Curtal Long Hymnal Stanza

Curtal Long Hymnal Stanza

Type:	Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Stanzaic
Description:	A stanzaic form composed of three lines of iambic tetrameter and one of iambic dimeter rhymed abab.
Schematic:	xX xX xX xA xX xX xX xB xX xX xX xA xX xB

Pasted from <http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/000/63.shtml>

My Thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for the wonderful PoetryBase resource.

My Example Poem

My All   (Curtal Long Hymnal Stanza)

I must now be

in total thrall;

demand from me

my all.

I'll give no less,

for when inspired

I know my best's

required.

And if I fail

the lack's my own.

I'll guzzle ale

alone.

© Lawrencealot - April 30, 2014

Visual Template

Zejel

Zejel

The zejel is a Spanish form which my Spanish friends have not heard of. They tell me though that it is pronounced the-hell, with the stress on the second syllable. (How the hell do they know?)

My example in this form is about how men can't help thinking about sex. I hope this doesn't offend anyone, and get me a reputation as a male chauvinist pig. As I'm always saying, the opinions expressed in the poem are not necessarily those of the poet himself. (See also my Masefield parody.) 

I checked on the web how many times a day men are reputed to think about sex. The consensus seemed to be that it was about 200. The lowest figure came from the Ladies Home Journal, which said "4 or 5". The highest came from the film Simply Irresistible, which says 278 - apparently it uses this as a running gag. (One site actually topped this with a claim of "every 8 seconds", which works out at 450 times an hour, but I think that writer may have been shooting from the hip, as it were.)

Anyway, here's the poem: 

Proposition

Mostly, sex tops men’s agenda.

I’m not one to buck the trend - a

Red-blooded repeat offender.

Hurrying for the morning train,

Spirit not damped by teeming rain,

There’s only one thing on my brain:

All the time I think of gender.

At the office, deep in filing,

Boredom on frustration piling,

Even then, a woman smiling

Makes me feel all warm and tender.

Are you female and eighteen plus?

A good sport and adventurous?

We have a great deal to discuss.

Come back to my hacienda!

The first stanza, known as the mudanza, has three lines, rhyming aaa. All the other stanzas - as many of them as you like - have 4 lines, rhyming bbba, the a rhyme harking back to the first stanza. So the overall rhyming scheme for the poem is aaa/bbba/ccca/ddda/...

Colloquial language tends to be used, and 8-syllable lines are usual (though not obligatory), so that's what I've used here. I have interpreted the term "8-syllable line" to mean "a line with 8 syllables", and I suggest that you should do the same. However, in Spanish poetry syllable-counting works differently, and the term "8-syllable line" is liable to be interpreted as "a line in which the last stressed syllable is the seventh"; such a line might have 7 syllables, or 8, or 9, or even more. (I wonder whether the Spanish write haiku?)Pasted from <http://volecentral.co.uk/vf/zejel.htm>

Thanks to Bob Newman for his wonderful Volecentral resource site.

Example Poem

Toothless Smile      (Zejel)

The tortoise lived out on a heath

with only sage to hide beneath

his home he never could bequeath.

While I am taxed for my household

and pay and pay until I'm old,

and shall until I'm dead and cold

and I'm ensconced beneath a wreath.

My brilliant smile was once okay,

before my teeth all went away;

my progeny will have to say,

"He kept his house but lost his teeth."

© Lawrencealot - April 16, 2014

Visual Template

Trochee LaGrange

This is a form created by Lisa La Grange of Allpoetry
It is stanzaic, consisting of two or more quatrains
It is syllabic, 8/5/8/5
It is metric, all lines beginning with a trochee and an anpest,
And followed on the long lines with an amphibrach, giving this pattern:
DUM da da da DUM da  DUM da
DUM da da da DUM
DUM da da da DUM da DUM da
DUM da da da DUM
The rhyme scheme is abab, where the a-rhymes are feminine.

My Sample Poem

Let 'Em Grump     (Trochee LaGrange)

Finding not a single reason

happiness need wait,

I'll use this and every season

piling up my plate.

Stack it up with cheer and grinning,

spread it all around.

There lies our short-cut to winning-

let gloom have no ground.

