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Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry English Verse English Poets Emulated There are many lesser known stanzaic patterns and verse forms projacked and styled after published poems, then named for the poet. These stanzaic patterns appear to have been invented as teaching tools and published in Pathways for a Poet by Viola Berg 1977. Here are a few named for English poets: The Abercrombie is a stanza pattern using sprung rhythm and an interlocking rhyme scheme. It is patterned after Hymn to Love by British poet, Lascelles Abacrombie (1881-1938). The elements of the Abercrombie are: stanzaic, written in any number of octaves made up of 2 quatrains. metric, written in sprung rhythm with L1,L3,L5,L7 are pentameter, L2 & L6 are tetrameter and L4 & L8 is trimeter. rhymed, interlocking rhyme scheme abac dbdc, efeg hfhg, etc. L4 and L8 are feminine rhyme. The interlocking rhyme is within the octave and does not extend to the next octave. Hymn to Love by Lascelles Abercrombie We are thine, O Love, being in thee and made of thee, As théou, Léove, were the déep thought And we the speech of the thought; yea, spoken are we, Thy fires of thought out-spoken: But burn'd not through us thy imagining Like fiérce méood in a séong céaught, We were as clamour'd words a fool may fling, Loose words, of meaning broken. For what more like the brainless speech of a fool, The lives travelling dark fears, And as a boy throws pebbles in a pool Thrown down abysmal places? Hazardous are the stars, yet is our birth And our journeying time theirs; As words of air, life makes of starry earth sweet soul-delighted faces; As voices are we in the worldly wind; The great wind of the world's fate Is turn'd, as air to a shapen sound, to mind And marvellous desires. But not in the world as voices storm-shatter'd, Not borne down by the wind's weight; The rushing time rings with our splendid word Like darkness fill'd with fires. For Love doth use us for a sound of song, And Love's meaning our life wields, Making our souls like syllables to throng His tunes of exultation, Down the blind speed of a fatal world we fly, As rain blown along earth's fields; Yet are we god-desiring liturgy, Sung joys of adoration; Yea, made of chance and all a labouring strife, We go charged with a strong flame; For as a language Love hath seized on life His burning heart to story. Yea, Love, we are thine, the liturgy of thee, Thy thought's golden and glad name, The mortal conscience of immortal glee, Love's zeal in Love's own glory. The Arnold is a stanzaic pattern that links stanzas with rhyme. It is named for English poet Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) and patterned after his poem The Hymn of Empedocles. Arnold was actually better known for writing the classic Dover Beach. The elements of the Arnold are: stanzaic, written in any even number of cinquains. metered, L1 through L4 are trimeter, L5 is hexameter. rhymed. L1 through L4 are alternating rhyme, L5 rhymes with line 5 of the next stanza. The L5 rhyme changes every 2 stanzas. Rhyme scheme: ababc dedec fgfgh ijijh etc. L1 through L4 are indented 9 spaces. Now that is getting specific. The Hymn of Empedocles by Mathew Arnold IS it so small a thing To have enjoy'd the sun, To have lived light in the spring, To have loved, to have thought, to have done; To have advanced true friends, and beat down baffling foes; That we must feign a bliss Of doubtful future date, And while we dream on this Lose all our present state, And relegate to worlds yet distant our repose? Not much, I know, you prize What pleasures may be had, Who look on life with eyes Estranged, like mine, and sad: And yet the village churl feels the truth more than you; Who 's loth to leave this life Which to him little yields: His hard-task'd sunburnt wife, His often-labour'd fields; The boors with whom he talk'd, the country spots he knew. But thou, because thou hear'st Men scoff at Heaven and Fate; Because the gods thou fear'st Fail to make blest thy state, Tremblest, and wilt not dare to trust the joys there are. I say, Fear not! life still Leaves human effort scope. But, since life teems with ill, Nurse no extravagant hope. Because thou must not dream, thou need'st not then despair. The Binyon is an envelope verse form with refrain patterned after the poem O World, Be Nobler by 19th century English poet Laurence Binyon. Binyon is known as a World War I poet. O World, is not his best known work, he is better known for For the Fallen which is often used in military memorial services. The elements of the Binyon are: a heptastich, a poem in 7 lines. metered, iambic tetrameter. rhymed, rhyme scheme AbccbaA. composed with a refrain, the 1st line is repeated as the last line. O World, Be Nobler Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) O WORLD, be nobler, for her sake! If she but knew thee what thou art, What wrongs are borne, what deeds are done In thee, beneath thy daily sun, Know'st thou not that her tender heart For pain and very shame would break? O World, be nobler, for her sake! The Blunden is named for the English World War I poet, Edmund Blunden (1896- 1933 or 1974??), a stanzaic form with variable meter patterned after his poem The Survival. Blunden unlike most "War Poets", wrote about the loss of beauty in the war torn landscape of France. The easy rhythm of the form brings a kind of melancholy to the poem. This poem could almost be considered a débat. Two voices are heard, the mind's need to cope versus the soul's devastation at the mindless destruction. The elements of the Blunden are: metered, L1, L3, L4, L5 iambic tetrameter and L2, L6 iambic trimeter. stanzaic, any number of sexains or sixains (6 line stanzas). rhymed, rhyme scheme abccab deffde etc. The Survival by Edmund Blunden To-day's house makes to-morrow's road; I knew these heaps of stone When they were walls of grace and might, The country's honour, art's delight That over fountain'd silence show'd Fame's final bastion. Inheritance has found fresh work, Disunion union breeds; Beauty the strong, its difference lost, Has matter fit for flood and frost. Here's the true blood that