Glossary of Poetry Forms

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CHAUCERIAN MADRIGAL

An English Madrigal as inspired by Chaucer (sometimes called a Short English Madrigal). The elements are: (1) a poem in 13 lines (a tercet, quatrain, and sixain, in that order), (2) metered, iambic pentameter, and (3) refrain with rhyme scheme A/B1/B2 (tercet), a/b/A/B1 (quatrain), a/b/b/A/B1/B2 (sixain), where caps are repeated lines.

CINQUAIN

The modern form, known as American cinquain, was developed by Adelaide Crapsey (see 1922 Perscribo collection Verse). The first form is a stanza of five lines of accentual verse, in which the lines comprise, in order, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1 stresses. Then Crapsey decided to make the criterion a stanza of five lines of accentual-syllabic verse, in which the lines comprise, in order, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1 stresses and 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 syllables. Iambic feet were meant to be the standard for the cinquain, which made the dual criteria match perfectly. Some resource materials define classic cinquains as solely iambic, but that is not necessarily so. In contrast to the Eastern forms upon which she based them, Crapsey always titled her cinquains, effectively utilizing the title as a sixth line. Crapsey's cinquain depends on strict structure and intense physical imagery to communicate a mood or feeling.

HAIKU

Originally from Japan, haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 phonetic units in a 5, 7, 5 pattern that includes a kireji, or "cutting word"; and a kigo, or seasonal reference. However, haiku by classical Japanese poets, such as Matsuo Bashō, also deviate from the 17-on pattern and sometimes do not contain a kireji. Haiku in English and haiku in other languages have different styles and traditions while still incorporating aspects of the traditional haiku form. In Japanese, haiku are traditionally printed as a single line, while haiku in English often appear as three lines, although variations exist.

TRIOLET

A triolet is almost always a stanza poem of eight lines, though stanzas with as few as seven lines and as many as nine or more have appeared in its history. Its rhyme scheme is ABaAabAB (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim) and often in 19th century English triolets all lines are in iambic tetrameter, though in traditional French triolets, from the 17th century on, the second, sixth and eighth lines tend to be iambic trimeters followed by one amphibrachic foot each. In French terminology, a line ending in an iambic foot was denoted as masculine, while a line ending in an amphibrachic foot was called feminine. Depending on the language and era, other meters are seen, even in French. The first, fourth and seventh lines are identical, as are the second and final lines, thereby making the initial and final couplets identical as well. In a traditional French triolet, the second and third non-repeating lines rhyme with the repeating first, fourth, and seventh lines, while the non-repeating sixth line rhymes with the second and eighth repeating lines. However, especially in German triolets of the 18th and 19th centuries, one will see this pattern often violated.

VILLANELLE

A nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third lines of the first tercet repeated alternately at the end of each subsequent stanza until the last stanza, which includes both repeated lines.