Steer your bark with fear behind ye-

hope now in control.

Gloominess should never find ye

Let it disappear.

Grumpiness is stultifying

'ceptting for to view.

Sometimes it is satis fying

watching others spew.

Standing clear of doom forecasting

every chance you find

fosters a calm health that's lasting,

favoring your mind.

© Lawrencealot - February 17, 2014

Visual Template

Pentibrach

It is so named because of the unique metric foot proposed by

its creator Glenn Meisenheimer, known on Allpoetry as gmcookie.

He proposed a five syllable metric foot with only the center syllable being accented.  Because of its resemblance to an amphibrach with

And unaccented syllable affixed to each end, I named this the pentibrach.   If scholars find a precedent we will of course bow to an established usage.

The poem is stanzaic, consisting of at least two quatrains.

It is syllabic: 10/9/10/7

It uses external rhyme, rhyming the last line of each stanza. (xxxa)

I realize there are alternative options to provide a metric schema, but I shall use the authors own presentation, and define here the metric feet to be used:

The pentibrach:             da da DUM da da

The secundus paeon:    da DUM da da

The iamb:                        da DUM

Each stanza is formed thus:

L1 & L3      two pentibrach feet

L2               a pentibrach followed by a secundus paeon

L4               a pentibrach followed by an iamb   

The author's original poem.

Kandahar

As the shadows fall and the daylight fades

And the owl flirts with the whippoorwill,

In that twilight time when the nightingale

Sings his love songs to the stars,

You will find me here in the umbral dark

As I wend through trees and monuments,

In the gloaming dusk when the sunlight fades

And when Jupiter joins Mars.

It is only then, from this cursed ground,

There is strength in my soliloquy,

As I raise my voice on the evening breeze

And I sing my ghost-thin bars.

It's an ancient tune yet a timely one

Of a sailor washed ashore near here

Who was buried deep in this Christian soil

Far away from Kandahar.

My Attempt at one:

Entranced     (Pentibrach)

As she stretched her arms to the morning's dim

and her curvature delighted me

 I assumed that I'm just a blessed guy

who was honored here by chance.

The is nothing that would predict that I

should be met on earth by goddesses

or be catered to by the likes of her. 

Don't awake me from this trance.

© Lawrencealot - February 15, 2014

Visual Template

Pathya vat

The Pathya Vat is a Cambodian verse form, consisting of four lines of four syllables each, where lines two and three rhyme. When a poem consists more than one stanza, the last line of the previous stanza rhymes with the second and third lines of the following one.

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathya_Vat>

Example Poem

She Shops     (Pathya vat)

On shopping day

you disappear

and it's unclear

to me, just how.

"You go alone,

I can't stop now",

and anyhow

my team's behind.

I know your ways

so I declined

and you are kind

to let me stay.

Go find treasures,

(it takes all day-

I'll gladly pay)

just not to play.

© Lawrencealot - Februrary 5, 2014

Visual Template

This is show in iambi dimeter

Florette

The Florette, created by Jan Turner, consists of two or more stanzas for either of the two versions.

Version 1 - Quatrain Stanazas

Rhyme scheme: aaba , with interlaced rhyme in line four, where

                           syllable eight shares the "b" rhyme.

 Syllabic:           8,8,8,12 

Meter:               Iambic

Version 5 - Quintet Stanazas

Rhyme scheme:  aabba 

 Syllabic:             8,8,8,12 

Meter:                 Iambic

Sample Poem

Meeting for a Drink     (Florette)

While sitting near my fountain dear,

a pretty yellow finch appeared.

When he came by to say hello

it thrilled me much to simply know I wasn't feared.

He looked at me and seemed quite wise,

as seeing me was no surprise;

he groomed his feathers, and seemed to think,

then bowed to me and took a drink, just us two guys.

© Lawrencealot - November 28, 2013

Visual Template

Rubai - Rubaiyat - Interlocking Rubaiyat

Rubāʿī" (رباعي) is a poetry style, the Arabic term for "quatrain". It is used to describe a Persian quatrain, or its derivative form in English and other languages. The plural form of the word, rubāʿiyāt (رباعیات ), often anglicised rubaiyat, is used to describe a collection of such quatrains.[1]

There are a number of possible rhyme schemes to the rubaiyat form, e.g. AABA, AAAA.[2] In Persian verse, a ruba'i visually contains only four lines, its rhyme falling at the middle and end of the lines.

