Trochadiddle

This form started as a nonce form written by

Michael Fantina, aka Eusebius of Alllpoetry for his poem

"Magics"

Michael is much too busy writing beautiful and entertaining poetry to be bothered with the practice of giving names to forms which he writes on the fly, often consciously or subconsciously influenced by Algernon Swinburne, from whom he thinks he might have borrowed this pattern.  Definitely he was influenced to occasionally merge two un-stressed syllables, or to add an occasional syllable deviating from a strict syllabic or accentual pattern where his creativity and mind's ears says that it works.

Neither was Swinburne the only great to invoke this technique.  In fact is it is hard to find truly creative and expressive poets where this technique has not sometime found deployment.

I have been just learning to conform to form and pattern, and like anyone just learning, have always felt safer abiding strictly to the defined pattern of a form.

I define and name each new form that I see (and/or like in any manner at all) so that we may speak of it by name and all be speaking of the same animal when we give it a try.

My specifications:

This is a stanzaic poem, consisting of one or more sestets.

It is syllabic, each stanza being 10/10/6/5 syllables.

Rhymes: aabcbc, where the b-rhymes are feminine.

Metered subject to the following pattern:

DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM

DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM

da DUM da da DUM da

da DUM da da DUM

da DUM da da DUM da

da DUM da da DUM

Note: if  you write this same form beginning each of the long lines with a Spondee as did Gary Kent Spain, writing as venicebard on Allpoetry, you will have written a Spondiddle.

Original poem Magics by Eusebius

Gather the stars and the moon for a spell,

With holly and sard and an umber conch shell.

And sing to the sound of

A bell left unrung.

With a pestle ground love

Till your song is re-sung.

Call on a harlot who’s pale as the moon,

Call on her nightly, but call on her soon.

And while she is weeping,

Take one crystal tear,

And when she is sleeping

One jewel from her ear.

Gather them there near your hearth at the dawn,

Drench them with dew from the grass on the lawn,

And while it is brewing

Like some frothing sea,

You’ll soon then be wooing,

But me, only me!

© February 2014

You will see that the above poem, and the one illustrated by the visual template below, stray occasionally from the specified pattern.

That is what I refer to a creative diddling around, and led me to the name of this form.

This represents a step forward in my poetic growth, as my rigidity is lessened for I realize now that poets always have this license, but can never take a knock for exercising it in competition with this form.

My example poem:

Sweet Apparition     (Trochadiddle)

Watched as the moon and the clouds seem to pose

with stars bunched so closely the Milky Way glows,

with night now becoming

invitingly cool

I heard something coming

up out of the pool.

She's an apparition it seems at first glance

formed with perfection and sure to entrance.

Her eyes are green emeralds

but tinted with blue

her voice sweetly heralds

sweet pleasure, I knew.

"Love me tonight while we're here all alone,

I cannot stay for this form is on loan."

I did I'm believing,

I slaked both our thirst

and she's not now grieving-

relieved of her curse.

© Lawrencealot - February 26, 2014

I call this a Trochadiddle

Long lines begin with a trochee and end with an iamb.

You will note that in line 2, I added an unstressed

Syllable before beginning the pattern - and also added an extra unstressed syllable mid-line,

 as I did elsewhere.  This is the diddling!

So the stressed syllables become

STARS, CLOSE, MILK, GLOWS, as though "with" were on line1.

Visual Template

Double Seven

This interesting form was created by Lisa La Grange of Allpoetry.

It is stanzaic, consisting of any number of quatrains.

Each quatrain will have its own abab rhyme pattern,

Where the a-rhymes will always be feminine.

It is isosyllabic, each line being seven syllable.

It is metric, each line having two metric feet, the first foot being four syllables, and the second foot being three syllables.

The a-rhyme lines consist of a secundus paeon + an amphibrach: da DUM da da / da DUM da

The b-rhyme lines consist of a tertius paeon + an anapest

 da da DUM da / da da DUM

So the meter of a stanza is thus:

da DUM da da da DUM da

da da DUM da, da da DUM

da DUM da da da DUM da

da da DUM da da da DUM

Example Poem

Just-Married(Double Seven)

I wonder if the bridegroom

has accepted yet the fact

that access to the bathroom

will be science, inexact.

