Tinker Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Explore the Craft of Writing PoetryThe FrameV. Five Line ConstructionThe Cinquain, Quintain, and Quintet are terms which are French, Latin, and Italian for any five-line poetic thought unit or stanza. These terms are synonymous and infer that the unit is written adjacent to other stanzas. "Cinquain" is the word most commonly used. The terms can also refer to a stand-alone five line poem. However, Pentastich is technically the term reserved for a stand-alone five line poem. Five line stanzas or poems are much less popular in English poetry than the couplet, tercet, and quatrain. Asian poetry uses five line poetic units extensively. There could be some confusion when using the term cinquain since beside the generic definition, there is a popular verse form created by American poet, Adelaide Crapsey which she named simply the "Cinquain". Some call it the Crapsey Cinquain, which I use in this forum to distinguish it from all other generic cinquains. There is also a much older French form referred to simply as the "Cinquain" which was recreated and popularized by Victor Hugo in the 19th century. For clarity, I refer to it as the Traditional Cinquain in the style of Victor Hugo. I have included the various five-line stanzas in the forums for their nation of origin. Some of the more popular are: Arkaham Ballad Bob and Wheel Clogyrnach Crapsey Cinquain English Quintet Envelope Quintet Lira Limerick Madsong Stanza Quintilla Flamenca or Seguidilla Gitana Sicilian Quintet Tanka Cinquain - Traditional Waka Ya Du ~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~ For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinker Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 #5 ~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~ For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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