Thursday, July 31, 2014

PENDULUM

       The pendulum is an 8-line syllable-count form done in rhymed couplets. The line by line count is 8-6-4-2-2-4-6-8.  Below are two examples from Mary Harper Sowell's collection, Poetry Patterns A-Z. 



Perspective

Sometimes I yearn, I must confess,
for things I don't possess.
I sit and sigh
and try
to think
a coat of mink
would be just right for me.
I'm sure the mink would disagree.

So Little Time

Time flies so swiftly day by day.
So little time to say
the things I feel--
the real
true word
that should be heard.
Before my thoughts are said
it's time for me to Go to bed.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

PIROUETTE

       The pirouette is a 10-line poem with 6 syllables in each line; no rhyme or metric pattern is required. Lines 5 and 6, called "the turn-around," contain the same words in the same order, but the punctuation and capitalization may vary. The turn-around must be sharp, taking the thought in a different, hopefully opposite, direction.

        The first example below is from “Our Daily Grind,” a small collection of pirouettes written by Chuck Belcher, creator of the form.  

CANDLELIGHT

“Just like the good old days,”
I tell my wide-eyed kids.
“Abraham Lincoln ate 
this way, and that is why
      we dine by candlelight.”
      We dine by candlelight
because the lights were cut.
My wife don’t say nothin’.
If my piece wasn’t hocked,
I’d rob a liquor store.

The second example is contributed by the Blogger. 

BARE NECESSITIES

I'm going to see Mom
for a couple of days.
She's still there on the farm.
I'll pack just a few things,
       the bare necessities. 
      The Bare Necessities
 
is where I strut my stuff
 to make a living in
this gawd-forsaken town.
Mom thinks I wait tables.



florencebruce@att.net
                   
                     


PROSE POEM

       The prose poem, a cross between prose and poetry, is credited to Aloysius Bertrand in his Gaspard of the Night I(1836).  He influenced Baudelaire.

        On the printed page, a prose poem looks like prose, but reads like poetry without meter or rhyme scheme.  It contains the freshness of language, the imagery, alliteration, and other accoutrements associated with the writing of poetry.

       The prose poem tends to be short, one paragraph or several, but at times runs on into pages in length. No specific length is required.  American writers who have used this form include well known poets such as Robert Bly and W. S. Merwin. 

       Here is an example of a short prose poem:

        The Beggar Woman of Naples

        When I lived in Naples, there was a beggar woman who sat at the doorway of my building. I used to toss her a few coins before getting into my carriage. One day, surprised at never being thanked, I looked at the beggar woman.  Now, as I looked, I saw that what I had taken to be a beggar woman was a green wooden box containing some red dirt and a few half-rotten bananas. . . .

                                                                                            Max Jacob (translated by  Ron Padgett)



QUATERN

The quatern contains 4 stanzas, 4 lines each, of iambic tetrameter.  Line 1 is repeated as a successive line in the remaining 3 stanzas. Rhyme is required. the pattern being Abab, bAba, abAb, babA, with capital A representing the repeated line.

The sample poem is from Ms. Sowell's little collection of poetry forms entitled Poetry Patterns A-Z.

Never Alone

My God is always here with me
       and  I shall never be alone.
 I know the Christ of Calvary
       is watching over all His own.

When I am weak and weather-blown,
       My God is always here with me.
When I would all my sins atone,
       I go to Him on bended knee.

His love wards off adversity;
       my enemies are overthrown.
My God is always here with me.
       My daily doubts and fears have flown.

Thought I may travel paths unknown,
       my faith in Him has set me free.
And I shall never been alone.
       My God is always here with me.














a.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

QUINZAINE

A quinzaine is a 3-line syllable-count structure containing only fifteen syllables.No meter or rhyme is required. Line 1 contains 7 syllables; line 2 has 5, and line 3 has 3. The first line makes a statement; lines 2 and 3 ask a question related to that statement. 

Example:
I'm a very strong woman (7 syllables)
Are you a woman? (5 syllables)
Are you strong? (3 syllables)

I apologize for this pitiful example.  It's the example given for the current quinzaine contest sponsored by Fanstory.  We can assume no title is required since their example has none. The deadline is midnight June 30, 2016..  The prize is $100.  The magazine is promising feedback to all who enter.  I'll be curious to see that.

Give it a whirl.

