is good.
Each day before school starts that’s where he is,
and he’s well-known throughout our neighborhood.

© Lawrencealot – September 6, 2014

Visual Template

Caprice

Arkaham Ballad

By | | , , ,
Comments Off on Arkaham Ballad

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. I have included the syllabic invented forms on a separate page. Whether classroom exercise or sharpening your skill as a writer, some of these forms can be fun to play with.

• Arkaham Ballad can be identified by the last line of each stanza being repeated as the first three metric feet of the next stanza. One more invented stanza form appears to be a teaching tool created by Queena Davidson Miller. It is not really a ballad but is suited to relate current events and news articles.

The Arkaham Ballad is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of cinquains.
○ accentual syllabic, iambic, L1, L3, L4 tetrameter and L2 and L5 trimeter.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme xabba xcddc xeffe etc. x being unrhymed.
○ composed with L5 repeated as the 1st three metric feet of L1 of the next stanza.
○ suited to current events and the news.

Police Shooting by Judi Van Gorder

They say an unarmed man was shot
by cops who’ve run-a-muck.
A family man who cut some hair
and shaved a face or two. A pair
of punks highjacked a truck.

The punks highjacked a truck and he
was at the same address,
police arrived and shots were fired,
the barber hit and soon expired
The why of it a guess.

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

Conduct Unbecoming (Arkaham Ballad)

Subcultures determine the flow
when hate has been accrued.
For race and religion involve
some problems most hard to resolve.
Perhaps mankind is screwed.

Perhaps mankind is screwed my friend,
as Ferguson has shown,
and Watts before, and Rodney King,
and every other racial thing.
The hateful seeds are sown.

The hateful seeds are sown by acts
that we can justify.
We’ll plunder, hurt, and break the laws
and disregard, it harms our cause
but still won’t satisfy.

© Lawrencealot – September 1, 2014

Visual template

Arkaham Ballad

Arabesque

By | | ,
Comments Off on Arabesque

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. I have included the syllabic invented forms on a separate page. Whether classroom exercise or sharpening your skill as a writer, some of these forms can be fun to play with.

• Arabesque created by Lucille Evans features head rhyme (rhyme in the beginning of the line) in couplets. The end words rise and fall. 

The Arabesque is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of couplets.
○ metered in pattern but no line length is required. The beginning metric foot of each line is a trochee Su, and the end foot of each line is alternately feminine and masculine.
○ rhymed, head rhyming couplets (rhyme at the beginning of the line).

Sample by Judi Van Gorder

Aching with a need to be sleeping,
making my fingers continue to type.
Writing a poem to be an example,
fighting fatigue to complete this tome.
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

Tavern Tango (Arabesque)

Mumble, drink beer and then grumble;
Stumble, your way through the door
Married men forgot their troubles,
Buried their unbidden woes.
Lookers have left without buying;
Hookers found men dumb and dull.

© Lawrencealot – September 1, 2014

Visual template

Arabesque

Virelai

By | | ,
Comments Off on Virelai

• The Virelai, is a narrative, an expanded Lai and a member of the Lai family of forms. A poem of a single Virelai stanza is known as a Bergerette.

The Virelai is:
○ stanzaic, any number of nonets (9 line stanzas) may be written at the discretion of the poet. One nonet is called a Bergerette or a Lai when made up of 3 tercets.
○ syllabic, syllables per line 5-5-2-5-5-2-5-5-2.
○ rhymed, it carries a running rhyme from stanza to stanza. aabaabaab bbcbbcbbc ddcddcddc etc until the end, in which the long line rhyme of the first stanza is repeated as the short line rhyme of the last stanza, ffaffaffa.

○ Telling the Storm by Judi Van Gorder

It happened at night
it gave me a fright,
the slash!
I watched it ignite
like a flame in flight
its dash
like a fighting kite
waving fiery bright,
so brash.

The thunderous crash
made the fish-tank splash.
The room
shook after the flash,
I pulled back the sash.
The womb
of the storm, the clash
was done with panache,
Ka-boom!

