theticklishpear:

(A table of contents is available. It will be kept updated throughout the series. This series is ongoing and will remain open for additional posts.)

Part Four: Forms of Rhyming and Metered Poetry

Last time I talked about literary devices that are frequently used to give poetry that poetic feel. Now, a poet need not use all of them all at once, and in fact shouldn’t. Poetry is highly focused on being sneaky, being lyrical and imparting truths and relaying feelings without being too in the reader’s face unless they’re purposefully doing so to make a point. Given that, poetry takes an enormous amount of concentration on specifics. Being sure that the diction and the devices you’ve chosen match what you’re trying to say is crucial. The other half of the poetic equation is form.

Rhyme:

The way the lines and stanzas of poetry are put together informs the form of the poem. Often poetry contains a rhyme scheme. To determine what kind of scheme yours has, assign a new letter of the alphabet to each new sound at the end of a line, and when a sound is repeated (thus rhyming with another line) assign it the same letter as the sound it matches, as I’ve done here with the first two stanzas of Robert browning’s “Two in the Campagna”:

Those letters are then condensed down to be used as a descriptor of the poem: ABABACDCDC rhyme scheme. Typically, poets try to remain consistent in their scheme (so that, for example, this poem would continue as EFEFEGHGHG, etc.), however, as with all things in poetry, rhyme is not required.

Meter:

Another aspect of words often given attention when forming poetry are the number of syllables in a line as well as the way they are spoken. Words are comprised of syllables which are either stressed (given more emphasis when spoken) or unstressed. The combination of these stressed and unstressed syllables in a line is called meter. The combination of stressed and unstressed syllables is called a foot. When the combination is created by having an unstressed syllable followed by the stressed syllable, the foot is called an iamb, the adjective being iambic. (The word “today” is two syllables: “to” is unstressed, “day” is stressed, making “today” a foot, and the order of it makes it an iambic foot.) There are other kinds of feet as well, created by specific combinations of the stressed and unstressed syllables, but iambic is the most well-known. When put together into a line, the amount of feet that appear in that line dictates what kind of meter a line has.

Iambic pentameter (a five-foot line where each foot is in the unstressed-stressed pattern) has a rich history, most notably as the favorite form for William Shakespeare.

Types of Line Groups:

Alexandrine: an iambic line composed of 12 syllables.

Couplet: a pair of rhyming lines that appear next to each other and form a complete sentence. Heroic couplets are written in iambic pentameter.

Envoi/Envoy: a set of lines at the end of a poem that form a dedication or summation of the poem.

Fourteener: a line that has any kind of meter and is formed of 14 syllables.

Octave: a stanza or poem comprised of eight lines.

Quatrain: a stanza which is composed of four rhyming lines. An unbound quatrain has an ABAC or ABCB rhyme scheme; a double couplet quatrain has an AABB rhyme scheme; an interlaced quatrain has an ABAB rhyme scheme; an enclosed quatrain has an ABBA rhyme scheme.

Refrain: a line which recurs throughout the poem.

Rhyme Royal: a stanza of seven rhyming lines of 10 syllables each with an ABABBCC rhyme scheme.

Sestet: a stanza or poem comprised of six lines.

Spenserian Stanza: a stanza formed from nine lines. The first eight are iambic pentameter and the final line is an alexandrine. It has an ABABBCBCC rhyme scheme.

Tercet: a group of three lines.

Types of Forms Relying on Rhyme and Meter:

Ballade: Distinct from a ballad. Ballades originated in France and are comprised of four stanzas. The first three are eight lines, and the fourth is an envoy of four lines. It features an ABABBCBC BCBC rhyme scheme where the last line of the first stanza is repeated at the end of every stanza as well as at the end of the envoy.

Cintain: A poem of five lines. The first line is one word which is the topic of the poem. The second line is two words that describe the topic. The third line is three words that tell an action related to the topic. The fourth line is four words which express a feeling related to the topic. The fifth line is a single word which recalls the topic (but is not the same word).

