Rime Couée

Rime Couée is a tail-rhymed verse form of 12th century Provencal troubadours. Though it originated in France, it is thought to be the predecessor of the more popular Scot form, the Burns Stanza.

The Rime Couée is:

• stanzaic, written in any number of sixains made up of two tercets.

• accentual, folk meter of normal speech. L1,L2, L4, L5 are longer lines of a similar length, L3 and L6 are shorter lines of the same length.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme aabccb, ddeffe etc.
  
  

Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=702>

Thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful PMO resource.

My example Poem

St. Joseph Lighthouse - Lake Michigan        (Rime Couée)

When Old Man Winter struts his stuff

to show that he is good enough

he paints in white.

Unlike the art-work done by Spring

where colors touch most everything

pastel or bright.

His canvass can be anything

a bridge a tree, an old coil spring

that's left outside.

St. Joseph lighthouse shown above

received full measure of his love.

I'm satisfied.

©Lawrencealot - February 8, 2014

Photo Credit:  Facebook  - unknown, Rights belong to photographer

Visual Template

Shadorma

I'm not willing to call this a Spanish form, even though it could be;  it was more likely invented by a disenchanted poet tired of all of the differing and conflicting versions of Haiku popping up.  In the next three lines I'll list everything we KNOW about the form, then some of the sources you might find interesting, including a real beautiful work by Amera.

It is stanzaic, consisting of one or more sestets

It is syllabic 3/5/3/3/7/5

Rhyme and meter are optional

The Shadorma is a Spanish poetic form made up of a stanza of six lines

(sestet)  with no set rhyme scheme.

 It is a syllabic poem with a meter of 3/5/3/3/7/5.

It can have many stanzas, as long as each follows the meter. 

Little is known about this poetic style's origins and history 

but it is used by many modern poets today. 

This variation of the haiku, which is evident by its syllable pattern, 

can be seen in use in many writing venues.

The Shadorma is a poetic form consisting of a six-line stanza (or sestet). The form is alleged to have originated in Spain. Each stanza has a syllable count of three syllables in the first line, five syllables in the second line, three syllables in the third and fourth lines, seven syllables in the fifth line, and five syllables in the sixth line (3/5/3/3/7/5) for a total of 26 syllables. A poem may consist of one stanza, or an unlimited number of stanzas (a series of shadormas).

It has been suggested[by whom?] that the shadorma is not a historical poetic form as it is alleged to be by those who have recently revived and popularized it. There is no evidence of extant early Spanish poetry using this form. Further, the word shadorma does not appear in Spanish-language dictionaries, and no examples of the early usage of the form appear in poetry textbooks or anthologies. Further, there is no literary criticism regarding its history in Spanish literature. Considering this, the alleged history of the shadorma may be modern hoax or the poetic equivalent of an urban legend. However, the shadorma has been used by many modern writers[citation needed] and is a popular writing exercise in creative writing programs and workshops.

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

The Shadorma Joke

November 2, 2012 by Sabio Lantz

The Shadorma Joke

Shadorma!

But who’da known it.

Started as

a small lie.

Now has widely multiplied.

Myth Poetica!

Background:  Posted for: Poets United, my “poem” above, is a “Shadorma”.   The “Shadorma” is purported to be a haiku-like Spanish poetic form with one or more stanza of six lines (sestet) with 3/5/3/3/7/5 syllable lines respectively and no set rhyme scheme.

But here is the point of my poem: I can’t find any evidence for the history of this “form”. Did someone make it up?  Is it just an internet-myth and not a historical fact?  Poetry sites that I have found, just echo each other saying “Little is known about this poetic style’s origins and history but it is used by many modern poets today.”

Pasted from <http://yuanfields.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/the-shadorma-joke/>

Make Me

Close the door

And turn off the light

Come adore

Mi amore

In fantasy and delight

Come my love, explore

For so long

I’ve waited for you

Come along

We belong

Entwined in a love for two

Come... and make me strong

Close the door

And lie here with me

Make me soar

Fill my core

Come take me to ecstasy

Make me want you more

Pasted from <http://allpoetry.com/poem/5092089-Make-Me-by-Amera-adult>

Example Poem

He Did It!

Shadorma

is a recent work

invented

if you will

by a bored U.S. mail clerk

who held verse in scorn.

Haiku, hell!

They're Japan's, and short.

They can't rhyme-

that's a crime;

let this form be my retort.

This is English, sport.

Without rhyme

first, and then I tried

and here I'm

satisfied

with plain alternating rhyme.

I'll change every time.

