The Swinburne

• The Swinburne is a stanzaic form patterned after Before the Mirror by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909).
  
  The Swinburne is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of septets.
• metric, L1,L3,L5, & L6 are trimeter, L2 & L4 are dimeter, and L7 is pentameter.
• rhymed ababccb dedeffe etc, L1 & L3 have feminine or falling rhyme.
  
  
Pasted from  http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668


This named form was documented by Judi Van Gorder, on her most wonderful resource site: Poetry Manum Opus, in a section about poetry form named after English poets.


Note: In addition to the specifications above, it is also required that the sixth syllable in Line 7 rhyme with lines 5 and 6.



Before the Mirror
I.
WHITE ROSE in red rose-garden
Is not so white;
Snowdrops that plead for pardon
And pine for fright
Because the hard East blows
Over their maiden rows
Grow not as this face grows from pale to bright.


Behind the veil, forbidden,
Shut up from sight,
Love, is there sorrow hidden,
Is there delight?
Is joy thy dower or grief,
White rose of weary leaf,
Late rose whose life is brief, whose loves are light?


Soft snows that hard winds harden
Till each flake bite
Fill all the flowerless garden
Whose flowers took flight
Long since when summer ceased,
And men rose up from feast,
And warm west wind grew east, and warm day night.


II.
“Come snow, come wind or thunder
High up in air,
I watch my face, and wonder
At my bright hair;
Nought else exalts or grieves
The rose at heart, that heaves
With love of her own leaves and lips that pair.


“She knows not loves that kissed her
She knows not where.
Art thou the ghost, my sister,
White sister there,
Am I the ghost, who knows?
My hand, a fallen rose,
Lies snow-white on white snows, and takes no care.


“I cannot see what pleasures
Or what pains were;
What pale new loves and treasures
New years will bear;
What beam will fall, what shower,
What grief or joy for dower;
But one thing knows the flower; the flower is fair.”


III.
Glad, but not flushed with gladness,
Since joys go by;
Sad, but not bent with sadness,
Since sorrows die;
Deep in the gleaming glass
She sees all past things pass,
And all sweet life that was lie down and lie.


There glowing ghosts of flowers
Draw down, draw nigh;
And wings of swift spent hours
Take flight and fly;
She sees by formless gleams,
She hears across cold streams,
Dead mouths of many dreams that sing and sigh.


Face fallen and white throat lifted,
With sleepless eye
She sees old loves that drifted,
She knew not why,
Old loves and faded fears
Float down a stream that hears
The flowing of all men’s tears beneath the sky. 

Algernon Charles Swinburne


Pasted from <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/before-the-mirror-2/>


Example poem


Caretaker      (The Swinburne)

























When forced to go and going
with all due haste,
you leave already knowing
there must be waste.
I never, as a boy
expected old man's joy
at seeing an old toy I had misplaced.


The things you leave behind you
are not all done.
They're simply tasks assigned to
another one.
When your life takes a turn
the habits you adjourn
may tickle Time who spurns a lack of fun.


© Lawrencealot - May 8, 2014




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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

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Streambed's Ripple

Streambed's Ripple a form created by Lillibet known on Allpoetry as Streambed.

It is:

Stanzaic: Written in 3 ten line stanzas

Syllabic: 10/8/10/8/10/10/10/8/10/8

Refrain:  Requires the last half of L5 to repeat in each stanza

Rhymed: xaxaBbxaxa xcxcBbxcxc xdxdBbxdxd

Metric: Written in iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter

Example poem

Love's Corset     (Streambed's Ripple)

For centuries we have believed

the attributes of form

as they relate to motherhood

ought be considered norm.

So bind yourself with stays and lace

before you paint or rouge your face.

For parturition hips must be

expanded, round and warm.

The breasts to suckle one or more

are ample to conform.

A standard then however wrought

in western cultures seem

to drive the fashion engines to

promote this female scheme.

So women then with stays and lace

constrict themselves so men will chase.

But girls have found and boys have too

that essence reigns supreme,

and being kind and being true

is what will fuel love's dream.

Once one is found to share your heart,

then regulate your mind

and recognize that devotion

provides the stays that bind.