will not shirk Life's new-commanding needs. With curious costly zeal, O man, Raise orrery and ode; How shines your tower, the only one Of that especial site and stone! And even the dream's confusion can Sustain to-morrow's road. The Bridges is a stanzaic form with a formal tone created by the long and short lines and exact rhyme scheme. It is patterned after Nightingales by English poet Robert Bridges(1844-1930). The elements of the Bridges are: stanzaic, written in any number of sixains. metered, L1,L2, L4 and L5 are loosely iambic pentameter and L3 and L6 are dimeter. rhymed, rhyme scheme aabccb ddeffe etc. Beyond London 1888 by Judi Van Gorder Nightingales by Robert Bridges BEAUTIFUL must be the mountains whence ye come, And bright in the fruitful valleys the streams, wherefrom Ye learn your song: Where are those starry woods? O might I wander there, Among the flowers, which in that heavenly air Bloom the year long! Nay, barren are those mountains and spent the streams: Our song is the voice of desire, that haunts our dreams, A throe of the heart, Whose pining visions dim, forbidden hopes profound, No dying cadence nor long sigh can sound For all our art. Alone, aloud in the raptured ear of men We pour our dark nocturnal secret; and then, As night is withdrawn From these sweet-springing meads and bursting boughs of May, Dream, while the innumerable choir of day Welcome the dawn. The de la Mare is a verse form patterned after Fare Well by English poet, Walter De La Mare (1873-1956).De La Mare is better known for his poem The Listeners. The elements of the de la Mare are: stanzaic, written in any number of octaves made up of 2 quatrains. metered, quatrains of 3 tetrameter lines followed by a dimeter line. rhymed, xaxaxbxb xcxcxdxd etc. x being unrhymed. composed with alternating feminine and masculine end words, only the masculine end words are rhymed. Fare Well by Walter de la Mare When I lie where shades of darkness Shall no more assail mine eyes, Nor the rain make lamentation When the wind sighs; How will fare the world whose wonder Was the very proof of me? Memory fades, must the remembered Perishing be? Oh, when this my dust surrenders Hand, foot, lip, to dust again, May these loved and loving faces Please other men! May the rusting harvest hedgerow Still the Traveller's Joy entwine, And as happy children gather Posies once mine. Look thy last on all things lovely, Every hour. Let no night Seal thy sense in deathly slumber Till to delight Thou have paid thy utmost blessing; Since that all things thou wouldst praise Beauty took from those who loved them In other days The de Tabley is a verse form patterned after Chorus from Medea by John Leicester Warren, Lord de Tabley (1835-1895). De Tabley's poetry reflected his study of the classics and his passion for detail. The elements of the de Tabley are: stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains. metric, alternating iambic pentameter and iambic trimeter lines. L1 of each stanza begins with a trochee Su. rhymed, rhymed scheme abab cdcd etc. Thread of Dreams by Judi Van Gorder Chorus from Medea by John Leicester Warren, Lord de Tabley SWEET are the ways of death to weary feet, Calm are the shades of men. The phantom fears no tyrant in his seat, The slave is master then. Love is abolish'd; well, that this is so; We knew him best as Pain. The gods are all cast out, and let them go! Who ever found them gain? Ready to hurt and slow to succour these; So, while thou breathest, pray. But in the sepulchre all flesh has peace; Their hand is put away. The Dixon measures the differences between masculine and feminine rhyme. Patterned after the poem The Feathers of the Willow by English poet, Richard Watson Dixon (1833-1900).The elements of the Dixon are: stanzaic, written in any number of sixains made up of 2 tercets. metered, trimeter rhymed, rhyme scheme aab ccb. The b rhymes are strong, masculine, the rhyme on a stressed end syllable. The a and c rhymes are feminine or falling rhymes, the rhyme is in the stressed syllable of an end word ending in an unstressed syllable. The Feathers of the Willow by Richard Watson Dixon THE feathers of the willow Are half of them grown yellow Above the swelling stream; And ragged are the bushes, And rusty now the rushes, And wild the clouded gleam. The thistle now is older, His stalk begins to molder, His head is white as snow; The branches all are barer, The linnet's song is rarer, The robin pipeth now. The Dobson is named for Henry Austin Dobson (1840-1921), 19th century English poet, patterned from his The Garden Song. Dobson was respected in his time for his use of French forms especially his mastery of the Triolet.The elements of the Dobson are: stanzaic, written in any number of sixains made up of 3 rhymed couplets. metered, most often written in tetrameter. rhymed, rhyme scheme aabbcc ddeeff et. A Garden Song by Henry Austin Dobson HERE in this sequester'd close Bloom the hyacinth and rose, Here beside the modest stock Flaunts the flaring hollyhock; Here, without a pang, one sees Ranks, conditions, and degrees. All the seasons run their race In this quiet resting place, Peach and apricot and fig Here will ripen and grow big; Here is store and overplus, More had not Alcinoüs! Here, in alleys cool and green, Far ahead the thrush is seen; Here along the southern wall Keeps the bee his festival; All is quiet else--afar Sounds of toil and turmoil are. Here be shadows large and long; Here be spaces meet for song; Grant, O garden-god, that I, Now that none profane is nigh, Now that mood and moment please, Find the fair Pierides! Wake Up Call by Judi Van Gorder The yellow daffodils appear, a season preview, Spring is near. Though winter's silence still is heard in time, new life is undeterred. Awake and open up your eyes the garden offers up the prize. Bodega Blues by Judi Van Gorder The Donne is named for the English Poet, John Donne (1573-1631) patterned after his A Hymn to God the Father. John Donne was known as a metaphysical poet and his poetic style directly influenced the poetry of the 16th century.The elements of the Donne are: stanzaic, written in any number of sixains. metered, L1 through L4 are pentameter, L5 tetrameter and L6 is dimeter. rhymed, with an alternating rhyme scheme ababab. The rhyme scheme maintains the same 2 rhymes throughout the poem ababab ababab etc. Hymn to God the Father by John Donne WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun, Which was my sin, though it were done before? Wilt Thou forgive that sin, through which I run, And do run still, though still I do deplore When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done, For I have more. Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won Others to sin, and made my sin their door? Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score? When thou hast done, thou hast not done, For I have more. I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun My last thread, I shall perish on the shore; But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore; And, having done that, thou hast done; I fear no more. Done Donne by Rex Allen Brewer How can I find a way to write like Donne, When comes the fun, who cracks the door? My words are poor, like weeds without the sun. I can't find rhyme or pun, I am a bore. I walk the floor, what have I won? Foul done, no score. The Dowson is patterned after the poem They Are Not Long, the Weeping and the Laughing by English poet Ernest Dowson (1867-1900). It is this poem that coined the phrase, "the days of wine and roses." As a side note,Dowson died at the age of 32 a direct result of his alcoholism. The elements of the Dowson are: stanzaic, 2 quatrains. metered, L1-L3 pentameter, L2 trimeter, L4 dimeter. rhymed abab cdcd, L1-L3 of each stanza ends in feminine rhyme and L2-L4 is masculine rhyme. They Are Not Long, The Weeping and the Laughing by Ernest Dowson They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, Love and desire and hate: I think they have no portion in us after We pass the gate. They are not long, the days of wine and roses: Out of a misty dream Our path emerges for awhile, then closes Within a dream. The Fletcher is a verse form that employs long and short lines, from the poem Away, Delights by John Fletcher (1579-1625) The elements of the Fletcher are: 2 octaves made up of 2 quatrains each. metered, L1, L3, L5, L8 are pentameter and L2, L4, L6, L7 are dimeter. rhymed ababcdcd efefghgh , L1 and L3 of each octave are feminine rhyme. Away,Delights! By John Fletcher AWAY, delights! go seek some other dwelling, For I must die. Farewell, false love! thy tongue is ever telling Lie after lie. For ever let me rest now from thy smarts; Alas, for pity go And fire their hearts That have been hard to thee! Mine was not so. Never again deluding love shall know me, For I will die; And all those griefs that think to overgrow me Shall be as I: For ever will I sleep, while poor maids cry-- 'Alas, for pity stay, And let us die With thee! Men cannot mock us in the clay.' The Gilbert is a verse form in which a theme reoccurs in different settings from stanza to stanza. It is named for William Schwenk Gilbert (1836-1911) of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, (operettas for which Gilbert provided the lyrics). The form is patterned after his poem The House of Peers. The elements of the Gilbert are: written in 3 septets. metered, L1,L3,L4,L6,L7 are tetrameter , L2 and L5 are trimeter. rhymed, rhyme scheme xabbacc xdeedff etc. x being unrhymed. The House of Peers by WS Gilbert When Britain really ruled the waves - (In good Queen Bess's time) The House of Peers made no pretense To intellectual eminence, Or scholarship sublime; Yet Britain won her proudest bays In good Queen Bess's glorious days! When Wellington thrashed Bonaparte, As every child can tell, The House of Peers, throughout the war, Did nothing in particular, And did it very well; Yet Britain set the world ablaze In good King George's glorious days! And while the House of Peers withholds Its legislative hand, And noble statesmen do not itch To interfere with matters which They do not understand, As bright will shine Great Britain's rays, As in King George's glorious days! The Herrick makes use of alternating feminine and masculine end words. It is a verse form named for Robert Herrick (1591-1674) and patterned after his poem To the Virgins to Make Much Time. The elements of the Herrick are: stanzaic, a poem of 4 quatrains. metered, alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines. Odd number lines are tetrameter ,even numbered lines are trimeter. rhyme, rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef ghgh. Odd numbered lines are masculine rhyme, even numbered lines have feminine rhyme. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick Gather ye rose-buds while ye may: Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he's a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he's to setting. That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer; But being spent, the worse, and worst Times still succeed the former. Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may go marry: For having lost but once your prime You may for ever tarry. The Kipling is a stanzaic form that uses anapestic and iambic meter with internal rhyme. Named for Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) and patterned after his poem L' Envoi. The elements of the Kipling are: stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains. metered, the odd numbered lines are hexameter, the even numbered lines are trimeter. The first metric foot of each line is an anapest followed by either 5 iambs or 2 iambs depending on the length of the line. rhymed, rhyme scheme aa-b-cc-b dd-e-ff-e etc. The odd numbered lines employ internal rhyme. L'Envoi by Rudyard Kipling There's a whisper down the field where the year has shot her yield, And the ricks stand gray to the sun, Singing: -- "Over then, come over, for the bee has quit the clover, And your English summer's done." You have heard the beat of the off-shore wind, And the thresh of the deep-sea rain; You have heard the song -- how long! how long? Pull out on the trail again! Ha' done with the Tents of Shem, dear lass, We've seen the seasons through, And it's time to turn on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail, Pull