Search the Community

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry The Frame VII. Seven Line Construction A seven-line poetic unit is termed a septet or a heptastich. The septet is a 7 line stanza, usually made up of quatrain and a tercet and written adjacent to other uniform stanzas. Technically a seven line stand-alone poem is termed a heptastich. Futility by Wilfred Owen World War I poet (1893-1918) Written the year he died in the trenches. Move him into the sun Gently its touch awoke him once, At home, whispering of fields unsown. Always it awoke him, even in France, Until this morning and this snow. If anything might rouse him now The kind old sun will know. Think how it wakes the seeds Woke, once, the clays of a cold star. Are limbs so dear-achieved, are sides Full-nerved, still warm, too hard to stir? Was it for this the clay grew tall? O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth's sleep at all? There are only a very few 7-line verse forms or stanzaic forms. Here are some of the most popular: Anna Atarlis Fileata The Binyon Cadence California Rhymed Stanza Cameo Canopus Clarity Pyramid Complex Allitersen Duni Epulaeryu The Gilbert Hourglass Lyrette Neville Rhyme Royal Rhyming Allitersen Rondelay Rondelet Septet I Sicilian Septet Sevenelle Seafonn Sept Verse Septanelle Septolet Sonnette Star Sevlin The Swinburne Tho Tam Chu #3 or Eight Word Verse Termelay Trinet Triquain @ Shadow Poetry Trolius Stanza Velancente Whitney