I'll bind my love with stays and lace

to make sure romance stays in place

and corset non-complying thoughts

and set them far behind.

For nothing fits the human soul

like lovers so aligned.

© Lawrencealot - April 19, 2014

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Meisenheimer's Sestet

This form was created by Glenn Meisenheimer, aka gmcookie on Allpoetry.

It is stanzaic consisting of two or more stanzas.

It is syllabic, each stanza being a sestet of 11/8/11/11/11/8 syllables.

It is metrical, with the long lines consisting of three anapestic feet and an iamb, and each short line consisting of two anapestic feet and an iamb.

Rhyme pattern:  xabbba

My Example

April 7th Phone Call     (Meisenheimer's Sestet)

And what was the promise that went unfulfilled,

and why did it happen like that?

You promised to cherish, to love and obey

I promised the same yet you left me one day

and none of my pleas could persuade you to stay

so home with my two boys I sat.

But one time you tried to rejoin me and them;

by then I was slightly involved.

I'd promised another to be her escort

one day to a wedding as symbol of sorts.

I'd told you I'd promised and could not abort-

one day! then the problem'd be solved.

One day was too much for your too needy heart

I think you’d expected I'd stay

and forget a promise for now things were changed.

I couldn't and wouldn't get things rearranged

so after a month we were newly estranged.

You took our girls; you went away.

And what was the promise that went unfulfilled,

that caused you to call me last night?

You're dying and know it and facing the end,

have mem'ries to reckon with, fences to mend.

You know I still love you and think you my friend.

I wish that could make it alright.

© Lawrencealot - April 8, 2014

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Ronsarian Ode

Ronsardian Ode

The Ronsardian ode (named after Pierre de Ronsard 1524-1585) is the only kind of ode that specifies a particular rhyming scheme - ababccddc, with syllable counts of 10, 4, 10, 4, 10, 10, 4, 4, 8. 

In the present rather windy economic climate, I thought an owed might be appropriate.

Owed to the Bank

I rue the day when I picked up the phone

(Connected then)

And asked them to advance me a small loan.

Never again!

The moment the transaction was arranged,

The pattern of my entire life was changed.

More than I’d guessed,

The interest

Mounts up. I must have been deranged.

Eleven thousand pounds I owe, they say.

That’s quite a debt.

I swear I’ll pay it back to them one day,

But not just yet.

Meanwhile I need a place to lay my head,

A jug of wine perhaps, a loaf of bread.

Then there’s my wife...

For normal life

Can’t stop because I’m in the red.

I’ve hardly slept since this nightmare began.

I lie awake,

Find fatal flaws in every single plan

I try to make -

But last night all my ideas seemed to gel.

I’ll find another job; all will be well.

A banking post

Will pay the most.

Why’s that? It’s not too hard to tell.

Ah, life as a teller. It's a tempting thought. I think there should probably be a fourth stanza, but as yet there isn't. Sorry.

I bought a book of Ronsard’s selected poems, and it didn’t include a single Ronsardian ode. So some further research may be called for.

Pasted from <http://volecentral.co.uk/vf/ronsard.htm>

Thanks to Bob Newman for his wonderful Volecentral resource site.

My example poem

Ode to a Creek        (Ronsarian Ode)

The little creek was built to irrigate

so men could farm.

Thus, daily men would rise to raise some gate

when days were warm.

Those summer days the creek would draw the  boys

away from practiced games and silly toys

to share the breeze

with brush and trees

that lined the creek, contained their noise.

The larger boys had tied a swinging rope

on which we played

and dropped to take our daily bath sans soap,

quite unafraid.

When swing and drop became at last mundane

up to that branch we'd boldly climb again

into two feet

it seemed so neat,

we bore our scratches with disdain.

One fall they warned we could not swim nor fish

White poison flowed

and fish preceded it; to live their wish.

Death was bestowed

on parasites and all the mossy growth.

But all the neighbor boys I knew were loath

to think them right

when deadly white

killed life and our short season both.

When winter came a fragile sheet of ice

made young boys bold

for they could walk across it once or twice

when it was cold.

They'd taunt the older boys and wouldn't care

how fast were bigger kids who'd chase them there.