I she wants to go shopping

and he's planned a poker game,

I think that he'll be copping

friends a plea they'll know is lame.

But he may find his laundry

looks much better than before

and find there is no quandary

for it's him she does adore.

© Lawrencealot - February 24, 2014

Visual Template

Where the red letters indicate lines with feminine rhyme.

Black Narcissus Tercet Rima

This form was invent by Barry Hopkins, aka Black Narcissus on Allpoetry.

As it turns out this is NOT a new form, indicated be the comment below: but the poet thought it was, and I am not knowledgeable enough to recognize historic precedents all of the time.  I'm leaving it, as it is a friendly form that has already gained some traction on Allpoetry, but a reading of the link below will give some proper attribution to previous users.

_____

Quote from Mary Boren:

"I agree that it's a very pleasing metrical pattern, Larry, but I wouldn't call it a newly invented form.  It has been used extensively in traditional verse of  the past and is especially popular in Australian Bush Verse.  I can't point to any specific examples from famous poets, but 

http://twiceblessed.be/poetry/bestofbytes/banjo.html

was written in 2001."

________

It consist of tercet stanzas.

It is syllabic 8/8/11

Rhyme Pattern: aab ccb dde ffe...

Meter: Anapest,

Sort lines:  Amphibrach,Trochee for the short lines.

                   da da DUM da DUM da DUM da (hence feminine rhyme)

Long Line   Anapest, Amphibrach,Trochee,Amphimacer for the long line

                   da da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

Example

Cricket. ( By Jiminy! ) - Black Narcissus

It's the willow on the leather

and the doubts about the weather

that make cricket, lovely cricket, great for me.

There's a batsman and a bowler

and a light or heavy roller

that make cricket more like outdoor poetry.

There's a googly and a flipper,

there's the team and there's the skipper,

there is D.R.S and snicko for an edge.

There's a twelfth man and a third man,

there was body line and Bradman

and the Aussies who are often known to sledge.

There's a bouncer and a beamer

and the wily English seamer

who can move the ball in ways I can't describe.

There are pace men there are spinners,

there are losers there are winners

and some cheaters who've been known to take a bribe.

We've created twenty/twenty

where the runs are scored a'plenty

and one fifty is about an average score.

Yet I much prefer test cricket

on a fifth day turning wicket;

after five days though it might just be a draw.

Visual Template

Amaranth

Amaranth is an invented verse form that was probably created as a teaching tool by Viola Gardner. It makes deliberate use of the 9 most common metric feet. Each line is one metric foot, the pattern changing from line to line. 

The Amaranth is:

• 9 line strophe. It is a stand alone poem.
• metric, the 9 most common metric feet are used in sequence.
  L1 Spondee SS
  L2 Iamb uS
  L3 Pyrrhic uu
  L4 Dactyl Suu
  L5 Trochee Su
  L6 Amphimacer SuS
  L7 Choriamb SuuS
  L8 Anapest uuS
  L9 Amphibrach uSu
• rhymed at the discretion of the poet, although the metric restrictions are probably enough to contend with in this verse form.
  
  On the Cross by Judi Van Gorder
  
  Behold!
  I am
  without
  sinfulness.
  Blameless,
  innocent
  guileless, bereft
  pleasing God
  forever.

Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1199#trillium>

With sincere thanks to Judi Van Gorder  for the above from the wonderful PMO site.

My Example Poem

Psychiatry     (Amaranth)

Wisecracks

are made

in the

analyst's

office

shedding light,

clearing the way

for a true

discourse.

© Lawrencealot - November 27, 2013

Visual Template

Swinburne Octain

This is a refrain poem, the form was one of many un-named forms invented by

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909).

I  have interpreted the specifications from looking at the work of one of Swinburne's most dedicated students, AP's own Eusebius.