Here's another example to help you with quinzaine..

No reports come from the dead.
     Does that mean no life
     after death?



Monday, July 28, 2014

RISPETTO

This poem has 8 lines of iambic tetrameter (8 syllables per line, 4 beats).  The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d.  The only example I can find is below.

Fabrication

A Persian rug lies on the floor
to warm my feet in wintertime
since hardwood floor beside the door
collects each speck of dirt and grime.
I'd like to know how Persians weave; 
philosophies that they believe; 
perhaps one day a Persian's loom
will weave a rug to warm my tomb.


(The source, which is Lee Ann Russell's
handbook, How to Write Poetry, 1991,
credits no author.) 

Sunday, July 27, 2014

RONDEAU

       The rondeau, a French form, has a long history and was very popular earlier with English poets. As practiced today, the rondeau is a 15-line structure with a refrain.

       The 15 lines are divided into 3 stanzas. Stanza 1 contains 5 lines; stanza 2, 4 lines; stanza 3, 6 lines.  (In more formal terms, they are called  a quintet, a quatrain, and a sestet.)

       Line 1 should be chosen very carefully because part of it will become the required refrain (also called rentrement).  The refrain is usually the first few words of line 1, but that is not a hard and fast rule. The repeated words may be taken from elsewhere in line 1.  The refrain does not have to rhyme; however, English poets felt the refrain more effective if it was rhymed and assimilated with the rest of the poem.

       The meter is iambic tetrameter (preferred) or iambic pentameter. That means each line contains 4 iambic feet (8 syllables), or each line contains 5 iambic feet (10 syllables). With R standing for the refrain, the rhyme scheme is aabba-aabR-aabbaR. The challenge in writing a rondeau is finding opening words worth repeating and choosing two rhyme sounds that provide enough word choices.

The rondeau is usually light in tone, even playful with today's poets, but it can be solemn and melancholy. In the classic example below, a solemn wartime poem by John McCrae (1915), the refrain does not rhyme.

In Flanders Field

In Flanders Field the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly;
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset flow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
                                  In Flanders Field.

Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
                                   In Flanders Field.

Note:  Take care not to confuse this form with the rondel, a variant of the rondeau. The rondel differs from the rondeau in two important aspects: (1) the total number of lines; and (2) the use of complete rather than partial lines in the refrain.

William E. Henley, famous for his poem Invictus, changes the line count  in the 3 stanzas from 5, 4, and 6 llines to 4, 5, and 6 lnines in his rondeau below:

In Rotten Row

In Rotten Row a cigarette
I sat and smoked, with no regret
For all the tumult that had been
The distances were still and green,

And streaked with shadows cool and wet.
Two sweethearts on a bench were set.
Two birds amoung tehe boughs were met;
So love and song were hard and seen
                                         In Rotten Row.

A horse or two there was to fret
The soundless sand; but work and debt,
Fair flowers and falling leaves between,
While clocks are chiming clear and keen,
A man may very well forget
                                         In Rotten Row.

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RONDEL

        Take care not to confuse this form with the rondeau, from which it differs in two specific ways:
1) the total number of lines, and 2) the use of complete rather than partial lines in the refrain.

The rondel , often a light and playful form, is 13 or 14 lines long, depending on whether a two-line refrain is used at the end, or simply one line.  The rhyme scheme is usually abbaabababbaab.  Lines 1-2, 7-8, and 13-14  are the refrain lines, repeated in their entirety. In a number of French forms,  repetition of rhyme words was not allowed. However, in the example below, that rule is obviously broken.  It's from Lee Ann Russell's helpful handbook, How to Write Poetry (1991).


Vengeance

She had a beer
And burned the town
Till it was brown
From front to rear.

With cold veneer
And haughty frown
She had a beer
and burned the town.

A message clear
To those renown
Who let her down
So cavalier.
She had a beer
And burned the town.

(unknown)


Saturday, July 26, 2014

RUBAIYAT AND RUBAIYAT STANZA

       A Rubaiyat is a poem using stanzas called rubai. This is a quatrain (4-line stanza) written in iambic pentameter or tetrameter. The rhyme scheme is aaba. The Rubaiyat stanza is also called the "Omar stanza."  A well known example in modern literature is "Stopping by Woods" by Robert Frost. 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are, I think I know.
His house is in the village, though.
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow. 

