Forgotten treasures abound throughout literature from classics to unknown contemporary novels, but as expected, I want to talk about poetry and the forms of poetry that are not often used or attempted anymore.
A majority of poetry these days is in free verse, though there are some contemporary poets who do dabble in sonnet, which is considered a restrictive form.
Sonnets come in two styles: Shakespearean and Petrarchan. Shakespearean sonnets are those most taught in school and consist of 14 lines in iambic pentameter, which could be thought of a normal speaking rhythm, and contain ten syllables in each line. These sonnet also typically have the following rhyme scheme: a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g — with the final lines rhyming one another. Petrarchan sonnets, on the other hand, have an octave and sestet that offers a resolution at the end of the poem, while the ninth line offers a change in tone or mood. The typical rhyme scheme begins with a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a, while the remainder of the rhyme scheme offers one of two choice: c-d-e-c-d-e or c-d-c-c-d-c.
Check out the example from Shakespeare:
Sonnet 20
A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted,
Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion;
A woman’s gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change, as is false women’s fashion:
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;
A man in hue all hues in his controlling,
Which steals men’s eyes and women’s souls amazeth.
And for a woman wert thou first created;
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,
And by addition me of thee defeated,
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
But since she prick’d thee out for women’s pleasure,
Mine be thy love and thy love’s use their treasure.
Check out the example of a Petrarchan Sonnet by Petrarch:
Sonnet 131
I’d sing of Love in such a novel fashion
that from her cruel side I would draw by force
a thousand sighs a day, kindling again
in her cold mind a thousand high desires;
I’d see her lovely face transform quite often
her eyes grow wet and more compassionate,
like one who feels regret, when it’s too late,
for causing someone’s suffering by mistake;
And I’d see scarlet roses in the snows,
tossed by the breeze, discover ivory
that turns to marble those who see it near them;
All this I’d do because I do not mind
my discontentment in this one short life,
but glory rather in my later fame.
Villanelle is another style that has disappeared from contemporary literature and contains not only rhyme, but a refrain using either trimeter or tetrameter. Trimeter is three metric feet per line, while tetrameter is four metrical feet. The poem has 19 lines. These poems only have two rhyme sounds and the first and third line of the first stanza are rhyming refrains that alternate as the final line of each successive stanza before forming a rhyming couplet at the end of the poem.
Here’s an example from Dylan Thomas:
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Sestina has six six-line stanzas with a tercet for a total of 39 lines. The same six words end the lines of the six-line stanzas, but in alternating order: 123456, 615243, 364125, 532614, 451362, and finally 246531. “These six words then appear in the tercet as well, with the tercet’s first line usually containing 6 and 2, its second 1 and 4, and its third 5 and 3,” according to Wikipedia.
Here’s an example from Ezra Pound:
Sestina: Altaforte
Loquitur: En Bertrans de Born.
Dante Alighieri put this man in hell for that he was a
stirrer-up of strife.
Eccovi!
Judge ye!
Have I dug him up again?
The scene in at his castle, Altaforte. “Papiols” is his jongleur.
“The Leopard,” the device of Richard (Cúur de Lion).
I
Damn it all! all this our South stinks peace.
You whoreson dog, Papiols, come! Let’s to music!
I have no life save when the swords clash.
But ah! when I see the standards gold, vair, purple, opposing
And the broad fields beneath them turn crimson,
Then howl I my heart nigh mad with rejoicing.
II
In hot summer have I great rejoicing
When the tempests kill the earth’s foul peace,
And the lightnings from black heav’n flash crimson,
And the fierce thunders roar me their music
And the winds shriek through the clouds mad, opposing,
And through all the riven skies God’s swords clash.
III
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!
And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing,
Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing!
Better one hour’s stour than a year’s peace
With fat boards, bawds, wine and frail music!
Bah! there’s no wine like the blood’s crimson!
IV
And I love to see the sun rise blood-crimson.
And I watch his spears through the dark clash
And it fills all my heart with rejoicing
And pries wide my mouth with fast music
When I see him so scorn and defy peace,
His lone might ‘gainst all darkness opposing.
V
The man who fears war and squats opposing
My words for stour, hath no blood of crimson
But is fit only to rot in womanish peace
Far from where worth’s won and the swords clash
For the death of such sluts I go rejoicing;
Yea, I fill all the air with my music.
VI
Papiols, Papiols, to the music!
There’s no sound like to swords swords opposing,
No cry like the battle’s rejoicing
When our elbows and swords drip the crimson
And our charges ‘gainst “The Leopard’s” rush clash.
May God damn for ever all who cry “Peace!”
VII
And let the music of the swords make them crimson!
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!
Hell blot black for always the thought “Peace!”
Cinquain is another often forgotten form that has two styles Crapsey and Didactic, but each has a five-line pattern. Crapsey cinquains have a syllable count of 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, with a fixed number of stressed syllables in this pattern: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, using iamb. Didactic cinquains generally begin with a one-word title, followed by a pair of adjectives describing the title/subject of the poem. The third line is a three-word phrase that provides more information about the title, and the fourth line has four words to describe feelings related to the subject. In the fifth line is a single-word synonym or another reference to the title/subject.
Crapsey Cinquain example:
November Night
Listen. . .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees
And fall.
These forms do take quite a bit of patience and diligence to craft, and I applaud any contemporary poet that takes them on. I’ve always loved sestinas and villanelles, but I can’t seem to write them well. It’s something that will take a lot of practice.
For the GLOBAL giveaway:
Tell me which of these forms you would find hardest to write and why.
or
Provide an example of one of your favorite poems in one of these forms.
Deadline is Sept. 19, 2010, at 11:59PM EST
Books up for Grabs:
1. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
2. The Tudor Rose by Margaret Campbell Barnes
About the Author:
