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.

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.

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.

Brace Octave

Type: structure, rhyme, stanzaic

Description: an eight-line stanza form with end of line rhyme scheme. There is no meter or line length requirement

Schematic: Rhyme: abbaabba
abbacddc

Poem Length: octave

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Blues Stanza

Type: structure, meter, repetition, rhyme, stanzaic

Description: a three-line stanza rhymed AAa The second line is a variant (incremental repetition) of the first-line, usually written in iambic pentameter. It is not unusual for the whole poem to be a complaint or lament. Lines are normally broken by a caesure between phrases

Schematic: xX xX xX xX xA
xX xX xX xX xA
xX xX xX xX xa

Meter: iambic pentameter

Stanza Length: 3 lines

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Blues Sonnet

Type: structure, meter, repetition, rhyme

Description: four blues stanzas followed by a heroic couplet. Like the blues song using blues stanzas, this usually written as a complaint.

Poem Length: 14 lines

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Blank Verse

Type: structure, meter

Description: usually unrhymed iambic pentameter, but it can equally be any other unrhymed metered verse

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Ballade Supreme

Type: structure, meter, repetitive, rhyme, isosyllabic

Description: Very much like the ballade, but it is longer with a slightly different rhyme scheme to accommodate the extra lines.

Schematic: ababbccdcD
ababbccdcD
ababbccdcD
ccdcD

Poem Length: 35 lines

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Ballade Royal

Type: structure, meter, repetition, rhyme, isosyllabic

Description: this is a variant of the ballade using rhyme royal stanzas with four full stanzas rather than the half-stanza envoy. It is usually written in lines of iambic pentameter, but always should be isosyllabic lines.

Schematic: ababbcC ababbcC ababbcC ababbcC

Meter: iambic pentameter

Line length: 10

Stanza Length: 7 lines

Poem Length: 28 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.

Ballad

Type: refrain, structure, meter, rhyme, stanzaic.

Description: Short narrative poem compromising of quatrains. Usually written in ballad meter of alternating iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. The rhyme scheme is usually alternating lines. Ballads have a refrain stanza.

Schema:

xX xX xX xA (Refrain)
xX xX xB
xX xX xX xA
xX xX xB

xX xX xX xc
xX xX xd
xX xX xX xc
xX xX xd

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.

Awdl Gywydd

Type: structure, meter, rhyme, stanzaic.

Description: Pronounced ‘owdl gow-widd’. Seven syllable quatrains with end rhymes and couplet binding. Welsh origin.

Schema:

xxxxxxa
xxaxxxb (a can be 3rd or 4th syllable)
xxxxxxc
xxcxxxb (c can be 3rd or 4th syllable)

Mid-line rhymes a and c can be various forms of rhyme but the end of line rhyme b should be perfect rhyme.

Stanza Length: quatrain.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Anglo-Saxon Accentual Verse

Type: structure, other.

Description: Based on alliteration and stress, this is a style left over from the English language’s Anglo-Saxon forebears. It is usually done with four-stress lines with a caesura (pause) in the middle. The stressed words are alliterated with the first stress, the second stress or both. The fourth stress does not alliterate internally, but might cross-alliterate with other lines. Alliteration holds the lines of the poem together, rather than the rhyme. All vowels were considered to alliterate with each other, but consonant compounds such as ‘sk’ or ‘sp’ would alliterate only with themselves, not each other. The Anglo-Saxons were more likely to use enjambment than to end-stop their lines.

Stanza length: quatrain.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.