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year. 

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep, 
And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep. 


In modern rubaiyats, the third line in each verse rhymes with the first, second and fourth line in the next verse. In the last verse, all four lines rhyme. In Frost's poem above, the meter is iambic tetrameter and the rhyme scheme is  abba bbcb ccdc dddd.  The last two lines do not have to be identical as Frost made them, but they can be if the poet wishes.

The difference in the final stanza, where no new rhyme is introduced, not only puts emphasis on the message of the stanza, but also gives a hint that the poem is ending.  Use of the Rubaiyat stanza contributes musical rhythm to this poem.  The musical effect is enhanced by the use of iambic tetrameter. 

In the past, in a multi-stanza poem employing rubia, the third lines in all the stanzas were expected to rhyme. This is no longer true. 

Below are more examples. The two stanzas below from Omar Khayyam are written in iambic pentameter. 

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
The Winter garment of Repentance fling;
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly - and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
[Stanza 7) 

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread -- and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness --
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
[Stanza 12)

florencebruce@att.net

Friday, July 25, 2014

SCOT

The SCOT was created by Thomas McDaniel of Olive Branch, MS, a longterm member and past president of the Poetry Society of Tennessee.  He defines it as a variable, titled short form containing 15-18 poetic feet.  The rhythm is optional; no rhyme is required.

Line 1 should contain 4 poetic feet; line two, 5 feet; line three, 2-5 feet; and line four, 4 feet.

Here's an example by the creator:

Past Encounter

Grave streams of peat course down to feed
the loch where thrives the living Capricorn.
To save a swimmer, St. Columba banned
bane beast and cast it yawn below.

Here's another example by the Blogger:

OUTCOME

 A wooden horse five stories high
arrived, a gift from teeth-ge-nashing Greeks.
Imagine our surprise:
armed soldiers started pouring out.

Contact the blogger at:
florencebruce@att.net

Thursday, July 24, 2014

SENRYU

       Senryu are short, humorous stanzas in haiku form.  The senryu poem aims directly at human nature.  His language is direct and to the point, sometimes sarcastic, always humorous.  Here are some examples:

crazy for me, she was
I find out
fifty years later

the cheap kite--
flying only when
he runs with it

her name forgotten. . . .
the sweetheart my father said
I would forget

The examples are translations, which probably accounts for the seeming discrepancy in syllable count.  American versions seek a syllable count of 5-7-5 in haiku and senryu.   Certainly in contest poetry, you would have to take care with syllable count.


F. Bruce, the blogger

Contact her at
florencebruce@att.net

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

SHADORMA

       The Shadorma is a 5-line, unrhymed poem with strict syllable count of 3-5-3-3-7-5. It has a title. Here's an example. 

Early Winter

Icicles
point accusingly
at pot plants
frozen stiff.
I meant to bring them inside-
winter came too soon!

                     Mary H. Sowell

Contact the blogger at
florencebruce@att.net

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

SIJO

Sijo, from Korea, is a 3-line syllable count structure.  The word,  pronounced shee'-jo,  is both singular and plural like our word sheep. It looks like this:

Winter taps the windows Morse-coding "Come out! Come out!"
Wet winter birds in the yard sit upon a lonely swing set.
Idle boys indoors watch rain drops racing down muddy window panes.

The above poem may also be written as six half lines:

Winter taps the windows
Morse-coding "Come out! Come out!"
Wet winter birds in the yard
sit upon a lonely swing set.
Idle boys indoors watch rain drops
racing down muddy window panes.


In Korean Sijo, you expect to find a serious message in a short poem that is quite phrasal.  The phrasal quality contributes to its musicality.  Sijo began as music, in fact.  Its history is available on the internet.   
   
 Each line of a Sijo must contain 14-16 syllables. It must not contain fewer than 14 or more than 16.  The total syllable count for the whole poem is 44-46.  This means you cannot write 3 lines of 14 syllables because the total count is only 42.  Likewise, you cannot write 3 lines of 16 syllables because the total count is 48. Writing three lines of 15 syllables is possible for a total of 45. So, in your sijo attempts, you will more often have a combination of counts (for example: 14/15/16, 16/16/14, or 15/15/16).

Don't be intimidated by the seeming math requirements here. After a little practice, all this will come quite naturally.