The verse form AABA as used in English verse is known as the Rubaiyat Quatrain due to its use by Edward FitzGerald in his famous 1859 translation, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Algernon Charles Swinburne, one of the first admirers of FitzGerald's translation of Khayyam'smedieval Persian verses, was the first to imitate the stanza form, which subsequently became popular and was used widely, as in the case of Robert Frost's 1922 poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruba'i>

A single quatrain is a Rubai, several together are a Rubaiyat, linked by the stanza's un-rhyming line they become an Interlocking Rubaiyat

Interlocking Rubaiyat

Type:	Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Stanzaic
Description:	A rubaiyat with interlocking rhyme. Quatrains composed of decasyllabic lines with rhyme scheme aaba bbcb ccdc ... zzaz.
Attributed to:	Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi al-Khayyami
Origin:	Persian
Schematic:	A three stanza interlocking rubaiyat would be: xxxxxxxxxa xxxxxxxxxa xxxxxxxxxb xxxxxxxxxa xxxxxxxxxb xxxxxxxxxb xxxxxxxxxc xxxxxxxxxb xxxxxxxxxc xxxxxxxxxc xxxxxxxxxa xxxxxxxxxc

Pasted from <http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/001/150.shtml>

My thanks to Ron Newman at Volecentral for this information, his site is a wonderful resource.

Example Poem

Free Agent  (Rubaiyat)

Testosterone Tom was a monstrous man

raised in the arctic where caribou ran.

When he ate there weren't left-overs;  Tom had

never heard of baseball, bagels, or flan.

Like a fish to an aquarium  sent,

or a monkey to a zoo, our Tom spent

his first weeks in Maine looking for control.

Slowly festering smarts would now augment.

Tom learned of the NFL, why quibble.

For this quest he had no need to dribble.

For his size there was no counter-balance,

We'll not divulge teams taking a nibble.

     © Lawrencealot - December 29, 2012

Visual Template

Rannaigheacht mhor

Rannaigheacht mhor (ron-á-yach voor, the ‘great versification’) is an ancient Irish quatrain using 7-syllable lines with 1-syllable end-words rimed abab—a-rime can be assonance, but b-rime must be rime, here meaning perfect ‘correspondence’ or Comharda, in which consonants of the same class (p-t-k, m-n-ng etc.) are interchangeable—plus alliteration in every line—preferably between end-word and preceding stressed word (always thus in each quatrain’s closing couplet)—with at least two cross-rimes per couplet (assonance okay in leading couplets), one being L3’s end-word rimed within L4.  Being Irish, it requires the dunedh(first word, phrase, or line repeated in closing).  Each quatrain, as well as each leading couplet, must be able to stand on its own.  Modern specs for this form are given here:

http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/celtic1.html#mho">http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/celtic1.html#mho</a>

Example Poem

Great Versifiers

Men sometimes are dreamers, lost,

lust-driven schemers who, when

hunting, deceive.  With trust  tossed

at great cost; none believe men.

(c) Lawrencealot - May 16, 2012

No template can be more than a rough guide, but here one is:

Note here, I failed to use proscribed alliteration in the final line! Damn.

And upon sober review I find that this fails also, in that the first

couplet cannot stand alone.  Someone competent, please provide me

with a perfect example.  I shall replace this.

Monotetra

The monotetra is a new poetic form developed by Michael Walker. Each stanza contains four lines in monorhyme. Each line is in tetrameter (four metrical feet) for a total of eight syllables. What makes the monotetra so powerful as a poetic form, is that the last line contains two metrical feet, repeated. It can have as few as one or two stanzas, or as many as desired.

Stanza Structure:

Line 1: 8 syllables; A1

Line 2: 8 syllables; A2

Line 3: 8 syllables; A3

Line 4: 4 syllables, repeated; A4, A4 

Example Poem

Collaboration     ( Monotetra)

My gramp brought me a valentine.

To give to mommy and it's just fine.

I'm four years old and it's all mine.