out, pull out, on the Long Trail -- the trail that is always new. It's North you may run to the rime-ringed sun, Or South to the blind Horn's hate; Or East all the way into Mississippi Bay, Or West to the Golden Gate; Where the blindest bluffs hold good, dear lass, And the wildest tales are true, And the men bulk big on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail, And life runs large on the Long Trail -- the trail that is always new. The days are sick and cold, and the skies are gray and old, And the twice-breathed airs blow damp; And I'd sell my tired soul for the bucking beam-sea roll Of a black Bilbao tramp; With her load-line over her hatch, dear lass, And a drunken Dago crew, And her nose held down on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail From Cadiz Bar on the Long Trail -- the trail that is always new. There be triple ways to take, of the eagle or the snake, Or the way of a man with a maid; But the fairest way to me is a ship's upon the sea In the heel of the North-East Trade. Can you hear the crash on her bows, dear lass, And the drum of the racing screw, As she ships it green on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail, As she lifts and 'scends on the Long Trail -- the trail that is always new? See the shaking funnels roar, with the Peter at the fore, And the fenders grind and heave ,And the derricks clack and grate, as the tackle hooks the crate, And the fall-rope whines through the sheave; It's "Gang-plank up and in," dear lass, It's "Hawsers warp her through!" And it's "All clear aft" on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail, We're backing down on the Long Trail -- the trail that is always new. O the mutter overside, when the port-fog holds us tied, And the sirens hoot their dread! When foot by foot we creep o'er the hueless viewless deep To the sob of the questing lead! It's down by the Lower Hope, dear lass, With the Gunfleet Sands in view, Till the Mouse swings green on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail, And the Gull Light lifts on the Long Trail -- the trail that is always new. O the blazing tropic night, when the wake's a welt of light That holds the hot sky tame, And the steady fore-foot snores through the planet-powdered floors Where the scared whale flukes in flame! Her plates are scarred by the sun, dear lass, And her ropes are taut with the dew, For we're booming down on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail, We're sagging south on the Long Trail -- the trail that is always new. Then home, get her home, where the drunken rollers comb, And the shouting seas drive by, And the engines stamp and ring, and the wet bows reel and swing, And the Southern Cross rides high! Yes, the old lost stars wheel back, dear lass, That blaze in the velvet blue. They're all old friends on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail, They're God's own guides on the Long Trail -- the trail that is always new. Fly forward, O my heart, from the Foreland to the Start -- We're steaming all-too slow, And it's twenty thousand mile to our little lazy isle Where the trumpet-orchids blow! You have heard the call of the off-shore wind, And the voice of the deep-sea rain; You have heard the song -- how long! how long? Pull out on the trail again! The Lord knows what we may find, dear lass, And The Deuce knows what we may do -- But we're back once more on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail, We're down, hull down on the Long Trail -- the trail that is always new. The Noyes is a stanzaic form using uneven short emphatic lines. It is named for English poet Alfred Noyes (1880-1958) patterned after Part II of his poem Art. Noyes is better known for The Highwayman. The elements of the Noyes are: stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains. metered, L1,L2,L4 are trimeter, L3 is monometer. abab cdcd efeg ghgh. Swiss Miss by Judi Van Gorder Art by Alfred Noyes I. Yes! Beauty still rebels! Our dreams like clouds disperse: She dwells In agate, marble, verse. No false constraint be thine! But, for right walking, choose The fine, The strict cothurnus, Muse. Vainly ye seek to escape The toil! The yielding phrase Ye shape Is clay, not chrysoprase. And all in vain ye scorn That seeming ease which ne'er Was born Of aught but love and care. Take up the sculptor's tool! Recall the gods that die To rule In Parian o'er the sky. II. Poet, let passion sleep Till with the cosmic rhyme You keep Eternal tone and time ,By rule of hour and flower, By strength of stern restraint And power To fail and not to faint. The task is hard to learn While all the songs of Spring Return Along the blood and sing. Yet hear from her deep skies, How Art, for all your pain, Still cries Ye must be born again! Reject the wreath of rose, Take up the crown of thorn That shows To-night a child is born. The far immortal face In chosen onyx fine Enchase, Delicate line by line. Strive with Carrara, fight With Parian, till there steal To light Apollo's pure profile. Set the great lucid form Free from its marble tomb To storm The heights of death and doom. Take up the sculptor's tool! Recall the gods that die To rule In Parian o'er the sky. The O'Shaughnessy is a verse form patterned after a single stanza in "Ode" by Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy (1844-1881). The elements of the O'Shaughnessy are: stanzaic, written in any number of octaves. metered, sprung rhythm, alternating trimeter and tetrameter lines. The odd number lines are trimeter and the even number lines are tetrameter. rhymed, rhyme scheme abababab. The odd numbered lines are feminine rhyme and the even numbered lines are masculine rhyme. Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy WE are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems. With wonderful deathless ditties We build up the world's great cities, And out of a fabulous story We fashion an empire's glory: One man with a dream, at pleasure, Shall go forth and conquer a crown; And three with a new song's measure Can trample an empire down. We, in the ages lying In the buried past of the earth, Built Nineveh with our sighing, And Babel itself with our mirth; And o'erthrew them with prophesying To the old of the new world's worth; For each age is a dream that is dying, Or one that is coming to birth. The Phillimore is a stanzaic form that moves from dimeter to pentameter and back again. It is named for John Swinnerton Phillimore (1873-1926) and patterned after his poem In a Meadow. The elements of the Phillimore are: stanzaic written in any number of octaves. (original poem has 6 octaves) metered, L1, L4,L6 and L8 are dimeter, L2,L3,L5, and L7 are pentameter. rhymed, aabbccdd. In a Meadow by John Swinnerton Phillimore THIS is the place Where far from the unholy populace The daughter of Philosophy and Sleep Her court doth keep, Sweet Contemplation. To her service bound Hover around The little amiable summer airs, Her courtiers. The deep black soil Makes mute her palace-floors with thick trefoil; The grasses sagely nodding overhead Curtain her bed; And lest the feet of strangers overpass Her walls of grass, Gravely a little river goes his rounds To beat the bounds. No bustling flood To make a tumult in her neighborhood, But such a stream as knows to go and come Discreetly dumb. Therein are chambers tapestried with weeds And screen'd with reeds; For roof the waterlily-leaves serene Spread tiles of green. The sun's large eye Falls soberly upon me where I lie; For delicate webs of immaterial haze Refine his rays. The air is full of music none knows what, Or half-forgot; The living echo of dead voices fills The unseen hills. I hear the song Of cuckoo answering cuckoo all day long: And know not if it be my inward sprite For my delight, Making remembered poetry As sound in the ear Like a salt savor poignant in the breeze. Dreams without sleep And sleep too clear for dreaming and too deep, And Quiet very large and manifold, About me rolled. Satiety, that momentary flower Stretched to an hour. These are her gifts that all mankind can use: And all refuse. The Russell is a verse form composed of three alternating rhyme quatrains written with the first 3 lines iambic pentameter and the fourth line iambic trimeter. It is patterned after The Great Breath by George William Russell (1867-1935), The elements of the Russell are: stanzaic, written in 3 quatrains. metered, L1-L3 are pentameter and L4 is trimeter. rhymed, rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef, The Great Breath by George William Russell ITS edges foam'd with amethyst and rose, Withers once more the old blue flower of day: There where the ether like a diamond glows, Its petals fade away. A shadowy tumult stirs the dusky air; Sparkle the delicate dews, the distant snows; The great deep thrills--for through it everywhere The breath of Beauty blows. I saw how all the trembling ages past, Molded to her by deep and deeper breath, Near'd to the hour when Beauty breathes her last And knows herself in death. The Stephens is a stanzaic form that uses alternating rising and falling end syllables and is patterned after The Watcher and named for the English poet verseJames Stephens (1882-1950). The elements of the Stephens are: stanzaic, written in any number of sixains. (original poem has 5 sixains) metered, dimeter. rhymed, ababxb cdcdxd etc. x being unrhymed. composed with feminine endings in the odd numbered lines L1, L3 and L5 and masculine rhyme in the even numbered lines L2, L4, L6. The Watcher by James Stephens A rose for a young head, A ring for a bride, Joy for the homestead Clean and wide Who's that waiting In the rain outside? A heart for an old friend, A hand for the new: Love can to earth lend Heaven's hue Who's that standing In the silver dew? A smile for the parting, A tear as they go, God's sweethearting Ends just so Who's that watching Where the black winds blow ? He who is waiting In the rain outside, He who is standing Where the dew drops wide, He who is watching In the wind must ride (Tho' the pale hands cling) With the rose And the ring And the bride, Must ride With the red of the rose, And the gold cf the ring, And the lips and the hair of the bride. The Stevenson is an invented verse form patterned after the poem, Requiem by Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish poet 1850-1894. The elements of the Stevenson are: an octastich (8 line poem) made up of 2 quatrains. metric, L1-L3 & L5-L7 are iambic tetrameter, L4 & L8 are iambic trimeter. rhymed, rhyme scheme aaabcccb. Requiem by Robert Lewis Stevenson 1879 Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This is the verse you grave for me: 'Here he lies where he longed to be; Here is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill.' The Swinburne is a stanzaic form patterned after Before the Mirror by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909). The elements of the Swinburne are: stanzaic, written in any number of septets. metric, L1,L3,L5, & L6 are trimeter, L2 & L4 are dimeter, and L7 is pentameter. rhymed ababccb dedeffe etc, L1 & L3 have feminine or falling rhyme. Before the Mirror, Part I by Algernon Charles Swinburne I. White rose in red rose-garden Is not so white; Snowdrops that plead for pardon And pine for fright Because the hard East blows Over their maiden rows Grow not as this face grows from pale to bright. Behind the veil, forbidden Shut up from sight, Love, is there sorrow hidden, Is there delight? Is joy thy dower or grief, White rose of weary leaf, Late rose whose life is brief, whose loves are light? Soft snows that hard winds harden Till each flake bite Fill all the flowerless garden Whose flowers took flight Long since when summer ceased, And men rose up from feast, And warm west wind grew east, and warm day night. The Tennyson is a stanzaic form patterned after Ask Me No More by English poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson (1802-1892). The elements of the Tennyson are: stanzaic, written in any number of cinquains. metric, iambic, L1-L4 are pentameter and L5 is dimeter. rhymed, rhyme scheme abbaC deedC fggfC etc. written in with L5 as a refrain repeated from stanza to stanza. From the Heart by Judi Van Gorder Ask Me No More by Alfred Lord Tennyson Ask me no more: the moon may draw the sea; The cloud may stoop from heaven and take the shape, With fold