Poetry Forms

Front 1

Rondeau

Back 1

The rondeau consists of thirteen lines of eight syllables, plus two refrains (which are half lines, each of four syllables), employing, altogether, only three rhymes. It has three stanzas and its rhyme scheme is as follows: (1) A A B B A (2) A A B with refrain: C (3) A A B B A with concluding refrain C. The refrain must be identical with the beginning of the first line.

WE wear the mask that grins and lies, (A)
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— (A)
This debt we pay to human guile; (B)
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, (B)
And mouth with myriad subtleties. (A)
Why should the world be over-wise, (A)
In counting all our tears and sighs? (A)
Nay, let them only see us, while (B)
We wear the mask. (C)
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries (A)
To thee from tortured souls arise. (A)
We sing, but oh the clay is vile (B)
Beneath our feet, and long the mile; (B)
But let the world dream otherwise, (A)
We wear the mask! (C)

Front 2

Villanelle

Back 2

A1 (refrain)
b
A2 (refrain)

a
b
A1 (refrain)

a
b
A2 (refrain)

a
b
A1 (refrain)

a
b
A2 (refrain)

a
b
A1
A2 (refrain)

In the dark night we find fear
For shadows carry the unknown
With the coming of gloom nothing is clear.

Though we know that light must disappear
We still wish the sun had not flown
In the dark night we do find fear.

We wish to hold brightness near
But why does it always leave us alone?
With the coming of gloom nothing is clear.

It seems darkness can take what we hold dear
Before love has even grown.
In the dark night we do find fear.

At night we can find no cheer
Instead for our sins we try to atone
With the coming of gloom nothing is clear.

But still we remain here
As if the sun had never shone
In the dark night we do find fear
With the coming of gloom thing is clear.

Front 3

Pantoum

Back 3

1 2 3 4 - Lines in first quatrain.
2 5 4 6 - Lines in second quatrain.
5 7 6 8 - Lines in third quatrain.
7 9 8 10 - Lines in fourth quatrain.
9 3 10 1 - Lines in fifth and final quatrain.



It is composed of a series of quatrains; the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next.

This pattern continues for any number of stanzas, except for the final stanza, which differs in the repeating pattern.

In the last stanza, the first line of the poem becomes the second line of the final stanza, and the third line of the poem is the final

Front 4

Sestina

Back 4

consists of six six-line stanzas with a tercet (three line stanza) at the end.

If you assign a number to each of the words at the end of the line

Stanza 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Stanza 2: 6 1 5 2 4 3

Stanza 3: 3 6 4 1 2 5

Stanza 4: 5 3 2 6 1 4

Stanza 5: 4 5 1 3 6 2

Stanza 6: 2 4 6 5 3 1

and the tercet has to use three ending words but it doesnt matter which ones

Front 5

terza rima

Back 5

Terza rima is a three-line stanza using chain rhyme in the pattern a-b-a, b-c-b, c-d-c, d-e-d e-e

Front 6

Sonnet

Back 6

The usual rhyme scheme was a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. In addition, sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, meaning that there are 10 syllables per line, and that every other syllable is naturally accented.