A valentine. A valentine.

It's got a heart and teddy bear

To show my mom how much I care.

A tiny voice came from nowhere,

"I've got no flair." "I've got no flair."

Somehow that card said words to me.

"I'm not as fine as I can be.

I need more personality"

that she can see, that she can see."

"With your help lad, I'll be much more.

I'll be a card that she'll adore."

I'll not be common anymore!

Accept this chore.  Accept this chore."

With a crayon I wrote just "my"

after "Mom".   She is my own, that's why.

I signed Tommy then heard card sigh.

I don't know why, I don't know why.

The card she's kept for all this time.

A priceless card that cost a dime.

Mom says I made the value climb

with my first rhyme, with my first rhyme.

© Lawrencealot - February 9, 2013

Visual Template

Rannaigheacht bheag (ran-á-yah voig)

 A traditional Irish quatrain of 7-syllable lines ('old-school'),   or 8-6-8-6, ending in 2-syllable words all linked by consonance  (in its old  meaning, 'having the same vowels'),   with at least two cross-rimes in each couplet   (can be consonance in first but should be rime in second) 

 and alliteration in every line, which in the second couplet   must be between the last two stressed words in each line,  and with the dunedh, of course (ending in the same word, phrase,   or line it began with).

  

 As with the other Irish forms, a template can show you the syllable count and a bit more,  but cannot be definitive as so much variation

 is possible while meeting the formal  requirements.

 In the example below some words not hi-lited could have been as serving one or more rules.

Awdl Gywydd

Awdl Gywydd

Type: structure, meter, rhyme, stanzaic.

Description: Pronounced ‘owdl gow-widd’. Seven syllable quatrains with end rhymes and couplet binding. Welsh origin.

Schema:

xxxxxxa

xxaxxxb (a can be 3rd or 4th syllable)

xxxxxxc

xxcxxxb (c can be 3rd or 4th syllable)

Mid-line rhymes a and c can be various forms of rhyme but the end of line rhyme b should be perfect rhyme.

Stanza Length: quatrain.

Pasted from <http://paintingpoetrypoeticforms.blogspot.com/2008/10/awdl-gywydd.html> 

Example Poem

Midnight Ride When Full of Beer

At the game I took a chance

then at the dance I drank more.

After the twelfth beer of mine

I was supine on the floor.

They gave me hot coffee sips

which burned my lips but woke me

up so I could drink some more.

and made me sure want to pee.

After irrigating long,

the jukebox song seemed too loud.

I had the bartender send

beer to a friend in the crowd.

We both drank more; both got drunk.

Who would have thunk?  Just on beer?

When the bar closed I was stoned

so help was phoned, have no fear.

"You can't drive.  There's not a chance.

The Beerbulance is waiting.

Along with the sodden maid

we're all afraid you're dating."

 © Lawrencealot - February 14, 2013

Visual Template

Chatushka

A Russian Quatrain form. The name derives from the Russian meaning \''to speak fast\''. Covering subject that range across the whole human experience and written in a manner that is usually satirical, ironic or humourous this is the Russian equivalent to theLimerick.

Form Type:           Metrical

Origins:                 Russian

Creator:                Unknown

Number of Lines:  4

Rhyme Scheme:  a,b,a,b or a,b,c,b or a,a,b,b

Meter:                   Trochaic Tetrameter

Rules

1. The form is composed of a single quatrain, though often they are placed together with others in a string, in either case each quatrain is a complete self contained unit.

2. The most common rhyme scheme is a,b,a,b though a,b,c,b is also fairly common. The a,a,b,b rhyme scheme is fairly rare.

3. The form is written using trochaic tetrameter. Though it is common to use catalectic final feet in a line giving a strongly stressed ending.

4. Content wise Chastushkas cover all subjects, though the style is usually satirical, ironic or humourous, tending towards lewd,

5. Traditionally they are recited to music, if they are in a string then there is a musical interlude between them to give the audience time to laugh.

6. Often they are composed on the spur of the moment and used in contests, such Chastushka are highly prized.

Pasted from <http://bensonofjohn.co.uk/poetry/formssearch.php?searchbox=Chastushka> 

Get Back Chicken

Chicken, get back; don’t peck me

For the cleaver in my hand

Just think, could be, soon chopping thee.