The small ones knew

just what to do;

The bigs fell through most anywhere.

I cannot tell now where that creek had been;

growth needs, I guess.

New roads exist that hadn't been there then,

such is progress.

That creek's as gone as are my boyhood years.

but still the memories of it endears.

It served its roles

and other goals

before it bowed and disappeared.

© Lawrencealot - April 15, 2014

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Brevee

• The Brevee  is a terse list of related rhymes. One more verse form that appears to be invented as a learning tool, it was created by Marie Adams.
  
  The Brevee is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of sixains.
• syllabic, L1 L2 L4 L5 are 2 syllables each line and L3 & L6 are 4 syllables each.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme aabccb ddeffe.
• Cold by Judi Van Gorder
  Little
  brittle
  fragments of ice
  splinter
  winter
  ski paradise.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1882#baccresieze

•  

My Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful resource at PMO

Specifications restated:

Stanzaic:  Any number of sestets

Syllabic: 2/2/4/2/2/4

Rhymed: aabccb

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Whitney

WHITNEY

This titled syllabic form, created by Betty Ann Whitney, has exactly seven lines.

Syllable Pattern:  3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4, 7

Example:

In the Garden Year

Voted best 

Among the months 

May and June 

Sprout root and grow. 

Soon will dance 

On wiry stems 

A blend of upturned blossoms.

Betty Ann Whitney, Wesley Chapel, FL 

Pasted from <http://sol-magazine-projects.org/sol/poetryforms.htm#whitney>

My Example Poem

Introducing Summer  (Whitney)

Trampolines

and Bar-B-ques

and new mown

grass are mighty

fine, but still,

bikinis I

like best; hope I always will.

© Lawrencealot - April 15, 2014

Waltz Wave

WALTZ WAVE

This form, named for Leo Waltz, the Web Manager of Sol Magazine, asks for a one-stanza titled poem, with nineteen lines; each line has a set number of syllables.

Pattern:   1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 1

Words may be split into syllables to fit the pattern.  This form seems to educe a soothing cadence as the lines gently increase and decrease, so it is suggested that topic chosen for this form also be soothing. 

  

Pasted from <http://sol-magazine-projects.org/sol/poetryforms.htm#whitney> 

Wounded Couplet

This is a form invented by Lillibet, aka Streambed on Allpoetry.

This form contains within its rhyming pattern, two couplets, one of which seems wounded, and is wrapped by four other lines, hence some rationale for its name.

It is stanzaic, consisting of any number of octains.

It is syllabic 10/10/6/10/10/10/10/10

It is metric, using iambic meter.

It is rhymed, the pattern being: abccbadd

Example Poem

Elixir     (Wounded Couplet)

My lover went a wandering I think

for he believes that magic will restore

his potency and verve.

He wants to play around is all.  What nerve!

He claims he's seeking mermaids by the shore

to find for him an elixir to drink.

Which beats testosterone in every way

whenever fortitude comes into play.

The tavern called the "Wharf" is near the beach

and frequently young barmaids catch his eye

(which seldom scans the shore.)

Perhaps it's just the scanty clothes they wore.

I guess he'll look for fairies by and by.

The man's intent let's try not to impeach.

If elixir's at home in foaming glass

he'll need a test, and's sure to make a pass.

I figured then that two could play that game

so put on fairy costume with a mask

and strode into the bar.

The men's reactions  bordered on bizarre.

I had five drinks and didn't have to ask,

But all their pick-up lines were truly lame.

When sitting, my costume revealed my thighs,

which seemed to be a magnet for the guys.

My lover was among the gazing flock,

He leered at me with barely hidden lust.

His fairy had appeared.

The absence of a potion was not feared,

as his eyes roamed from ankles up to bust.

His codpiece was enlarged, and not with socks.

The elixir was visual nothing more.

Adventure comes to men when they explore.

I saw some girls were equally entranced

with fairy wings and panty showing skirt,

and thus I tweaked my plan

and this is how my fairy tale began.

I planned and schemed and still had time to flirt

and with each wink I found my plan enhanced.

With stealth each girl departed then came back

prepared to mount our fairy tale attack.

