Embedded Files
received or inherited shapes that poems occupy, adapt to, and savor
Sestina (VA)
Sestina (VA)
Villanelle (TB)
Villanelle (TB)
Definition:
A French verse form consisting of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain, with the first and third lines of the first stanza repeating alternately in the following stanzas. These two refrain lines form the final couplet in the quatrain. (The Poetry Foundation).
The structure is: A(1) b A(2) / a b A(1) / a b A(2) / a b A(1) / a b A(2) / a b A(1) A(2).
History:
It appeared in the 16th century, not as a poetic form but more as a type of song. Joachim du Bellay wrote some poems that resemble a villanelle (including a poem titled Villanelle). In the 18th century, it was defined as a “peasant song,” but later grammarians and poets began to define what a villanelle was as a poetic form. However, the villanelle declined in French poetry after the 19th century, while it found fertile ground in American poetry in the 20th century.
My Response:
I did not know Villanelle was a French form since it is not a common form nowadays. I assumed it was Italian by its name.
What is this poetic element like? (metaphor ou simile)
The villanelle form looks like a French braid, with an ornament piercing through it and holding the strands together.
Examples:
Villanelle of Change
By Edwin Arlington Robinson
Since Persia fell at Marathon,
The yellow years have gathered fast:
Long centuries have come and gone.
And yet (they say) the place will don
A phantom fury of the past,
Since Persia fell at Marathon;
And as of old, when Helicon
Trembled and swayed with rapture vast
(Long centuries have come and gone),
This ancient plain, when night comes on,
Shakes to a ghostly battle-blast,
Since Persia fell at Marathon.
But into soundless Acheron
The glory of Greek shame was cast:
Long centuries have come and gone,
The suns of Hellas have all shone,
The first has fallen to the last:—
Since Persia fell at Marathon,
Long centuries have come and gone.
FRENCH EXAMPLE BECAUSE I CAN:
Les Villanelles (1878)
by Joseph Boulmier
Pour faire une villanelle
Rime en ‘elle’ et rime en ‘in’
La méthode est simple et belle.
On dispose en kyrielle
Cinq tercets, plus un quatrain,
Pour faire une villanelle
Sur le premier vers en ‘elle’
Le second tercet prend fin ;
La méthode est simple et belle.
Le troisième vers, fidèle,
Alterne comme refrain
Pour faire une villanelle
La ronde ainsi s’entremêle ;
L’un, puis l’autre, va son train
La méthode est simple et belle.
La dernière ritournelle
Les voit se donner la main
La méthode est simple et belle
Pour faire une villanelle.
Notice how the last quatrain is not [a b A(1) A(2)] but [a b A(2) A(1)].
Also, this poem is metapoetic: it is a Villanelle about Villanelle.
Corona (GS)
Corona (GS)
Definition:
A corona, or crown of sonnets, are a sequence of sonnets, typically seven, addressing one person or thing. The first line of the sonnet is often repeated in the very last line, thus completing to circle of the crown (corona.)
History:
The first sonnets are traced back to Petrarch, but the first coronas originated also in Italy around the same time period, the thirteenth century with Guitonne d'Arezzo's poem, Del Carnae Amore. Since, the form has dispersed across the world, becoming almost as ubiquitous as the sonnet itself.
My Response:
This seems like a really convenient way to utilize the sonnet form in a longer narrative which seems to be why it is typically done. I like the repetition of the ending and beginning lines because it really does continue the flow of the piece along with giving poets something they must seems to love which is the opportunity to take a phrase and interpret it in multiple ways.
What is this poetic element like?
If a sonnet was a skittle, then a corona is the bag of skittles, containing all the little similar delights in a nice, neat package.
Examples:
John Donne "La Corona"
LA CORONA.
I.
Deign at my hands this crown of prayer and praise,
Weaved in my lone devout melancholy,
Thou which of good hast, yea, art treasury,
All changing unchanged Ancient of days.
But do not with a vile crown of frail bays
Reward my Muse's white sincerity ;
But what Thy thorny crown gain'd, that give me,
A crown of glory, which doth flower always.
The ends crown our works, but Thou crown'st our ends,
For at our ends begins our endless rest.
The first last end, now zealously possess'd,
With a strong sober thirst my soul attends.
'Tis time that heart and voice be lifted high ;
Salvation to all that will is nigh.
2.
ANNUNCIATION.
Salvation to all that will is nigh ;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo ! faithful Virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb ; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He'll wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son, and Brother ;
Whom thou conceivest, conceived ; yea, thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother,
Thou hast light in dark, and shutt'st in little room
Immensity, cloister'd in thy dear womb.
3.
NATIVITY.
Immensity, cloister'd in thy dear womb,
Now leaves His well-beloved imprisonment.
There he hath made himself to his intent
Weak enough, now into our world to come.
But O ! for thee, for Him, hath th' inn no room ?
Yet lay Him in this stall, and from th' orient,
Stars, and wise men will travel to prevent
The effects of Herod's jealous general doom.
See'st thou, my soul, with thy faith's eye, how He
Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie ?
Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high,
That would have need to be pitied by thee ?
Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go,
With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe.
4.
TEMPLE.
With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe,
Joseph, turn back ; see where your child doth sit,
Blowing, yea blowing out those sparks of wit,
Which Himself on the doctors did bestow.
The Word but lately could not speak, and lo !
It suddenly speaks wonders ; whence comes it,
That all which was, and all which should be writ,
A shallow seeming child should deeply know ?
His Godhead was not soul to His manhood,
Nor had time mellow'd Him to this ripeness ;
But as for one which hath a long task, 'tis good,
With the sun to begin His business,
He in His age's morning thus began,
By miracles exceeding power of man.
5.
CRUCIFYING.
By miracles exceeding power of man,
He faith in some, envy in some begat,
For, what weak spirits admire, ambitious hate :
In both affections many to Him ran.
But O ! the worst are most, they will and can,
Alas ! and do, unto th' Immaculate,
Whose creature Fate is, now prescribe a fate,
Measuring self-life's infinity to span,
Nay to an inch. Lo ! where condemned He
Bears His own cross, with pain, yet by and by
When it bears him, He must bear more and die.
Now Thou art lifted up, draw me to Thee,
And at Thy death giving such liberal dole,
Moist with one drop of Thy blood my dry soul.
6.
RESURRECTION.
Moist with one drop of Thy blood, my dry soul
Shall—though she now be in extreme degree
Too stony hard, and yet too fleshly—be
Freed by that drop, from being starved, hard or foul,
And life by this death abled shall control
Death, whom Thy death slew ; nor shall to me
Fear of first or last death bring misery,
If in thy life-book my name thou enroll.
Flesh in that long sleep is not putrified,
But made that there, of which, and for which it was ;
Nor can by other means be glorified.
May then sin's sleep and death soon from me pass,
That waked from both, I again risen may
Salute the last and everlasting day.
7.
ASCENSION.
Salute the last and everlasting day,
Joy at th' uprising of this Sun, and Son,
Ye whose true tears, or tribulation
Have purely wash'd, or burnt your drossy clay.
Behold, the Highest, parting hence away,
Lightens the dark clouds, which He treads upon ;
Nor doth He by ascending show alone,
But first He, and He first enters the way.
O strong Ram, which hast batter'd heaven for me !
Mild Lamb, which with Thy Blood hast mark'd the path !
Bright Torch, which shinest, that I the way may see !
O, with Thy own Blood quench Thy own just wrath ;
And if Thy Holy Spirit my Muse did raise,
Deign at my hands this crown of prayer and praise.
Ghazal (IJ)
Ghazal (IJ)
Definition:
A ghazal is a poetic form made up of autonomous couplets linked by a strict rhyme and refrain pattern. Each couplet is self-contained but connected through form and theme. The rhyme scheme follows AA, BA, CA, DA…, where the second line of every couplet ends with the same refrain and is preceded by a rhyme. Traditionally, ghazals are written in a consistent meter, and the final couplet often includes the poet’s name. As described in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (Fourth Edition).
History:
The ghazal originated in Arabic poetry and was later refined in Persian and Urdu literary traditions, becoming one of the most important poetic forms in Islamic literary cultures. It was popularized by poets such as Rumi and Mirza Ghalib. The form entered Anglophone poetry in the twentieth century, where poets adapted its structure into English, sometimes loosening its strict formal constraints. Notable English-language practitioners include Agha Shahid Ali, who advocated for maintaining the traditional rules of the ghazal in English. The Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Foundation both emphasize the ghazal’s themes of love, loss, longing, and metaphysical reflection.
My Response:
What I find most interesting about the ghazal is how it holds together contradiction: each couplet stands alone; the repeated rhyme and refrain create a sense of unity.The repetition of the refrain can become almost hypnotic, reinforcing themes of longing or obsession.
What is this poetic element like?
The ghazal is often compared to forms like the sonnet or villanelle, which also use repetition and formal constraints. However, unlike those forms, the ghazal does not require a continuous argument or narrative. Instead, each couplet can shift in tone, subject, or perspective. As noted in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, this creates a tension between disunity and cohesion: the poem is held together not by narrative progression but by formal repetition and thematic resonance.
Example:
From Agha Shahid Ali, “Even the Rain”:
What will suffice for a true-love knot? Even the rain?
But he has bought grief’s lottery, bought even the rain.
“Our glosses wanting in this world”—“Can you remember?”
Anyone! “when we thought the poets taught even the rain?”
Pantoum (WB)
Pantoum (WB)
Definition:
The pantoum is a poem of repeating quatrains in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and third lines of the next. This pattern continues through the poem, with the final stanza recycling lines from the previous one, often including the poem’s opening line. Repeated lines ideally gain new meaning through punctuation, wordplay, or context, creating a shifting, echoing effect.
Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantoum
History:
The pantoum originated in fifteenth-century Malaysia as a short folk poem of two rhyming couplets that were recited or sung. As the form spread to Europe, writers adapted it and the emphasis on strict rhyme and brevity weakened. It became popular among nineteenth-century French and British writers like Charles Baudelaire and Victor Hugo, and later among American poets such as Anne Waldman and Donald Justice
Source: https://poets.org/glossary/pantoum
My Response:
I find the pantoum very intriguing because of the strategic yet random pattern that you see with the repetition. I think this unlocks a lot of different meanings within the poem, as the context is always shifting while using repeated lines.