to fold, of mountain or of cape; But O too fond, when have I answer'd thee? Ask me no more. Ask me no more: what answer should I give? I love not hollow cheek or faded eye: Yet, O my friend, I will not have thee die! Ask me no more, lest I should bid thee live; Ask me no more. Ask me no more: thy fate and mine are seal'd: I strove against the stream and all in vain: Let the great river take me to the main: No more, dear love, for at a touch I yield; Ask me no more. The Thorley is a stanzaic form patterned after the poem Chant for Reapers, by English poet, Wilfred Thorley 1878. The elements of the Thorley are: stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains. metred, accentual with alternating lines of L1 & L3 with 5 heavy stesses and L2 & L4 with 3 heavy stresses. The trimeter lines have feminine endings. unrhymed. Chant for Reapers by Wilfred Thorley WHY do you hide, O dryads! when we seek Your healing hands in solace? Who shall soften like you the places rough? Who shall hasten the harvest? Why do you fly, O dryads! when we pray For laden boughs and blossom? Who shall quicken like you the sapling trees? Who shall ripen the orchards? Bare in the wind the branches wave and break, The hazel nuts are hollow. Who shall garner the wheat if you be gone? Who shall sharpen his sickle? Wine have we spilt, O dryads! on our knees Have made you our oblation. Who shall save us from dearth if you be fled? Who shall comfort and kindle? Sadly we delve the furrows, string the vine Whose flimsy burden topples. Downward tumble the woods if you be dumb, Stript of honey and garland. Why do you hide, O dryads! when we call, With pleading hands up-lifted? Smile and bless us again that all be well; Smile again on your children. The Trench is an invented stanzaic form patterned after 20th century, Irish poet, Herbert Trench's A Charge, Ode From Italy in a Time of War. Trench was known for his love poems. The elements of the Trench are: stanzaic, may be written in any number of cinquains. metered, L1, L2, L4 pentameter, L3 dimeter, L5 trimeter. rhymed axbab, cxdcd etc… x being unrhymed. A Charge, Ode From Italy in a Time of War by Herbert Trench 1915 If thou hast squander'd years to grave a gem Commission'd by thy absent Lord, and while 'Tis incomplete, Others would bribe thy needy skill to them Dismiss them to the street! Should'st thou at last discover Beauty's grove, At last be panting on the fragrant verge, But in the track, Drunk with divine possession, thou meet Love Turn at her bidding back. When round thy ship in tempest Hell appears, And every spectre mutters up more dire To snatch control And loose to madness thy deep-kennell'd Fears Then to the helm, O Soul! Last; if upon the cold green-mantling sea Thou cling, alone with Truth, to the last spar, Both castaway, And one must perish let it not be he Whom thou art sworn to obey! The Yeats is a verse form patterned after Where My Books Go by Irish poet, William Butler Yeats. (1865-1939) The elements of the Yeats are: an octastich, a poem in 8 lines. metric, accentual 3 heavy stresses per line. rhymed, rhyme scheme xaxaxaxa x being unrhymed. The odd numbered lines have feminine or falling end syllables. Where My Books Go by William Butler Yeats All the words that I utter, And all the words that I write, Must spread out their wings untiring, And never rest in their flight, Till they come where your sad, sad heart is, And sing to you in the night, Beyond where the waters are moving, Storm-darken'd or starry bright.

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry The Sonnet Sonnet Comparison Chart The Sonnet is probably one of the most popular verse forms written. Several noted poets have tried their hand and offered a slightly skewed rhyme scheme or stanza arrangement to some of their sonnets resulting in someone emulating and naming the sonnet frame after the poet. Are they legitimate separate sonnet forms or are they simply variations of the Petrarchan or Shakespearean forms, who is to say? Here are a few that you may run across. The American Sonnet or Percival's Sonnet named for James Gates Percival's contributed sonnets with a loose metric rhythm consistent with American speech and a unique rhyme scheme. Percival, (1795-1856), American Poet and Geologist spent many years assisting Noah Webster and contributing to the development of the American Dictionary of the English Language of 1828. The elements of the American Sonnet or Percival's Sonnet are: a quatorzain made up of a quatrain followed by 2 quintains metric, a loose pentameter. rhymed abba accca deeed pivot naturally sometime after the 9th line The Dreaming Soul by James Gates Percival O, there are moments when the dreaming soul Forgets the earth, and wanders far away Into some region of eternal day, Where the bright waves in calm and sunshine roll! Thither it wanders, and has reached a goal;- The good, the great, the beautiful, are there, And wreaths of victory crown their flowing hair; And as they move, such music fills the air As ne'er from fabled bower or cavern stole. Soft to the heart it winds, and hushes deep Its cares and sorrows. Thought then, fancy-free, Flies on from bliss to bliss, till, finding thee, It pauses, as the musk-rose charms the bee, Tranced as in happy dream of magic sleep. Byron's Sonnet is a sonnet form named from George Gordon, Lord Byron's attempts at expanding the rhyme from 2 to 3 rhymes in the octave of the Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet. George Gordon (1788-1824) English "romance" poet ( a bit of a rake, known for his many affairs) and parliamentarian is probably best known for writing the narrative Don Juan and the shorter lyrical work She Walks In Beauty. The elements of Byron's Sonnet are: a quatorzain made up of an octave followed by a sestet. metric, iambic pentameter. rhymed, rhyme scheme abba acca dedede pivot or volta between the octave and sestet. Sonnet to Chillon by George Gordon, Lord Byron Eternal spirit of the chainless mind! Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art, For there thy habitation is the heart, The heart which love of thee alone can bind; And when thy sons to fetters are consigned To fetters, and the damp vault's dayless gloom, Their country conquers with their martyrdom, And Freedom's fame finds wings on every wind. Chillon! thy prison is a holy place, And thy sad floor an altar, for 'twas trod, Until his very steps have left a trace Worn, as if thy cold pavement were a sod, By Bonnivard! - May none those marks efface! For they appeal from tyranny to God. Channing's Sonnet is a slight adjustment to the structure of the Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet. Instead of octave / sestet frame, the sestet is separated as two tercets. (and in reality is the how many view and write the sestet anyway) Modelled after some sonnets said to have been written by American Poet, Author, and Transcendentalist, William Ellery Channing (1818–1901). I have to admit that I don't know of the title of his sonnets with this frame and I was unable to find an example. Channing is probably better known for his biography of Henry Thoreau. I don't think this is really enough of an adjustment to include here as a separate sonnet form but there are other sites that list it. The elements are: framed with an octave followed by two tercets. Space separates the three stanzas. metric, iambic pentameter, rhymed, rhyme scheme abbaabba cde cde or abbaacca dee dff pivot sometime after the octave Frost's Sonnet couldn't be left off of this list even though it isn't a recognized sonnet frame and I am yet to find it listed elsewhere. Robert Frost, (1874 - 1063) American poet, often wrote in classic form but did create this unique frame for his famous poem The Oven Bird found in his second book North of Boston. The elements of Frost's Sonnet are: a quatorzain made up of a couplet, a sestet, a couplet and a quatrain in that order. metric, loose iambic pentameter rhymed, rhyme scheme aa bcbdcd ee fgfg pivot after the sestet. The Oven Bird by Robert Frost There is a singer everyone has heard. Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird, Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again. He says that leaves are old and that for flowers Mid-simmer is to spring as one to ten. He says the early petal-fall is past, When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers On sunny days a moment overcast; And comes that other fall we name the fall. He says the highway dust is overall. The bird would cease and he as other birds but that he knows in singing not to sing. The question that he frames in all but words Is what to make of a diminished thing. The Shelley Sonnet follows the octave sestet frame but the rhyme is interlocked . Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822) another of England's Romantic poets, is "regarded by some as among the finest lyric poets in the English language." Wikipedia. The elements of the Shelley Sonnet are: a quatorzain made up of 2 quatrains followed by 2 tercets. metric, iambic pentameter rhymed, rhyme scheme abab acdc ede fef pivot after the octave Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. Tennyson's Sonnet steps out of the 14 line standard adding a 15th line in an octave - septet frame. It also repeats specific end words within the frame. Alfred Lord Tennyson 1809 – 1892, the Victorian poet is among the most popular British poets of his time. The elements of the Tennyson's Sonnet are: framed with an octave followed by a septet (7 lines) not a sestet. metric, iambic pentameter rhymed, rhyme scheme a¹ba²cdccd efea²ba¹fe (the a rhyme is a repetition of end word only, not entire line) pivot after L10 The Kraken by Alfred Lord Tennyson Below the thunders of the upper deep; Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights About his shadowy sides: above him swell Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; And far away into the sickly light, From many a wondrous grot and secret cell Unnumbered and enormous polypi Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green. There hath he lain for ages and will lie Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep, Until the latter fire shall heat the deep; Then once by man and angels to be seen, In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

Explore the Craft of Writing Greek Verse An Idyll, from the Greek, eidyllion - "little picture" can be one of two genres of poetry. An Idyll can be a short pastoral poem, a fanciful poem describing an ideal country scene, with nymphs and shepherds frolicking in the field. The original "Idylls" date back to 300 B.C. by Greek poet, Theocritus. As a genre rather than verse or stanzaic form, the structure or frame is at the discretion of the poet. A pastoral Idyll is lyrical. Idyll by Sigfried Sassoon (English poet, 1886-1967) In the grey summer garden I shall find you With day-break and the morning hills behind you. There will be rain-wet roses; stir of wings; And down the wood a thrush that wakes and sings. Not from the past you'll come, but from that deep Where beauty murmurs to the soul asleep: And I shall know the sense of life re-born From dreams into the mystery of morn Where gloom and brightness meet. And standing there Till that calm song is done, at last we'll share The league-spread, quiring symphonies that are Joy in the world, and peace, and dawn's one star. An Idyll can also be an epic poem, a longer poem that tells a story about ancient heroes. The structure of which is at the discretion of the poet. An epic Idyll is a narrative. Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Match'd with an agèd wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees: All times I have enjoyed Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea: I am become a name; For always roaming with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known; cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honour'd of them all; And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades For ever and forever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use! As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life Were all too little, and of one to me Little remains: but every hour is saved From that eternal silence, something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were For some three suns to store and hoard myself, And this gray spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. This is my son, mine own Telemachus, To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,— Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil This labour, by slow prudence to make mild A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees Subdue them to the useful and the good. Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere Of common duties, decent not to fail In offices of tenderness, and pay Meet adoration to my household gods, When I am gone. He works his work, I mine. There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners, Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me— That ever with a frolic welcome took The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old; Old age hath yet his honor and his toil; Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 'T is not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Explore the Craft of Writing Greek Verse Alcaics "gives an impression of wonderful vigour and spontaneity". The 1911 Edition Encyclopedia. The stanzaic form is attributed to the poet Alceaus 6th century BC and is an Aeolic classic meter. The elements of the Alcaics stanzaic form are: stanzaic, any number of quatrains may be written. metric, quantitative verse. The first 3 lines are 5 metric feet and the last line, 4 metric feet with a specific combination of trochees and dactyls. There are variations on the rhythm of the Alcaics quatrain but the following (one source refers to it as the dactyl Alcaic quatrain) seems to me the most common as demonstrated in Alfred Lord Tennyson's Milton. (acephalous refers to the missing 1st syllable of an iambic foot) L1 & L2 acephalous iamb, 2 trochees and 2 dactyls; L3 acephalous iamb, 4 trochees; L4 2 dactyls 2 trochees in that order Quantitative Verse L-Ls-Ls-Lss-Lss L-Ls-Ls-Lss-Lss L-Ls-Ls-Ls-Ls Lss-Lss-Ls-Ls Milton Part I by Alfred Lord Tennyson 1891 O mighty-mouth'd inventor of harmonies, O skill'd to sing of Time or Eternity, God-gifted organ-voice of England, Milton, a name to resound for ages; Whose Titan angels, Gabriel, Abdiel, Starr'd from Jehovah's gorgeous armories, Tower, as the deep-domed empyrean Rings to the roar of an angel onset-- Me rather all that bowery loneliness, The brooks of Eden mazily murmuring, And bloom profuse and cedar arches Charm, as a wanderer out in ocean, Where some refulgent sunset of India Streams o'er a rich ambrosial ocean isle, And crimson-hued the stately palm-woods Whisper in odorous heights of even.

Explore the Craft of Writing Greek Poetry The Classical Hendecameter is one of the 4 classic meters of Aeolic verse from the 8th-6th centuries BC Greek Dark Ages. It was used generously many centuries later by the Engish poet Alfred Lord Tennyson. It is an 11 syllable line written with a trochee followed by a dactyl and 3 trochees in that order. The first and last trochees can be spondees. In Greek, quantitative verse Ls-Lss-Ls-Ls-Ls L= long sound or syllable s= short sound or syllable or LL-Lss-Ls-Ls-LL In English accentual syllabic verse applies Su-Suu-Su-Su-Su S= stressed syllable u= unstressed syllable or SS-Suu-Su-Su-SS Milton Part II Hendecasyllabics -- Alfred Lord Tennyson 1891 O you chorus of indolent reviewers, Irresponsible, indolent reviewers, Look, I come to the test, a tiny poem All composed in a meter of Catullus, All in quantity, careful of my motion, Like the skater on ice that hardly bears him, Lest I fall unawares before the people, Waking laughter in indolent reviewers. Should I flounder awhile without a tumble Thro' this metrification of Catullus, They should speak to me not without a welcome, All that chorus of indolent reviewers. Hard, hard, hard it is, only not to tumble, So fantastical is the dainty meter. Wherefore slight me not wholly, nor believe me Too presumptuous, indolent reviewers. O blatant Magazines, regard me rather - Since I blush to be laud myself a moment - As some rare little rose, a piece of inmost Horticultural art, or half-coquette-like Maiden, not to be greeted unbendingly. For Once, Then Something by Robert Frost Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs Always wrong to the light, so never seeing Deeper down in the well than where the water Gives me back in a shining surface picture Me myself in the summer heaven godlike Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs. Once, when trying with chin against a well-curb, I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture, Through the picture, a something white, uncertain, Something more of the depths—and then I lost it. Water came to rebuke the too clear water. One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple Shook whatever it was lay there at bottom, Blurred it, blotted it out. What was that whiteness? Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something.

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry The Frame IV. The Quatrain In Memoriam Stanza is a stanzaic form, specifically quatrains "suitable for successive, but independent quatrains of philosophical observations neatly placed in its own envelope" NPE0PP, patterned after Tennyson's In Memorium. The elements of the In Memoriam Stanza are: narrative verse, stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains, metered, iambic tetrameter. rhymed with envelope rhyme scheme abba cddc etc. Here is just a portion of this classic poem written after the death of Tennyson's friend Arthur Henry Hallam. The poem has a prologue, 131 stanzas and an epilogue. In Memorium; To Sleep and give my powers away; by Alfred Lord Tennyson(1809-1892) To Sleep I give my powers away; My will is bondsman to the dark; I sit within a helmless bark, And with my heart I muse and say: O heart, how fares it with thee now, That thou should fail from thy desire, Who scarcely darest to inquire, "What is it makes me beat so low?" Something it is which thou hast lost, Some pleasure from thine early years. Break thou deep vase of chilling tears, That grief hath shaken into frost! Such clouds of nameless trouble cross All night below the darkened eyes; With morning wakes the will, and cries, "Thou shalt not be the fool of loss."