The Message:   In line 1, introduce your serious subject. In line 2, develop that subject further.  In line 3, finish the message, coming full circle and satisfying the reader.  For example:
1)  Ask a question,
     discuss it,
     suggest an answer.
Or
2) Present an issue,
    discuss it,
    resolve it.
Or
3) Call attention to a problem,
    enlarge upon it,
    offer a solution.

In addition, the poet is expected to put a "surprise" (a kicker) in line three, preferably the first half, called the twist. This is not limited to a surprise in the poem's message; it can, in fact, be a surprise in sound, tone or technique. In translations from Korean, the twist or surprise can be quite subtle.

 Balance:  The "bottom line" in sijo is balance.  In a 14-syllable line, for example, 7 syllables should fall in each half, ideally.  The next best thing is 6 and 8.  In a 15-count line, the best balance is 7 and 8 or and reverse.  In a 16-count line, the ideal balance is 8 and 8.  Perfection is not always possible, but to succeed in writing sijo, you  must strive for that.

As if that were ot enough, here's the bad news. Your work with balance is not limited to the half line. You must also strive for balance in each quarter line. Thus, in a 16-count line, with 8 syllables in each half, the quarters ideally contain 4 syllables.In each line, the poet seeks balance in the halves and the quarters.  Again, perfection may not be attainable, but come as close as you can.   

Always keep in mind that Sijo is musical and phrasal; the phrasal quality is quite basic to the form. Your poem should contain
1) a worthy message (never humorous or comedic)
2) correct syllable count in each line
3) balance of syllable count in each half line and each quarter line.     

        
Here are two more very worthy examples of sijo for you: 

Remember when we made a seine
of gunny-sacks and broomsticks?
Soaked to the waist, we filled milk-pails 
with channel-cat and crawdads.
A snapping turtle snagged our net
and bit clear through a broomstick.

How lovely is this spruce tree, 
its limbs laden with virgin snow,
the blood red on a robin's breast, 
the sky blue of a mountain jay.
For such wonder, what wise man
would not know his Creator? 

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Monday, July 21, 2014

SONNET

     The sonnet is a lyric poem of 14 lines which follows one or another of several set conventions.  In contest material, the writer is advised to adhere to convention, to follow rules strictly and not use less recognized sonnet formats (like the Beymorlin, Miltonian, and Visser).  True, William Butler Yeats wrote a thirteen-line sonnet and got away with it, but again, it was William Butler Yeats.

     Iambic pentameter is the required meter. Each line must have ten syllables, with stresses falling on the even numbers.

     The Shakespearean (English) sonnet has four divisions:  three quatrains, each with a rhyme pattern of its own, and a rhymed couplet. The typical rhyme scheme for the Shakespearean sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg.  The ending couplet should be a commentary on what has gone before, or a summary. The intention is an epigrammatic close. The brevity of the form is thought to lend itself well to the concentrated expression of an idea or passion.

     The subject matter of the sonnet is usually serious in nature, although modern poets have, on occasion, used lighter subjects and even some humor. Love is a popular sonnet subject. 

     It should be mentioned that some judges object to the use of contractions in sonnet and dorsimbra poetry contests, feeling that those are very formal modes of poetic expression -- classical, if you please. The contestant is advised to avoid using contractions in sonnet and dorsimbra contest entries.  

     Here's a sample from a very modern and innovative poet.  This was a Festival winner in 2011, the contest sponsored and judged by Peggy Vining, Poet Laureate of Arkansas.

BARTER DAY IN TENNESSEE HISTORY CLASS, 1955
(a Shakespearean sonnet)

"In early Tennessee, the pioneer,"
my teacher said, "would barter oats for corn
and ham for beef.  To make the concept clear,
we'll have a barter day tomorrow morn."

I picked six comic books. Prepared to trade,
I wore my Davy Crockett coonskin cap.
Was I the shrewdest kid in seventh grade?
I thought so, merchandise displayed on lap.

I sat there waiting for a pocket knife
or brand new basketball to come my way.
I was humiliated. For the life
of me, I thought I had the best display.

Could even John Sevier find barter joy
by trading Superman or Superboy?

                                Russell H. Strauss

(I am aware of the contraction in line 4.  Please note, Russell is using light subject matter, tending toward humor.  Also he is in quotation marks in that line, which is conversational.  Even so, he was taking a chance by sending a sonnet containing a contraction.   