Interlaced

when it's not end-placed

Like this you

Kiss the line

below- oft called internal,

but that's wrong you know.

Shadorma

sounded Spanish though

Korean

it is not.

I'm content to let it go

The form's pretty hot.

© Lawrencealot - December 9, 2013

Visual Template

Lai

Lai

The lai is a form of French origin, even more ancien than the virelai ancien (which evolved from it). It is not to be confused with the Breton lay,  a quite different form of which Chaucer's Franklin's Tale is an example; or the lay, a term sometimes used for a short historical ballad, such Sir Walter Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel; or with the word lay used simply to mean a song. 

Having ensured your total lack of confusion, let me tell you what the lai actually is. It's like a slimmed-down virelai ancien, with the stanzas not linked by rhyme. Here's one:

Lai of the Cow

The praises I sing
Of that wondrous thing
The cow.
Let the rafters ring!
My Muse shall take wing,
I vow.
Foods our cattle bring
Are fit for a king,
And how!

As white as can be,
The smooth quality
Of silk,
The epitome
Of maternity,
Its milk.
You have to agree
You never will see
Its ilk.

For an honoured guest
Save the very best:
The cream.
While those not so blest
Make do with the rest,
And dream.
So nice to digest,
That when it’s suppressed,
Folk scream!

You can churn milk, so
It becomes yellow
Butter.
What could beat that? Oh,
Don’t scoff in that low
Mutter!
I will not forgo
Such pleasure; I’m no
Nutter.

Or you cheddar it.
Thus you make a bit
Of cheese,
A prerequisite
For one exquisite
Good wheeze:
Let’s get the grill lit
And make Welsh rarebit.
Yes please!

Our bovine-sourced feast,
Has it still not ceased?
Good grief!
No, last but not least,
Its flesh when deceased:
The beef.
The worth of this beast
Could not be increased,
In brief.

The syllable count in each triplet of lines is 5, 5, 2, and each triplet rhymes aab. The number of such triplets must be the same in each stanza, and at least two. To assert my virility, I chose to use three. According to the definition I have used, all the triplets within a stanza must use the same rhymes - so in this example the rhyming scheme for each stanza is aabaabaab. 

However, I have in front of me a poem by Paul Verlaine - it's called Chanson d'Automne - which has lines the right length for a lai, but stanzas that rhyme aabccb. So is it a lai? I don't know, but it's a far better poem than mine, which is the important thing. 

As with many of these old forms, the effort involved in writing one is usually out of all proportion to the worth of the finished poem. But don't let me talk you out of it!

Pasted from <http://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/lai.htm#virelai> 

Thanks to Bob Newman, for the above.  His site is a wonderful and reliable resource.

Example Poem

Lai Mistletoe About

Hang the mistletoe

tie it with a bow

then wait.

You aware, I know

You just use it though

for bait.

It's most apropro

how it works, with no

debate.

© Lawrencealot - November  21, 2013

Visual Template

Ridotto

This form was invented by Thomas Horton of Allpoetry.

  

It's called a RIDOTTO, from the Italian for "reduced."  In a ridotto, you choose a number of syllables for your first line (x).  Your second line should be a perfect rhyming couplet with one more syllable (x+1).  The third line takes on a new rhyme, and has one fewer syllable than the first one (x-1).  Line four rhymes with line 3, and has one fewer syllable (x, or [x-1]+1).  This continues until the poem is reduced to a couplet of one syllable followed by two.

Here's an example:

FIRST KISS  (a ridotto)

The way the soft light broke          ----> (6)

Through the branches of the oak       ----> (7)

Gave the day a glow                   ----> (5)

That you and I would know             ----> (6)

Brought to an end                     ----> (4)

Our time to pretend                   ----> (5)

And we shared                         ----> (3)

Though we were scared                 ----> (4)

Desire                                ----> (2)

Like a fire                           ----> (3)

Rife                                  ----> (1)

With life                             ----> (2)

© Thomas Horton, All Rights Reserved.

You may start with any number of syllables you like; as such, the poem may be of any length, as long was the second line of each rhyming couplet has one more syllable than the first line, and the first line of each subsequent couplet has one fewer syllable than the first line of the previous couplet.

Near rhymes don't count; all end-rhymes should be full/strong/masculine.

I have re-phrased the instructions thus:

1. Pen a line with any number of syllables.

2. For the next line, add one syllable and rhyme with the preceding line.

3. Subtract two syllables and choose a new rhyme word.

    Repeat instructions 2 thru 3 until instruction 3 would create a zero syllable line.

