Ghazal

 

 

 

Type: Structure; Meter; Rhyme

Structure: Ghazal (pronounced ghuzzle) is over 1000 years old, of Persian origin. It is composed of 5 to 15 couplets. Each couplet should be a poem unto itself. The first couplet should rhyme. The second line of the following couplets should rhyme with the first couplet. There can also be a refrain with each of the rhyme words. Each line must have the same rhythm. The last couplet is often the poet's signature/.

Rhyme Scheme: aA bA cA dA etc.

Example: These Aged Pines by Erin Thomas

Amid lush fern carpet stand per pending pillars;
Into broad canopy rise impending pillars.

Shady gloom in quiet calm hangs perpetual
Neath enshrouding shelter of attending pillars.

Ringlets firm encircle hearts of antiquity,
Deeply shielded within great suspending pillars.

More than stately; more than magnificently made,
High up into heavens reach transcending pillars.

Among elder giants Zahhar walks astonished,
His heart held uplifted by extending pillars.

Alexandrine Couplets

 

 

Type: Structure; Meter; Rhyme scheme.

Structure: An alexandrine is a line of iambic hexameter, so an alexandrine couplet is two rhymed lines of such. These often come at the end of stanzas or poems and, in these cases, are also called codas

Meter: Iambic hexameter.

Rhyme: aa bb cc etc.

Example: Alexandrine Couplet by Jan Haag

A dark and gloomy day, pigmented by the moon --
who failed to set, who failed to leave, who would not swoon

into the thickness of the night, into the cloud
that dark, with glimmering rim, invited like a shroud

of sacrilegious candles lit to shine along
the way of strange behaviour, odd, eccentric, strong

and motivated, misalignment, across the dune
which even the isolated, lonely, haunted loon

forsook, and pushed its dark head into the lake, bowed
by the shocking ineptitude of time banging and loud

-- ended inevitably in darkness to prolong
what would otherwise end with a resounding gong.

Sonnet Forms: Shadow Sonnet

Type:    Structure; Rhyme scheme; Isosyllabic; Repetition scheme; Volta

I.    Structure

Created by Amera M. Anderson, the shadow is composed over 14 isosyllabic lines. Each line starts and ends with the same word or homophone thus the creating the effect of a shadow. The shadow stylistic can be applied to most sonnet forms therefore the volta should occur where it would for the sonnet form being used.

   
II.    Schematics

Rhyme Scheme.    Using the English Sonnet: abab cdcd efef gg.
   

Repetition Scheme.

                a'xxxxxxxxa'
                b'xxxxxxxxb'
                a²xxxxxxxxa²
                b²xxxxxxxxb²

                c'xxxxxxxxc'
                d'xxxxxxxxd'
                c²xxxxxxxxc²
                d²xxxxxxxxd²

                e'xxxxxxxxe'
                f'xxxxxxxxf'
                e²xxxxxxxxe²
                f²xxxxxxxxf²

                g'xxxxxxxxg'
                g²xxxxxxxxg²   

III.    Volta

    the volta should occur between lines 9 and 13.

Examples:

 

Spirit to Spirit

So many things have turned my spirit so.
Yet I do resist and yield to it yet.
Know that I give my strength for you to know.
Forget you? Nay, I shall never forget.

Left with my sandpaper dreams since you left.
Love lies in my spirit, for you my love.
Theft of your presence is not spirit theft.
Above all my dreams, I hold you above.

You now have returned, I knew it was you.
Waiting so long as my heart was waiting;
few have returned, yet you're one of the few.
Aching for you as my soul was aching.

War takes so many; yet, you've beaten war.
Door of my spirit, come enter my door.

Copyright © 2007 Amera M. Andersen
(Used with permission)

Stave Stanza

Type: Stanzaic; rhyme; repetition; isosyllabic.

Description: A variation on using couplets to construct a sestet. The form consists oa a refrain line which is the last line of each stanza, therefore the last couplet of each stanza also rhymes. Lines should be isosyllabic.

Schematic: aabbcC ddeecC ffggcC etc

Stanza Length: 6 lines

Poem Length: 18 + lines

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Cyhydedd Fer

Type: Metric; Rhyme; Isosyllabic.

Description: Welsh in origin the cyhydedd fer is comprised of rhyming octosyllabic couplets, ideally iambic tetrameter though not essentially so.

Schematic

xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa

Example: As Children Sleep by Jem Farmer

A peace descends as children sleep,

when mother sighs, her soul to keep,

The precious times recall the day,

with wine and love, a father's way.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Echo Sonnets

Type: Structure, meter, isosyllabic, rhyme, refrain

Description: The echo sonnet, created by Jeff Green, is similar to the kyrielle sonnet in that it consists of three quatrains and a heroic couplet. The last line of each quatrain (A2) and the couplet is the refrain line which can be a repeated whole line, phrase or end word. The first line of the first quatrain (A1)also repeats as the first line of the couplet. The form has a rhyme scheme and is preferably composed of lines of iambic pentameter.

Rhyme Scheme: A1bbA2 accA2 addA2 A1A2

Line Length: Decasyllabic

Poem Length: 14 lines

Example:

The Bridge of Dreams by Jeff Green

Each night inside a dream you walk with me
To lands where past and future fade away
Where everything is lost in just one day
The clouds have built a bridge across the sea

I learned to live a dream so we could be
The walkers on that road to everywhere
A perfect life that lovers seldom share
The clouds now carry us across the sea

With head upon the pillow I am free
To hold you as my own for evermore
We'll be together on that distant shore
The clouds have built a ship to cross the sea

Each night inside a dream you walk with me
Upon the bridge of ships that's crossed the sea

Resources:

http://allpoetry.com/list/59666-Echo-Sonnets

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Bowlesian Sonnet

Type: Metric; Structure; Isosyllabic; Rhyme Scheme

Description: An English style sonnet in that it is three quatrains and a heroic couplet, but the quatrains are Italian rather than Sicilian in their rhyme schemes. Pivot somewhere between lines 9 and 13. Created by William Lisle Bowles

Schematic: abba cddc effe gg

Meter: iambic

Line length: pentameter

Form Notation:

xXxXxXxXxa
xXxXxXxXxb
xXxXxXxXxb
xXxXxXxXxa

xXxXxXxXxc
xXxXxXxXxd
xXxXxXxXxd
xXxXxXxXxc

xXxXxXxXxe
xXxXxXxXxf
xXxXxXxXxf
xXxXxXxXxe

xXxXxXxXxg
xXxXxXxXxg


Poem Length: 14 lines

Example:

Bereavement by William Lisle Bowles

Whose was that gentle voice, that, whispering sweet,
Promised me thought long days of bliss sincere!
Soothing it stole on my deluded ear,
Most like soft music, that might sometimes cheat.

Thoughts dark and drooping! 'Twas the voice of Hope.
Of love and social scenes, it seemed to speak,
Of truth, of friendship, of affection meek;
That, oh! poor friend, might to life's downward slope

Lead us in peace, and bless are latest hours.
Ah me! the prospect saddened as she sung;
Loud on my startled ear the death bell rung;
Chill darkness wrapt the pleasurable bowers,

Whilst Horror pointing to yon breathless clay,
'No peace be thine,' exclaimed, 'away, away!'

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.