When done, to resume
and dispel the gloom,
I write.
To tell with a plume
and bring forth the bloom,
a light.
In time to exhume,
a poem to groom
finite.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?/topic/686-lai-family-of-forms-lai-lai-nouveaukyriellebergerettevirelai/
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

 

My example

When Wally Wanders
When Wally Wanders (Virelai)

When Wally some way,
went walking away,
I snored.
I thought it okay
there’s little to stray
toward.
But to my dismay
without his display
I’m bored

He’s always deplored
the thought of a cord
attached.
Although I’d be floored
He would be adored
if snatched.
I’ll post a reward
to get him restored-
much scratch.

If he’s met his match
and he’s in the hatch
I may
just act with dispatch
to undo the latch
today.
As runt of the batch
he was a fine catch,
I’d say!

© Lawrencealot – August 30, 2014

Visual template

Virelai

Trenta-Sei

By | | ,
Comments Off on Trenta-Sei

Trenta-Sei
Type:
Structure, Metrical Requirement, Repetitive Requirement
Description: Form invented by US poet John Ciardi, it could be considered a semi-gloss. It consists of six six-line verses. Each line of the first verse is the first line of one of the six verses in order. Ciardi’s trenta-sei was written in five-stress accentual lines.
Attributed to: John Ciardi
Origin: American
Schematic: Repetition scheme:
123456
2xxxxx
3xxxxx
4xxxxx
5xxxxx
6xxxxx
Rhythm/Stanza Length: 6
Line/Poem Length:          36
 

Measuring poetry as accentual verse, one only counts the stressed syllables in the line, so a line might have four stresses and anywhere from four to sixteen syllables and still be considered a four-stress line. Many forms of accentual verse use alliteration to tie the stresses together.

Pasted from <http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/003/318.shtml
My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his years of work on the wonderful Poetrybase resource.

____________________

The poem consists of six six-line stanzas rhyming ababcc, with lines two through six in stanza one becoming line one of a following stanza, in that order. As a resolving device, he allows the fifth line of stanza one to change from the present tense to the past when it appears as the first line of stanza five.
As in other works by John Ciardi, the line is clearly the unit of the poem, a unit at the same time of sound, sense, and syntax, so that the reader progressing through the poem feels solid ground underfoot. At the same time, most of the lines raise a question, in the mind of the reader, that the next line will answer:
The species-truth of the matter is we are glad (of what?)
to have a death to munch on. Truth to tell, (which truth is what?)
we are also glad to pretend it makes us sad.
When it comes to dying, Keats did it so well (how well?)
we thrill to the performance…
And so forth, building for the reader a compelling sense of forward motion.
Ciardi’s rarest accomplishment in this poem, apart from the prosodic form, is the closing of a thought with the closing of each stanza. It’s not often that we find a poet so clearly in control of the poem.
The resolution of the poem is perhaps its finest moment: It looks back on itself and says to the reader—inductively, so that she can take it home—“This is what the poem is getting at,” and says it with such finality that if it were the last line on the page, one would not turn the page to see if the poem ended there. The poem doesn’t just end: it resolves.
All of this is to say that John Ciardi has done what the maker of any artwork wants to do, which is to make the very difficult look easy, to give form to the wildest feelings, and—though this rarely happens—to give the art a shape it didn’t have before. One would think that such a shape in poetry would begin to appear in anthologies and textbooks, and that other poets would be persuaded by the intriguing challenges and possibilities to write their own trenta-seis.

Pasted from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/242214

__________________

Trenta-sei, (French = 36), is a modern day verse form that appears to have taken its cue from the Sestina and the Villanelle. “Like the Sestina it is a strong pattern not likely to get lost in the language of the poem” Miller Williams, Patterns of Poetry, although it seems less “thought out”. The rotating repetition of lines from the first stanza brings a little feel of the Villanelle but the repetition is less obvious. The Trenta-sei was created by a 20th century American Poet, John Ciardi.

The Trenta-sei is:
• narrative verse.
• usually written as accentual verse (the rhythm of today’s speech) with 5 stressed syllables per line
• stanzaic, composed of 6 sixains, 36 lines total.
• rhymed, with the rhyme scheme of a heroic sestet, aB1A1B2C1C2 / B1dbdee / A1fafgg / B2hbhii / C1jcjkk / C2lclmm
• composed with each line (with the exception of L1) of the first stanza taking its turn as the first line of the following stanzas..

