Xenophanes was an ancient Ionian/Greek philosopher and poet who lived roughly at the same time as Homer and Hesiod – in the pre-Socratic era of philosophy. While his name may be lesser known, his influence on philosophy and literature is not. His writing (such that remains; he eccentrically wrote almost nothing down) is marked by…
W: Wayra
The Wayra (Quechua – wind ) is a popular verse form of Peru and Bolivia. It appears it originated in an indigenous Quechua language but has found its way into Spanish literature. It is a short syllabic verse form (a pentastich) found at some sites around the internet. Seaside I dream of Puri Where you wait, surfboard…
V: Villanelle
A Villanelle is 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. Remember “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas? That’s a…
U: Unrhymed
Unrhymed poetry, also known as blank verse or free verse. For more on this here’s a site to visit: https://allpoetry.com/column/7541893-Types-of-unrhymed-poetry–by-Linda-Marshall. VEGETARIAN Knife poised I stare At the avocado All set to pierce the scaly skin Scoop out the ripe flesh.. Did it die When you plucked it from the tree? Or, am I the only…
T: Triolet
A Triolet is a poetic form consisting of only 8 lines. Within a Triolet, the 1st, 4th, and 7th lines repeat, and the 2nd and 8th lines do as well. The rhyme scheme is simple: ABaAabAB, capital letters representing the repeated lines. PAINTING If my poems painted a picture what a masterpiece I could write….
Little Big Mouth
I want to write poetry Like the masters write them Supplicate thoughts for sounds And emotions for words I want to write like I feel Like when the bitch in me Finds a dog burrowing in the sand Only the sand is not the coarse yellow soil It is the sky. And the dog…
S: Senryu
Senryu (also called human haiku) is an unrhymed Japanese verse consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables (5, 7, 5) or 17 syllables in all. Senryu is usually written in the present tense and only references to some aspect of human nature or emotions. They possess no references to the natural world and…
R: Rondel
Rondels are a French form of poetry, consisting of 13 lines: two quatrains and a quintet, rhyming as follows: ABba abAB abbaA. The capital letters are the refrains, or repeats. The recent events surrounding rape and the following outcry in India has been on my mind a lot. There is much I have to say…
Q: Quinzaine
The English word quinzaine come from the French word qunize, meaning fifteen. A quinzaine is an unrhymed verse of fifteen syllables. These syllables are distributed among three lines so that there are seven syllables in the first line, five in the second line and three in the third line (7/5/3). The first line makes a statement. The next…
P: Pantoum
A pantoum is a Malaysian verse form adapted by French poets and occasionally imitated in English. It comprises a series of quatrains, with the second and fourth lines of each quatrain repeated as the first and third lines of the next. The second and fourth lines of the final stanza repeat the first and third…
O: Oddquain
An Oddquain is a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of seventeen syllables distributed 1, 3, 5, 7, 1in five lines, developed by Glenda L. Hand. Cry no more tears in the looking glass all you need is to be you. Pure.
N: Nocturna
Nocturna has an interesting history. The word was first used by Christians and was a form of night prayers. Later, it appeared in the 18th century and was derived from the French ‘nocturnal’ and was usually music inspired by the night and played at evening parties. During that time poetry was also recited. The painter…