Doggerel: Poetry which places an emphasis on “not being good” by clinging to cliches and irregular meter.

Ghazal: A form originating in Arabic lands and later utilized by the Persians. It features couplets. Each couplet ends with the same word or phrase that precedes the couplet’s rhyming word. The last couplet includes a proper name. (ex: “Ghazal for White Hen Pantry”)

Haiku: Originating in Japan, haiku and senryu contain three unrhyming lines in a 5-7-5 syllable scheme. Haikus focus on the natural world while senryu focus on humans.

Landay: A form originating in Afghanistan formed of couplets. The couplets total 22 syllables; the first line should have 9 syllables while the second line has 13 syllables. Each line should end with “ma” or “na” sounds.

Limerick: A light poem with whimsical tones comprised of an AABBA rhyme scheme.

Ode: General odes do not require a specific scheme but rather are identified by their lyricism focused on a person, place, thing, or idea. Horatian odes are comprised of quatrains and focus on philosophy; a pindaric ode celebrates athletic victories; and sapphic odes are quatrains without rhyme that have any kind of meter where the first three lines have 11 syllables and the last line has 5 syllables.

Ottava Rima: Before Lord Byron adapted this form to be a stanza of eight lines with 10 syllables each, it was originally a stanza of eight lines with 11 syllables each. Features an ABABABCC rhyme scheme.

Pantoum: A Malaysian form comprised of quatrains. The second and fourth lines of a stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next stanza; the second and third lines of the very last stanza should be the same as the first and third lines of the first stanza. (ex: “O, She Says”)

Rondeau: A French form of three stanzas totaling 10-15 lines. Each line is eight syllables. The opening words are repeated twice to form an refrain which doesn’t rhyme and appears at the end of the second and third stanzas. Traditionally the poem only contains two rhymes.

Rondel: A poem consisting of 11-14 lines where the first two lines are repeated in the middle and at the end. Traditionally the poem only contains two rhymes.

Sestina: A form originating in France of six stanzas and a three-line envoy. Each stanza is six lines and does not rhyme. The end words of each line in the first stanza appear at the end of each line in all the stanzas, in a different order. The envoy also contains those same six words placed two per line in the middle and end of the three lines. (ex: “The Complaint of Lisa”)

Sijo: A Korean form comprised of three lines with 14-16 syllables each. The first line introduces the topic of the poem; the first half of this line should have 6-9 syllables while the second half has no fewer than 5 syllables. The second line provides a “turn,” while the third line provides closure.

Sonnet: While the sonnet originated in Italy, it was brought to England in the 16th century and the poem of 14 lines caught fire. Petrarchan sonnet divides the 14 lines into an octave with an ABBAABBA rhyme scheme and a sestet with either a CDCDCD or CDEEDE rhyme scheme. Italian sonnets follow the Petrarchan idea by splitting the 14 lines into an octave with the same rhyme scheme and a sestet with a CDDCEE rhyme scheme. Shakespearean sonnets is composed of three quatrains and a couplet with an ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme scheme. There are also caudate sonnets, curtal sonnets, sonnet redouble, sonnet sequence, Spenserian sonnets, stretched sonnets, and submerged sonnets.

Tanka: A Japanese poem of five lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable scheme.

Terza Rima: An Italian form of rhyming tercets with a couplet at the end. The couplet rhymes with the second-to-last line of the last tercet.

Triolet: A stanza with eight lines and two rhymes. The last line is the same as the fourth and seventh lines; and the second line is the same as the eighth line.

Villanelle: A French poem of five stanzas which have three lines each, followed by a quatrain. The following stanzas repeat either the first or third line from the first stanza, alternating. These same lines form the final couplet of the quatrain.

Can you believe that these aren’t even all the kinds of poems out there? The above list is solely poems which are characterized by a very specific set of rules as dictated by meter, rhyme scheme, syllables, and number of lines. Poetry can also appear in unmetered, unrhymed, unformed ways, and we’ll get into those next.

Next up: Unformed Poetry!