Game Six, a trenta sei by Judi Van Gorder 10-26-02
Bonds at bat, Rodrigues paws the mound,
no outs, one strike, two balls, two more, will he walk?
Excited fans react with thunder stick sound
the summer sport disciples have come to gawk.
Illusive is the rocky road to fame,
a national favorite, a World Series game.

No outs, one strike, two balls, two more, will he walk?
It’s the top of the sixth, no runners on base
he swings with quickening speed and powers the rock
I watch the ball soar high—to outer space,
and he does it again and jogs home to his fate;
his place in history, he’ll not abdicate.

Excited fans react with thunder stick sound,
with rattle slap and clatter, when will it stop?
The noise so loud it shakes and rumbles the ground
like a stampede of horses running clippety-clop
and what is with that monkey on the stick?
If Giants should win, the angels will be sick!

The summer sport disciples have come to gawk
enjoying beer and hot dogs passing around
while spectators cheer, others in shock.
It’s the thrill of the place, the faithful expound,
intensity builds increasing the sound of the din
and I pray for my team to bring home the big win.

Illusive is the rocky road to fame,
the team in red at home and now, down one.
My guys on the road, with ralley monkeys to tame;
a hit, the Angels scored, now this is no fun.
The top of the ninth, can we pull this one through?
My stomach in knots like I just got the flu.

A national favorite, a World Series game,
“strike three” he shouts–and number six is done,
tomorrow tells if hopes go up in flame.
Another nine innings and the best team has won,
we’ll call them the champs and have a parade.
my hopes are the Giants will make the grade.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?/topic/620-trenta-sei/

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

Rhyme scheme: aB1A1B2C1C2 B1dbdee A1fafgg B2hbhii C1jcjkk C2lclmm

My example

Note: Dear readers this uses FOUR stressed syllables per line, rather than the standard 5, simply the result of this poet’s inattention.

Tytler Unfolding   (Trenta-sei)

To ask for more from other men,
expecting something is your due
to take and take and take again
That leads to power all will rue.
A tyranny must wrest control
to lock down dictatorial role.

Expecting something is your due
when you’ve not served the body’s cause
will only work when just a few
rely on stipends passed by laws.
When many take and few produce
the few will balk at that abuse.

to take and take and take again
requires the government to tax.
the payer may not now abstain
and takers need not even ask.
At some point, ruler will inflate
in order to accommodate.

That leads to power all will rue.
Dependency per Tytler’s rules
is followed by dictator’s coup.
When selfishness makes many fools
and wealth has had to concentrate
the government must confiscate.

A tyranny must wrest control
and then the one-percent must fall
to keep the masses on the dole,
then things deteriorate for all.
And thus the cycle will repeat-
with bloodshed when there’s naught to eat.

To lock down dictatorial role
The business king-pins must be crushed.
An iron fist must take its toll-
then pain- the cycle can’t be rushed.
We’re getting close; I fear great cost
we must awaken ‘ere we’re lost.

© Lawrencealot – August 25, 2014

* The Tytle Cycle is explained here:
http://www.commonsensegovernment.com/article-03-14-09.html

Visual template

Trenta-sei

Johnn

By | | ,
Comments Off on Johnn

Johnn
Type: Structure, Metrical Requirement
Description: A form developed by Johnn Schroeder because we could find no structural forms beginning with the letter J. This is a three-verse syllabic form. Each verse is preceded by the title giving an element of repetition. The verses are five lines with the following syllable counts: 2, 3, 4, 3, 2; 4, 6, 8, 6, 4; 2, 3, 4, 3, 2.
Origin: American
Schematic:
Title

xx
xxx
xxxx
xxx
xx

Title

xxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxx

Title

xx
xxx
xxxx
xxx
xx
Rhythm/Stanza Length: 5
Line/Poem Length:          18

Pasted from http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/001/156.shtml
My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his years of work on the wonderful Poetrybase resource.

 

Yep, the double n in Johnn is correct.

My example

A Dish to Die For

You don’t
want me on
your dinner plate
cute though I
may be

A Dish to Die For

I am the most
poison fish in the sea!
(Yet Japanese do relish me.)
Only expert can parse
safe parts of me.

A Dish to Die For

Many
dumb folks died
when they served me
merely fried.
Beware.

© Lawrencealot – August 21, 2014

Sextilla

By | | , ,
Comments Off on Sextilla

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

Visual Template
Sextilla