The Petrarchan sonnet divides into an octave and a sestet, 8 and 6 lines of iambic pentameter, respectively.  Re subject matter, the octave might ask a question which is answered in the sestet.  The octave might describe a problem, which is solved in the sestet.  The rhyme scheme of the Petrarchan sonnet is abba abba in the octave, which contributes to the difficulty experienced with this form. Experts say that some freedom is allowed in the sestet to make up for the difficulty in the octave.   The poet might elect to use cde cde, or cd cd ee, or cc dd ee, or other combinations. 

Here is an example by Betty Heidelberger of Lexa, Arkansas. 

TREE HOUSE
(A Petrarchan sonnet)

The Tree House filled my life with books and peace;
I read and thought and doubted without end.
It was a place where I could ask a friend,
and time for both of us would always cease.
With books and friends, this tree house was release
from things that I could never seem to mend.
It was a place on which I could depend
as sure as sun would rise up from the east.

The Tree House kept me pacified for hours
while reading books and watching scenes below.
It had a roof that kept me safe from showers,
and in its shade a little girl could know
the peace that calm and happiness empowers
to one who seeks and finds and asks to grow.

The Miltonian sonnet was created by John Milton (1608-1674), and it is best illustrated by his poem On his Blindness. It employs the Petrarchan rhyme scheme, and is identified by a break about midway in line 8.  Thus, in a Miltonian sonnet, the octave is 7 1/2 lines long, leaving 6 1/2 for the sestet.  Here's the famous poem:

ON HIS BLINDNESS

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide,
"Doth God exact day labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask.  But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait." 


     The Visser sonnet was created by Audrae Visser, who was Poet Laureate of South Dakota (1974-2001).  The meter is usually iambic pentameter.  The rhyme scheme is internal only, with pattern abbaabba cdecde in an octet (8 lines) plus sestet (6 lines) structure, like the Petrarchan sonnet. 

     In the Beymorlin sonnet described above, the internal rhyme must fall on the second syllable of each line. There is no rule about where the internal rhyme falls in the Visser.

Here is an example:


With Hidden Rhyme    

A Visser Sonnet may be hard to find,
or recognize when you do, for the rhyme
is hidden from your view except when read
aloud, then it will play.  It's internal
and nicely tucked away inside each line.
It could be blank verse too, if iams rule,
for while that form, if true, denies end-rhyme,
it's mute about the way one acts inside.

Yet Visser earned our praise as she was South
Dakota's poet queen- well, laureate,
the only one of such to make this mark.
Let us our glasses raise in toast and write
a sonnet now to bring this latent form
to life and add a touch of difference.

                Lawrencealot – November, 2012

     Again, in contest material,  the poet is advised not to submit these lesser known formats unless they are specifically called for. In doing so, we run the risk that our chosen form may not be recognized, or may not be within the judge's experience. We cannot know what the depth and breadth of a judge's poetic experience is, and we want credit given where credit is due.

    It might also be mentioned that some complex forms are considered more like puzzles than poems.  The obvious example of that, of course, is the Sestina, about which some critics say the writer is simply proving he can jump those  a series of hurdles.
 
   The Vivianne sonnet is discussed under V; the Beymorlin sonnet, under B

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Sunday, July 20, 2014

SPENSERIAN STANZA

The Spenserian stanza contains 9 lines, 8 of iambic pentameter, and a final line of iambic hexameter.  The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-b-c-b-c-c.  The form was used by Robert Burns, Percy Shelley, John Keats, Lord Byron, and of course, Edmund Spenser in "The Faery Queen."


Here's an example from Thrall and Hibbard's Handbook to Literature:

A Gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Y-cladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein all dints of deepe wounds did remaine, 
The cruel marks of many a bloudy fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.

Spenser's Faerie Queen

The Alexandrine at the end is thought to add dignity to the sweep of the form and, at the same time, to provide an opportunity for summary. So the line knits up the thought of the whole stanza.

