Terzanelle

[Tinker]

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry
Invented Forms

The Terzanelle is a verse form which is a cross between a Terza Rima and a Villanelle. Both the Italian and the French have been given credit for this form probably because of the original forms. However, it appears to have been the creation of “Forms Guru”, Lewis Turco.  It merges the interlocking tercets with the tumbling repeated lines.

The elements of the Terzanelle are:

1. a poem in 19 lines made up of 5 tercets and ends with a quatrain.
2. metered, most commonly iambic pentameter however if you stray, lines should be of equal length.
3. rhymed A¹BA² bCB cDC dED eFE fA¹FA². Caps are repeated lines.
4. L1 is repeated in L17, L2 is repeated in L6, L3 repeated L19, L5 repeated in L9, L8 repeated in L12, L11 repeated in L18.

[Tinker]

Bump