Each girl returned in fairy tale attire

and each in turn gave their farewell that night

then walked out to the sea.

We danced and splashed and shared a fine esprit

and spoke of fairy kings and mortal's plight

and all the fantasy the men require.

My lover saw his fairies on the beach

but all of us were well beyond his reach.

When I got home light hues announced the dawn.

my drunken lover was unconscious yet.

He needed all his sleep.

As planned, his dreams were bothersome and deep.

He woke and pulled me close and said, "Annette,

It frightened me when last night you were gone.

It gave me pause and gave me cause to grieve.

I'll not again go chasing make believe."

© Lawrencealot - April 14, 2014

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Swinburne Decastitch

This form combining the rhyming pattern of an interrupted Petrachan Sonnet, with the breathing  cadence of common meter may have somewhere been used before, but it was definitely used and captured for us by Algernon Charles Swinburne in his "A Ballad of Death".

I merely record it here and give it a name by which we can refer as we attempt to write such poems of our own.

It is stanzaic, consisting of any number of stanzas.

It is Syllabic: 10/10/6/10/10/10/6/10/10/10

It is Rhymed: abbacdecde

It is composed in iambic meter.

Example Poem

Cultural Patrimony     (Swinburne Decastitch)

When any culture deems it right to maul

and kill, inflicting pain, can you explain

away my great disdain?

Can you excuse the citizens and all

who legislate and rule who use as tool

the very worst impulses of man's mind?

Against such things let's rail!

We simply cannot fool ourselves- it's cruel

to torment any species that we find.

With that in mind I'd like to tell this tale.

Young boys are often wooed by danger's taunt

and while still teens endeavor to learn skills

to please the crowds with thrills.

'Tis machismo alone that these boys flaunt,

and doubtlessly they want to earn the fame

accruing to the greatest in this "sport"

so fam'lies can be proud.

And many boys who play this dangerous game

will end up lame or have their life cut short

where death and torture's commonly allowed.

In training some are killed or truly maimed.

and never set their feet into bull's ring.

This is an honored thing!

But culture failing still persists unnamed,

where people think this cost perhaps is small;

and small it well may be when men have learned

compassion has no role.

If humankind is not herewith appalled

by acts dispensing pain where it's unearned

each man accepts canker on his soul.

When man pits bull against a lion foe,

again to entertain and titillate,

we each should fee self-hate.

The gladiator games we must outgrow,

like burning ants and pulling off fly's wings.

Each species may do harsh things to survive.

But evil has its cost.

When man accepts it's right to torture things

which share our space and roam our earth alive,

compassion for all life will soon be lost.

© Lawrencealot - April 13, 2014

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Deibide Baise Fri Toin

Deibide Baise Fri Toin

A similar name, but not much in common with the common-or-garden deibide, apart from being Irish. I don't know how to pronounce this one, or the literal meaning of its name, but here's what the verse form looks like:

Against Vegetation

Move! Without

doubt it helps to get about.

Except for triffids, a plant

can’t.

Poor daisies!

In peril as cow grazes,

prospects of survival not

hot.

Such fodder

can't flee even a plodder;

inferior to the least

beast.

No better,

the shiftless non-go-getter,

potato sat on a couch.

Ouch!

The syllable count is 3, 7, 7, 1 and it rhymes aabb. It is essential to the form that the a rhymes have two syllables, and the b rhymes have one syllable. There are a fair number of Irish forms - some of them with longer and more unpronounceable names - and most of them stipulate the type of rhyme as precisely as this.

Pasted from <http://volecentral.co.uk/vf/deibhidhe.htm>

Thanks to Bob Newman for his wonderful Volecentral resource site.

My example poem

Wet Cats     (Deibide Baise Fri Toin)

Don't worry

although they're sometimes furry

it's okay to get a pet

wet.

Don't insist

on fresh fish they can't resist;

cats can convert once they've tried

fried.

I'm inclined

to think cats are not refined,

but just aloof. I don't know

though.