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florencebruce@att.net

TANKA


         Tanka is a Japanese fixed verse form.  It has 5 lines. The first and third have 5 syllables; the rest have 7.  (Tanka = 5-7-5-7-7.)  No pattern of rhyme or rhythm is required.  Most sources used by the blog editor say that tanka requires no title.  However, Russell Strauss, current PST president, says you should give your double tanka a title if you are entering one in contest #44 in the 2016 NFSPS competition. .
          Historically, tanka has been the basic form of Japanese poetry (as sijo has been basic to Korean), and as such the term is synonymous with waka, which more broadly denotes all traditional Japanese classical poetry forms. 
In format, tanka looks like haiku with a two-line extension, which gives the poet a little more room and time in which to set down his worthy message.  The subject matter is serious (as with sijo), but is not limited as traditional haiku, which concentrates on the four seasons. 
Tanka format usually breaks into two parts. The first three lines form one unit and the last two lines the other. This can be reversed: 2 and then 3. The middle line always serves as a “pivot,” which means it can be read as part of what is above and what is below.  An effective pivot can be difficult to achieve.  
 With practice, the poet becomes able to deliver a message that blends smoothly into a single thought or image. Keeping the above in mind, take a look at the examples.  Often tanka, like traditional haiku, is shown with no punctuation and no capital letters except proper nouns and the pronoun I.   We also find tanka published with standard English capitalization and punctuation.  Both are illustrated in the examples below.   


     (Sample with no caps or punct)
this cold winter night
the snow clings to the tree boughs
in the pale moonlight
the kisses of your soft lips
warm this aching heart of mine


                          Author unknown           


           (Sample with standard caps and punct)


Gone muscle tension
and hyperventilation.
Thinking on Buddha,
the troubles of this world seem
matters of little concern.   

F. Bruce, the Blogger
Contact her at florencebruce@att.net


NOTE:  Prose tanka is discussed under P (alpha in index). 






Saturday, July 19, 2014

TANKA PROSE


           We are indebted to Janet Qually of the Poetry Society of Tennessee for material on this form.

           As the title suggests, tanka prose is a combination of prose and tanka.  It is given a title. It contains 1 or more paragraphs, with tanka verses falling between the paragraphs. A tanka verse does not have to follow every paragraph, but one is expected after the final paragraph.  The title and tanka verse are always centered. 

         The setup of the tanka verse portion is optional.  It can be the traditional 5-7-5-7-7 set-up—or the more lenient contemporary version of approximately 18-31 syllables since most tanka prose writers today use fewer syllables and honor no line length requirements.  Tanka verse uses no capital letters except proper nouns, and no punctuation except that needed for clarification (as perhaps dash or ellipsis).

         The prose portion is written in first person and should demonstrate standard accoutrements of poetry (simile, metaphor, alliteration, etc.).
         
         Correct formatting for tanka prose won't hold on the blog.  Email me and I'll send you an example of tanka prose in correct formatting.  Sorry about this, but I've tried and tried to make this look right.  It looks right to the blogger, but turns out it's scrambled for the reader.

          Again, examples of tanka prose were contributed by Janet Qually, Poetry Society of Tennessee.

F. Bruce, the Blogger


TERMINOLOGY

TERMINOLOGY


choriamb (n.):  A metrical unit of four syllables, scanned  / u u /.  The term has a long history, but in today's poetry, it's a device or technique which allows an extra syllable to occur in otherwise strict lines of metered poetry.  This is sometimes done to provide relief from the boredom of repetitive sameness (as in lengthy iambic pentameter poems).

   Here are some lines from classic poets Byron and Wordsworth that illustrate the choriamb or what has come to be accepted as choriamb and not technical error.  Examples can be found in Keats and Shelley as well.  


1.     Milton! Thou should’st be living at this hour.  (iambic pentameter – “London, 1802” by Wordsworth)

2.     A traveler between life and death.  (i.tetrameter  – She was a Phantom” by Wordsworth)

3.     On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined.  (i.p. - "There was a Sound of Revelry by Night” by Lord Byron

The first example opens with a choriamb. Likewise the third. The choriamb in the second example falls here:  ler-be-tween-life.  




enjambment (n.):  Also seen as enjambement and enjamming.  Literally, the act of striding over.  In poetry, it is the technique of continuing a phrase or thought beyond the end of the line in a poem. .

      Example:  T. S. Eliot does this in the opening line of The Wasteland.

                        April is the cruelest month, breeding
                        Lilies out of the dead land,  . . . .

