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.

Bref Double

Type: structure, rhyme, isosyllabic Description: A 14 line French form composed of 3 quatrains and a couplet, all isosyllabic. It has three rhymes a, b and c and 5 lines that are not part of the rhyme schema. The c rhyme ends each quatrain, and the a and b rhymes are both found twice within the 3 quatrains and once each in the couplet. Rhyme Schema: abxc abxc xxxxc ab xaxc xbxc xbac ab xabc xaxc xbxc zb etc. Poem Length: 14 lines


© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Balesian Sonnet

Type: structure, meter, rhyme, isosyllabic  

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.

Schematic: Rhyme: abba cddc effe gg

                   Pivot: lines 9-13

Poem Length: 14 lines.
© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Ballade

Type: structure, meter, repetition, rhyme, isosyllabic

Description: Syllabic with lines of any single length. (For example: alexandrine or iambic pentameter,) Contains three octaves and a quatrain envoy all turning on three rhymes. A variation uses sestets instead of octaves,

Schematic:

ababbcbC
ababbcbC
ababbcbC
bcbC

There are only three rhymes in all the 28 lines.

The C represents a repeated refrain which ends each division of the poem.

No other rhyme word should be repeated in the entire poem.

Stanza length: octave

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Ballad Meter

Type: structure, meter, rhyme, stanzaic. Description: Ballad measure is a four-line stanzaic form usually rhymed abcb and consisting of alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines. Normally it is accentual-syllabic, such as iambic meter, though they can be podic with variable numbers of unaccented syllables. Schema: xX xX xX xa xX xX xb xX xX xX xc xX xX xb Stanza Length: quatrain.
© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Balassi Stanza

Type: structure, rhyme, stanzaic.

Description: A nine-line stanzaic form where the lines are grouped in three-line sets with syllable counts 6, 6, and 7. The first two lines of each set is a couplet. The third, and longer line, carries the main rhyme in the third, sixth and ninth line of the stanza. Created by Balint Balassi.

Schema:

xxxxxb
xxxxxb
xxxxxxA
xxxxxc
xxxxxc
xxxxxxA
xxxxxd
xxxxxd
xxxxxxA

Poem Length: 9 lines

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Balada

Type: structure, meter, refrain, rhyme.

Description: A dance song with an insistent refrain. The refrain is repeated after each stanza. The first line of the refrain is repeated after the first and second line or section of each stanza. The balada is usually three stanzas where the stanzas are separated into three parts, the first two being of identical structure and the third matching the structure of the refrain. The balada was common in Occitan circa 1300CE.

Schema:

RA bRbRa(RA) bRbRa(RA) bRbRa(RA)

where:
R is the first line of the refrain
A is the rest of the refrain
b is the first and second section of the stanza
a is the third section of the stanza.

Poem Length: 3 stanzas

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Bagarthach Verses

Type: structure, rhyme, simple.

Description: Created by Raphael Aloysius Lafferty who used this form for a book where aliens would curse bothersome humans.

Schema:

Rhyme: abab.

Stanza Length: quatrain.

Poem Length: 1 stanza

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.