© Lawrencealot - April 11, 2014

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Cro Cumaisc Etir Casbairdni Ocus Lethrannaigecht

Cro Cumaisc Etir Casbairdni Ocus Lethrannaigecht

This is an Irish verse form. The name means "Sorry, the translator can't take your call at the moment". No, I'm kidding. I have no idea what it means, and not much idea how to pronounce it, though I expect there will be a few "v" sounds in there somewhere. I chose to tackle it because it had the longest name of any in Skelton's book.

The form calls for 4-line stanzas rhyming abab, with syllable counts of 7, 5, 7, 5. Being Irish, the lengths of the rhyming words are also specified, in this case as 3, 1, 3, 1. Note though that the 3's don't necessarily indicate triple rhymes; the requirement is simply that the rhyming words are three syllables long. The stress could be on any of the three syllables.

This example was provoked (I hesitate to say inspired) by the "MP's expenses" scandal/hysteria of 2009. It amounts to propaganda for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, a long-established and respected force in British politics. At the time of the 1983 general election, when party splits were fashionable, there was a rival group called the Green Chicken Alliance.

Pasted from <http://volecentral.co.uk/vf/ccecol.htm>

Thanks to Bob Newman for his wonderful Volecentral resource site

My Example Poem

Suave     (Cro Cumaisc Etir Casbairdni Ocus Lethrannaigecht)

The man was not a millionaire

but ladies sought him out

for he appeared most debonair

and kind without a doubt.

He was at all times affable

with handshake or a hug,

and the idea was laughable

to picture him as smug.

His notions all seemed prevalent

well thought out and germane,

considered and most relevant

and certainly urbane.

He has a style to emulate,

a model for my role.

I'll have a cause to celebrate

If I achieve that goal.

© Lawrencealot - April 10, 2014

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Ch'I Yen Shih

Ch'i-Yen-Shih metre

This is, believe it or not, a Chinese verse form. Whether it's worth doing in English is debatable. Stanzas have four lines of seven syllables each, with lines 2 and 4 rhyming. Each line has a caesura, or break, after the fourth syllable; I have laid the example out to emphasise this. That's all there is to it, really, except that, to make it sound a little more Chinese, only words of one syllable should be used. 

Fenland

Long straight black road

far from home.

The moon hangs snagged

in the trees.

Foot down, I speed

through the night.

Rain falls in sheets,

starts to freeze.

The cats eyes pulse

like Morse code.

Far sparks speed close,

blaze then fade.

For hours on end

there’s no change:

Road, light, rain, wind,

screen and blade.

I’m tired and cold,

on my own.

How much of this

can I take?

I grit my teeth,

try to guess

How long I’ll last

till I brake.

Pasted from <http://volecentral.co.uk/vf/chiyenshih.htm>

Thanks to Bob Newman for his wonderful Volecentral resource site

Ancient Verse is probably the same verse form as Ch'I Yen Shih from the Lu Shi code verse. Ancient Verse is found desribed in John Drury's poe-try-dic-tion-ar-y and is similar to Ch'I Yen Shi, with slight variation. As described by Drury, caesura was not specified and more latitude was given in the character count. This is probably an example of how form evolves or is corrupted by translation. For now I will treat this verse form as separate.

(Drury uses "syllable count") Technically in Chinese prosody, character count and syllable count are one in the same since Chinese characters are one word and Chinese words are usually one syllable. However in English translation, a character could represent a 2 or 3 syllable English word. I use "character" in most of my metric descriptions of Chinese verse and often count words rather than syllables when attempting to write poems using Chinese verse forms in English. However, since Drury's book describes the meter for this form as syllabic, I follow his lead.

Ancient Verse is:

• stanzaic, written in quatrains.
• syllabic, 5 to 7 syllable lines.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme either xaxa xaxa etc or xaxa xbxb etc.
• no fixed tone pattern.
• always composed with parallels and balance.
  
  pyramid by Judi Van Gorder
  
  fresh dug dirt makes space and waits
  rich earth forms a pyramid
  to welcome polished pine box
  with white roses on the lid

Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?/topic/633-ancient-verse/>

Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for her wonderful PMO resource site.

My example poem

Surveillance       (Ch'I Yen Shih)

My house has eyes in the dark

Big dogs see but first they smell.

I don't switch them - off or on

still they serve as my door bell.

© Lawrencealot - April 9, 2014

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