Onomatopeoia (n.):  The use of words that sound like what they mean. Examples that come quickly to mind are words like hiss, slam, buzz, whirr, sizzle.  As a poetic device, however, onomatopoeia can be more subtle in its use.  These lines from Tennyson's The Princess show us how.  We hear the murmuring of the bees in the repeated m's:

                        The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
                        And murmuring of innumerable bees.

The classical example, of course, is the line from Poe in which he mentions "the tintinnabulation of the bells." 


Personification (n.): A figure of speech in which human characteristics are attributed to an abstract quality, animal, or inanimate object.

         Examples:

         John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress makes characters of Death, Sloth, Piety, etc.

         Shakespeare personifies the moon in these lines:
                   The moon doth with delight
                   look round her when the heavens are bare.

         An owl and a cat are personified in the often anthologized
         poem, The Owl and the Pussycat., 


Please let me know if you want other terms defined and illustrated.

F. Bruce, The Blogger






TERZA RIMA

I'll put examples first for a change.

When Aasked to Ride a Camel in the Judean Dessert

Let me admire your camel from afar.
I promise I will take a photograph
as I wait in an air-conditioned car.

Your smooth attempts to lure me make me laugh.
Machine is far superior to beast.
Would sitting here and watching be a gaffe?

That creature tried to bite you. Think at least
about your safety. Picturesque? Not me!
It's high time your attempts to lure me ceased.

Transport me to another century?
Why would a modern person mount a hump?
Nomadic lifestyles don't appeal to me.

My trip to Israel has hit a slump.
Tradition brought me to this holy land,
not need to ride some spitting creature's rump.

I know that my decision is at hand.
I won't go camel-bumping through your sand.

Russell H. Strauss


The next example, by Percy B. Shelley, is a terza rima sonnet -
14 lines instead of 17, but ending with the couplet as in the
previous example.

Ode to the West Wind

Oh wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red
Pestilence-stricken multitudes, O thou,
who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The winged seeds, where they die cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the spring shall blow

Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill;

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere,
Destroyer and preserver; hear, O hear!

*          *          *          *          *         *

      Terza rima has an interesting history, going back to Dante in the late 13th century. You may want to read about that on your own. On this blog, we are less interested in its history than in how the thing is constructed.

      The poem usually assumes one of the two forms illustrated above.  The meter is typically iambic, often but not always pentameter.  The poet may elect, in fact, to use tetrameter. Whatever the choice, it should be used consistently throughout, of course.

      Terza rima requires rhyme.  The sonnet type terza rima has rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc ded ee.  Terza rima (nonsonnet) is 3 lines or one tercet longer, with rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc ded efe ff.  Because the English language is considered comparatively rhyme-poor, use of slant rhyme has been accepted in this form.  

       Examples of terza rima written by modern poets include “The Sow” by Sylvia Plath and "The Yachts" by William Carlos Williams.  I personally feel that Mr. Williams's poem is a variation on the terza rima because he uses 11 tercets and no closing couplet, and also because he takes great liberties with meter. 

Here is Frost's poem, which uses the terza rima sonnet format.

Acquainted with the Night

I have been one acquainted with the night. 
I have walked out in rain-- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. 

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street.

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night. .







TRIMERIC

       A trimeric poem contains 13 lines which break into 4 stanzas (4, 3, 3, 3, line).  Line 2 of stanza 1 must start stanza 2; line 3 must start stanza 3; and line 4 must start the 4th and final stanza.  There are no rules regarding rhythm, rhyme, or line length.   Meter and rhyme may be used if desired.  The poem should be given a title.

Here's am example:

Age in Heaven

I keep wondering
how will friends and family look up there
when I get to heaven?
Pray God it's not the other place.

How will friends and family look up there
in that ever-pleasant paradise?
How old will they appear?

When I get to heaven,
I'll glance about with great interest,
hoping not to see any elderly.

Pray God it's not the other place
where we're bound to appear old
and haggard, tortured by pain.

F. Bruce

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Friday, July 18, 2014

TRIOLET

    
     Triolet means clover leaf and takes its name from the triple use of line 1. 

     The triolet, one of the simpler French forms, contains 8 lines using only 2 rhymes. The rhyme pattern is a-b-a-a-a-b-a-b.  Line 1 is repeated as line 4, and the opening 2 lines, in the same order, are repeated as the last two lines of the poem. The rhyme pattern is a-b-a-a-a-b-a-b.  Triolet poets seems partial to either 3-beat or 4-beat lines.  No specific meter is required.