There are at least TWO significant versions of an octain he created.  This first, presented here is  written in iambi meter, the second  written in trochaic.  The is the first:

Rhyming pattern: ABccabAB, where the capital letter indicate verbatim repetition of a line.

The "b" rhymes are all iambic trimeter,  all other lines  are feminine rhymes utilizing footless (or catalectic) iambic tetrameter.

The first stanza, is repeated as the final stanza of the poem, thus it seems sensible that the minimum poem length should be at least four stanzas.

The Trochaic version is written with the

Rhyming pattern: ababcccb

Syllabic: 9/8/9/8/9/9/9/8

The accent is as two trochee feet, an amphibrach and a trochee with all "b" rhymes being catalectic.

Example Poem

The Tart     (Swinburne Octain)

This tart so thin, bewitching, 

with beauty, fay and pale. 

Her tattoos all parading, 

Her ebon curls cascading, 

until I am just itching 

to see her all in Braille. 

This tart so thin, bewitching, 

with beauty, fay and pale. 

She seems an apparition 

both siren myth and tramp, 

who sells her pleasures cheaply 

to those who want her deeply. 

I feel I must audition 

to win time with this vamp. 

She seems an apparition 

both siren myth and tramp, 

Her long smooth legs inviting 

all who may simply glance. 

Though men might once demean her 

they'll dare not come between her 

and one she is inviting. 

Each man would like his chance. 

Her long smooth legs inviting 

all who may simply glance. 

To me she whispered lightly,

"I'll show you realms of love." 

Her word were most insightful 

Her movements were delightful 

I longed to have her nightly 

beneath the moon above. 

To me she whispered lightly,

"I'll show you realms of love." 

This tart so thin, bewitching, 

with beauty, fay and pale. 

Her tattoos all parading, 

Her ebon curls cascading, 

until I am just itching 

to see her all in Braille. 

This tart so thin, bewitching, 

with beauty, fay and pale. 

© Lawrencealot - June 17, 2013

Visual Template

Amphibrach Trimeter

The amphibrach is a trisyllabic metrical foot, which in accentual meter consists of an accented syllable between two unaccented syllables.

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

Visual Template

Limerick

A limerick (is):

1. is five lines long,
2. is based on the rhythm "da-da-DAH" (anapest meter)
3. has two different rhymes.
4. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have three of those da-da-DAH "feet," and rhyme with each other.
5. Lines 3 and 4 have two, and rhyme with each other.

So the basic form is:

da da DAH / da da DAH / da da BING 

da da DAH / da da DAH / da da DING 

da da DAH / da da BAM 

da da DAH / da da WHAM 

da da DAH / da da DAH / da da PING 

Limericks can:

1. drop the first "da" in a line, changing that foot to da-DAH (iamb).
2. add an extra "da" or two at the end of a line IF it's used for an extended rhyme, such as people and steeple or cannibal and Hannibal.
3. use special fonts or characters to make a point,

A Limerick is a rhymed humorous or nonsense poem of five lines which originated in Limerick, Ireland.   

The Limerick has a set rhyme scheme of : a-a-b-b-a with a syllable structure of: 9-9-6-6-9. 

Limericks can also be written in AMPHIBRACH meter/

- two lines of amphibrachic trimeter, two lines of amphibrachic dimeter,

and a final line of amphibrachic trimeter.

Below my visual template shows two perfectly acceptable Limerick Forms.

Example Poem

Dancing with the Stars   (limericks)

There once was a hippo that  danced 

for a troupe that was poorly financed 

but when word got around 

what a treasure'd been found 

the promoters good fortunes advanced. 

So she hired a bear that could skate 

and folks made long queues at the gate

for in love were the stars 

both as big as small cars 

and the rumor was spread that they'd mate. 

Well the owner would not much like that, 

so she brought in a bull from North Platte 

that could juggle and dance 

just to counter the chance 

the hippo might later get fat.

© Lawrencealot - November 17, 2012

Visual Templates

Anapest version

Amphibrach Version