Rhyme pattern  aabbccddee..etc

No metric requirement.

Visual template (for beginning with an even number of syllables)

BushBallad Meter

Informal name created by Mary Boren Sullivan, aka on Allpoetry.com.

Am adding it so others can have a go at a delightful metric experience.

OK, that's not the official name for it, but this particular rhyme scheme & metrical pattern echoes of thundering hooves, which makes me think of Banjo Paterson.  If you're stuck in iambic mode, it's a good way to break free.   

The form lends itself to light verse, but is versatile enough to support serious topics as well.  The meter is anapestic, as follows, presented in six-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme of aabccb.

ta da DUM / ta da DUM / da

ta DUM / ta da DUM / da

ta DUM /  ta da DUM / ta da DUM

If it feels more natural, you can substitute with an iamb for the first foot and/or move the feminine trailing syllables into the next line, like so ...

ta DUM / ta da DUM

ta da DUM / ta da DUM

ta da DUM /  ta da DUM / ta da DUM

Example Poem

Unfriended

My words are exacting 

yours simply distracting 

You argue in circles, at best.

You think that deceiving 

just  'cus you're believing 

Is okay, your  thinking is blessed.

      

Now, when you disparage 

an old friend's new marriage 

or put down another's good work

or put on two faces 

when speaking of races, 

you're behavior drives me berserk.

      

I'm mostly quite friendly, 

but  if in the end we

diverge so in our views, my friend,

though I'll still be mellow

and a jolly fellow,

I reckon our friendship will end.

© Lawrencealot - April, 2012

Visual Template

Cascade

http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/cascade.html

Created by Udit Bhatia, the Cascade form "is all about receptiveness, but in a smooth cascading way like a waterfall". There is no set meter or rhyme scheme. The defining feature of the form is that the lines of the first stanza are repeated as refrain lines in subsequent stanzas to give a "cascading effect". S1 L1 is repeated as the last line of S2, S1 L2 is repeated as the last line of S3, and so on until all lines in S1 have been used. The number of stanzas is therefore one more than the number of lines in S1.

Example rhyme scheme for a three stanza Cascade: ABC deA fgB hiC 

 Example Poem

Write a Cascade

The cascade poem can grow in length and width. It's flexible.

If three lines in one stanza, then stanzas will add up to four.

That means a cascade can be used for many types of contests.

This is an example , a small sample, meter is ignored.

Allowing able alliteration,  but without end rhyme.

The cascade poem can grow in length and width. It's flexible.

You shall see in Cascade Two that rhyme was planned for and was used.

This monstrous, frigging thing  clamors for abundant verbiage.

If three lines in one stanza, then stanzas will add up to four.

Since this was didactic write, with no metaphor and image.

The flowing effect of my repeating lines might not appear.

That means a cascade can be used for many types of contests.

(c) Lawrencealot - April 22, 2012

Visual Template

 This poem by Discoveria of AllPoetry

Sicilian Sestet

Sicilian Sestet

Possessing similar origins, as the Italian Sestet, 

the Sicilian sestet had no set meter, but the 

anglicised version uses Iambic tetrameter or pentameter.

The rhyme pattern is as follows; a, b, a, b, a, b,

Example Poem

Write a Sicilian Sestet

Sicilian sestets have most simple rhyme. 

The metric foot can be both four and five,

(but not at once), just one poem at a time. 

Here pentameter iambs are alive. 

Don't strain yourself in finding rhyme like I'm. 

Just think ahead and then you can survive. 

© Lawrencealot - July 25, 2012

Visual Template

Shadorma

The Shadorma is a Spanish poetic form made up of a stanza of six lines

(sestet)  with no set rhyme scheme.

 It is a syllabic poem with a meter of 3/5/3/3/7/5.

It can have many stanzas, as long as each follows the meter. 

Little is known about this poetic style's origins and history 

but it is used by many modern poets today. 

This variation of the haiku, which is evident by its syllable pattern, 

can be seen in use in many writing venues

Example Poem

Fickle Sea

Quiet seas 

swathed in moon's full light

are a tease 

with no breeze 

Urging motion to delight 

Man, with no unease.

Strong winds blow 

Force into the sea 

then you know 

that the show 

of tranquility must be

power in escrow. 

Angry storms 

singly, or  much worse 

even, swarms 

now reforms 

fraudulent calm to the curse 

of wrath outside norms.

Water's hell

Can destroy all works 

and dispel 

peace, foretell 

doom for any when gone berserk.

Waves prayer cannot quell.

© Lawrencealot - April 6, 2012