Hungary: Balassi Stanza

[Tinker]

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry
Slavic Verse

The Balassi Stanza is attributed to Bálint Balassi (1554-1594) who is probably Hungary's best known Renaissance poet. His work included poetry about his battles with the Turks and his love poems to a woman he called Julia. His poetry was known for the richness of its forms and was a blend of Turkish, Polish and Hungarian folk poetry.

The elements of the Balassi Stanza are:

1. stanzaic, written as a line which can be broken into a tercet at the rhyme. Any number of lines or tercets may be written.
2. syllabic, a line of 19 syllables which can be broken into a tercet of 6-6-7 syllables per line.
3. rhymed, internal rhyme at the 6th and 12th syllables and the end rhyme of the line is the end rhyme of subsequent lines. When broken into tercets, the rhyme scheme is bbA ccA ddA etc.
   
   Magic of the Muse by Judi Van Gorder
   
   Cracking open a book of poems, the first look inside serves up a foretaste.
   A flip of the slick page made to entice, engage the eager reader, posthaste.
   The words are all in line, meter and rhyme combine with an inspiration graced.

   or

   Magic of the Muse
   
   Cracking open a book
   of poems, the first look
   inside serves up a foretaste.
   A flip of the slick page
   made to entice, engage
   the eager reader, posthaste.
   The words are all in line,
   meter and rhyme combine
   with an inspiration graced.

Belarus
Czech
Georgia
Latvia
Russia
Ukraine