What is this poetic element like?
This reminds me of a conversation that loops back to earlier thoughts because, when people talk, they often return to ideas they already mentioned. As the conversation continues, those ideas take on slightly different meanings depending on what has been said in between. In the same way, the repetition in the poem feels like revisiting a thought and understanding it a little differently each time.
Example:
Pantoum by Sandra Lim
Taking on an aspect of the Orient,
Skies full of hatchets and oranges
Love, uninvited, hangs in the blood:
But what is a kingdom to a dying emperor?
Skies full of hatchets and oranges
Keep the birds singing, sorrows fresh—
But what is a kingdom to a dying emperor,
As the nights grow steadily into mountains.
Keep the birds singing, sorrows fresh—
The princess braids these into a necklace
As the nights grow steadily into mountains,
Why, even regrets recede unexpectedly.
The princess braids these into a necklace:
Roads and rivers that lead away from the palace.
Why, even regrets recede unexpectedly
In a solitude full of wars and songs.
Roads and rivers that lead away from the palace
Never converge in that vast landscape;
In a solitude full of wars and songs,
The words remain light and fugitive.
Never converge in that vast landscape
In the way that stars keep their distance.
The words remain light and fugitive
In an anticipation crossed with absence.
In the way that stars keep their distance,
Love, uninvited, hangs in the blood
In an anticipation crossed with absence,
Taking on an aspect of the Orient.
The Golden Shovel (BW)
The Golden Shovel (BW)
Definition:
A fixed form where the last word of each line forms a complete line of a different poem that is, often times, but not restricted to, one of Gwendolyn Brooks' poems. It is similar to a cento form, which is a form that is comprised of other poets' lines, or an acrostic poem where the first letter of each line spells out a word.
History:
The Golden Shovel is a contemporary form created by Terrence Hayes as a homage to Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "We Real Cool." The original Golden Shovel, by Hayes, happens to be called "The Golden Shovel."
My Response:
I think this is a good poetic form to pay tribute to the poets that inspire your writing and also to interact with the existing poetic world. It makes it so that one poem can lead to a Golden Shovel, which might lead to another Golden Shovel based on that one.
What is this poetic element like?
This poetic form, when you recognize it, looks like an extra dimension has been added to the original poem. The last lines are poetry by themselves, so when someone writes a Golden Shovel, it could be seen as "turning" the poem to the side, revealing hidden possibilities. After turning it and seeing all of the lines created by the second poet, it looks like the imaginary number line springing out the top of a whole number line.
Example:
The Golden Shovel
By Terrance Hayes
after Gwendolyn Brooks
When I am so small Da’s sock covers my arm, we
cruise at twilight until we find the place the real
men lean, bloodshot and translucent with cool.
His smile is a gold-plated incantation as we
drift by women on bar stools, with nothing left
in them but approachlessness. This is a school
I do not know yet. But the cue sticks mean we
are rubbed by light, smooth as wood, the lurk
of smoke thinned to song. We won’t be out late.
Standing in the middle of the street last night we
watched the moonlit lawns and a neighbor strike
his son in the face. A shadow knocked straight
Da promised to leave me everything: the shovel we
used to bury the dog, the words he loved to sing
his rusted pistol, his squeaky Bible, his sin.
The boy’s sneakers were light on the road. We
watched him run to us looking wounded and thin.
He’d been caught lying or drinking his father’s gin.
He’d been defending his ma, trying to be a man. We
stood in the road, and my father talked about jazz,
how sometimes a tune is born of outrage. By June
the boy would be locked upstate. That night we
got down on our knees in my room. If I should die
before I wake. Da said to me, it will be too soon.
Triolet (LB)
Triolet (LB)
Definition: A triolet is almost always a one stanza poem of eight lines, though stanzas with as few as seven lines and as many as nine or more have appeared in its history.
Source: Triolet - Wikipedia
History: The triolet is a close cousin of the rondeau, the rondel, and the rondelet, other French verse forms emphasizing repetition and rhyme. The form stems from medieval French poetry and seems to have had its origin in Picardy.
Source: Triolet - Wikipedia
My Response: The history of this form of poetry, being from France, is super interesting. Throughout my time as a student, I have seen my peers write poems that follow a fixed stanza amount, and it always makes their writing more interesting in my opinion.
What is this poetic element like? Like the history section stated, the triolet is closley related to the rondeau, the rondel, and the rondelet.
Example:
Farewell all earthly joys and care
Worldly designs, fears, hopes, farewell!
Farewell all earthly joys and cares!
On nobler thoughts my soul shall dwell,
Worldly designs, fears, hopes, farewell!
At quiet, in my peacefull cell,
I'll think on God, free from your snares;
Worldly designs, fears, hopes, farewell!
Farewell all earthly joys and cares
Source:Triolet - Wikipedia
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