     Some skillful poets, notably Austin Dobson, have managed to add piquancy to the form by giving a different meaning to the refrain lines from that in the opening lines. It's a neat trick.  Here is an example:


A KISS

Rose kissed me today
    Will she kiss me tomorrow?
Let it be as it may.
Rose kissed me today.
But the pleasure gives way
    to a savor of sorrow--
Rose kissed me today.
    Will she kiss me tomorrow.

                         Austin Dobson


Here is a famous triolet by Thomas Hardy. 
HOW GREAT MY GRIEF 
    
How great my grief, my joys how few,
Since first it was my fate to know thee!
Have the slow years not brought to view
How great my grief, my joys how few,
Nor memory shaped old times anew,
Nor loving-kindness helped to show thee
How great my grief, my joys how few,
Since first it was my fate to know thee? 


   
Here's an interesting effort, a double triolet in a poem by Dana Gioia, from Rebel Angels, 25 Poets of the New Formalism. 

THE COUNTRY WIFE 

She makes her way through the dark trees
Down to the lake to be alone.
Following their voices on the breeze,
She makes her way. Through the dark trees
The distant stars are all she sees. 
They cannot light the way she's gone.
She makes her way through the dark trees
Down to the lake to be alone.

The night reflected on the lake,
The fire of stars changed into water. 
She cannot see the winds that break
The night reflected on the lake,
But knows they motion for her sake.
These are the choices they have brought her. 
The night reflected on the lake. 
The fire of stars changed into water. 


Here's another example, this one by Harold Witt,
who must be a scientist.

FIRST PHOTOS OF FLU VIRUS

Viruses, when the lens is right,
change into a bright bouquet.
Are such soft forms of pure delight
viruses? When the lens is right,
instead of forms of shapeless blight, 
we see them in a Renoir way.
Viruses, when the lens is right,
change into a bright bouquet.


 Another famous triolet is "Untitled" by Robert Bridges. Today's experts tell us, however, that it is no longer acceptable to call a poem "Untitled." Michael Bugeia discusses this in his helpful book, The Art and Craft of Poetry, Writers Digest Books, Cincinnati, 1994.  

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Thursday, July 17, 2014

TRIPOD

The tripod is a 5-line, unrhymed, syllable-count structure. The syllable count is 3,6,9,6,3.
Here's an example from Poetry Patterns, A-Z by Mary Harper Sowell (deceased) or Arkansas.  


Desert Nomads

Tumbleweeds
drift across the desert,
driven by hot winds and shifting sands,
like ghosts of prospectors
still searching.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

TYBURN

The tyburn is a 6-line form in which the first 4 lines consist of a single 2-syllable word.  These 4 must rhyme.  The last 2 lines rhyme and contain 9 syllables each. Syllables 5 - 8 in each of the last 2 lines repeat the words given in the first 4 lines, as demonstrated below. No title appears to be required.

I'm sorry to report that every example I find for the tyburn is a bit too risque.  Here's one such:

Boring
Snoring
Warring
Whoring
Long life with a boring-snoring sod
Made the wife a warring, whoring broad.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

VILLANELLE

       The villanelle, a French form, is a 19-line structure consisting of five 3-line stanzas (tercets) and one 4-line final stanza (quatrain)

       Its main device, as with the pantoum, is effective repetition. Unlike the pantoum, however, the length of the villanelle is prescribed. Idyllic, delicate subject matter is recommended. No specific rhythmic pattern is required. Research indicates that tetrameter (4 beat line) is most commonly used. E. A. Robinson used trimeter (3-beat line) in his well known villanelle, "The House on the Hill."

       Two rhymes are required by the form. The writer should select the rhyming sounds early and carefully. The total rhyme scheme is a-b-a, a-b-a, a-b-a, a-b-a, a-b-a, a-b-a-a. Lines 1 and 3 appear four times in the poem, which means the poet constructs only 13 total lines.

       The poem below, by Dylan Thomas (1914-1953), is considered a classic example of the form. He elected to use iambic pentameter, which, again, is NOT a requirement of the form. 

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Old age should turn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning, they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
and learned too late they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight,
Blind eyes could blaze the meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


Several poets have taken liberties with this classical form with interesting results.  Take a look at "The Waking" by Theodore Roethke and "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop.  Those poems must be labeled variations. 

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