Basic Poetic Forms

by Charles Rossiter

Copyright 2012 by Charles Rossiter
Smashwords Edition

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Introduction

As a poet I want nothing more than to write more and better poems. It’s a constant challenge, but it’s also one of the greatest pleasures life has to offer. Usually I write free verse, but occasionally I work with forms as a way to try to get poetic ideas.

For years I’ve carried a little card in my wallet with the rhyme schemes for some of the basic poetic forms. Now, with the e-reader option, it’s much easier to carry around more than just the rhyme scheme. This guide is designed to make it easy for you to have the forms at the ready whenever you want to refer to them. Whether you’re a student of creative writing, an experienced professional poet or someone who occasionally writes for personal pleasure, this guide is intended as an aid to increasing your poetic output. Which is to say, if you share my personal goal of writing more and better poems, this little guide is designed to help you do just that.

Those who teach will find the guide useful for students to keep at their fingertips to encourage their exploration of the many varied possibilities in poetry.

Each chapter in this brief guide includes a statement about the particular poetic form, the form briefly noted, and an example of the form. I use my poems for the examples, not because I’m suggesting that they’re great poems, but because I know how they were created and that means I can tell you a little more about them as examples of the form and of the creative process. Publication credits for poems that are previously published appear at the end of this manuscript.

If you find this little guide useful, I hope you’ll take a moment to post a review-comment to let others know. Information for contacting me with comments or questions appears at the end with the author bio.

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Chapter 1: Triolet (TREE-o lay)

We begin with the triolet because is both simple and complex. The triolet is short and relatively easy to write. However, because of what it requires, it is difficult to write a truly striking poem in the triolet form. Still, I recommend it as a good form to work with to strengthen your poetic muscles.

The triolet consists of eight lines based on two rhymes. There are the added requirements that the first line be repeated as the fourth and seventh line, and that the second line be repeated as the eighth line. This scheme will appear less complicated when shown in standard notation as follows.

A—1^st line; ends with any word
B—2^nd line; ends in any word
a—rhymes with 1st line
A—repeat of 1^st line
a—rhymes with 1^st line
b—rhymes with 2^nd line
A—repeat of 1^st line
B—repeat of 2^nd line

Here’s an example. I made this poem a triolet because I thought the repetition might deepen the quiet, nostalgic mood and emphasize the feelings I have for a very pleasant time in my life that I spent living near Lake Michigan.

Song of Then

A…I miss Lake Michigan;
B…big water makes me lazy.
a…It’s sad to never be so young again.
A…I miss Lake Michigan,
a…time spent there with friends
b…foghorns in morning haze,
A…I miss Lake Michigan
B…big water makes me lazy.

You’ll notice immediately that all of the end rhymes in the example are not “full rhymes.” “Lazy” is used to rhyme with “haze” and “friends” is used to rhyme with “Michigan.” Rhymes like these are called half-rhymes or slant-rhymes. They are perfectly acceptable and, in fact, are preferred by many poets. I like half-rhymes because I think they make poems more interesting.