Dinner captured, cleaned and panned.

© February 16, 2012

Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen

Written for Poetry Soup Member Contest: Chastushka Form-Russian Poetry 

Example Poems

Three Chastushkas

Mabel's clothing at their feet

under chairs and kitchen table.

Freddy focused not on neat,

Freddy merely wanted Mabel.

Scribbled thoughts upon a napkin

Serve as plans of grand intention.

Dreams without an active effort

freeze in idle cold suspension.

Anxious Arabs show misgiving

watching western people living.

letting females speak their voices

countermanding masters choices. 

© Lawrencealot -  January 23, 2013

Visual Template

Actually not one of each, I omitted abab!

Empat Empat

Empat Empat form poetry

Early form of rhyming verse from Malaysia.

Four Four line stanza

Stair case refrain of line 1

Meter:  8 or 10 syllable per line - though I have see it with but 4

Rhyme Scheme   Abab cAca adAd eaeA

Example Poem

Sentry Pup       (Empat Empat)

While set on pause I'm actively alert.

My ears are peaked and will not miss a sound.

I'll rest my head on any shoe or shirt

or artifact of master's that I've found.

Though not so big, or armed with mighty jaws,

while set on pause I'm actively alert.

I hear the flapping crows and hear their caws

and I ignore the sounds that cannot hurt.

I'll sense intruders, stealthy and covert

I am a biological alarm.

While set on pause I'm actively alert.

Protecting all from things that may cause harm.

When not on paws' I'm set with throttle full

to romp with my boy through the grass and dirt,

to chase a ball of find some thing to pull.

While set on pause I'm actively alert.

  © Lawrencealot - March 10, 2013

Visual Template

Clerihew

A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley, at age 16.

A clerihew has the following properties:

• It is biographical and usually whimsical, showing the subject from an unusual point of view; it pokes fun at mostly famous people
• It has four lines of irregular length and metre (for comic effect)
• The rhyme structure is AABB; the subject matter and wording are often humorously contrived in order to achieve a rhyme, including the use of phrases in Latin, French and other non-English Languages[2]
• The first line contains, and may consist solely of, the subject's name.

Clerihews are not satirical or abusive, but they target famous individuals and reposition them in an absurd, anachronistic or commonplace setting, often giving them an over-simplified and slightly garbled description (similar to the schoolboy style of 1066 and All That)

The unbalanced and unpolished poetic meter and line length parody the limerick, and the clerihew in form also parodies the eulogy.

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerihew>

Note:  I have found that many what have been presented as Clerihew  have not been

rigorous about the first line name-rhyming.  Indeed I have not.  I have also tended

to use a fixed meter.  They can be fun, but we must remind ourselves they are not

formally Clerihew and should be labeled accordingly when attempting a rigorous interpretation.

Example Poems

Bruce  (Clerihew)

Bruce Willis continues alive, 

Now showing Die Hard number five. 

I'm a Bruce Willis junky, sure. 

He is my Schwarzenegger cure. 

Arnie    (Clerihew)

If Schwarzenegger tries once more 

his movie ceiling's near the floor. 

A machine using Arnie's voice 

looks to be a desparate choice. 

© Lawrencealot - October 21, 2012

Visual Template

Note:  there can be no definitive template for this form for meter and

line length are irregular.  This is merely one example.

Dodoitsu

Dodoistu is a Japanese form of poetry that is sometimes performed as a folk song. The Dodoitsu comes from the old agricultural roots of the Gombei, the people of Japan's back-country. The majority of Dodoistu poetry was handed down through oral tradition and was performed to the accompaniment of shamisen, a three- stringed instrument.

 A lot of Dodoistu poetry focuses on love, humor or the unexpected, though there are many Dodoistu poems that also look at nature and beauty.

 It has 26 syllables: 7 in the first, second and third lines, and 5 in the last line. (7-7-7-5).



Example Poem

'Tis Better…   (A Dodoistu)

All triumphs end differently,
some with flourish and refrains,
some with frequent curtain calls,
others fade to black.

© Lawrencealot - Oct. 19, 2012


Visual Template