Forms of Poetry - R | Types of Poetry - R

Definition

Rengay is a contemporary six-verse form of linked haiku based on a unifying theme. Written by 2-3 partners, each link should be able to stand on its own. Derived from renku, but much different, theme development is the key element of rengay. Rengay incorporates the "link and shift" idea of renku, but its brevity makes it easier to read (and publish). Because it is thematic, it is more accessible. Rengay was developed in 1992 by Garry Gay, co-founder of the Haiku Poets of Northern California, and the organization's first president from 1989-1990. In 1991, he was elected president of the Haiku Society of America.

Example

How to Rengay

2 partners (A & B) - Template pattern of alteration between 3 and 2 line links:

A-3 · B-2 · A-3 · B-3 · A-2 · B-3


3 partners (A & B & C) -Template pattern of alteration between 3 and 2 line links:

A-3 · B-2 · C-3 · A-2 · B-3 · C-2

EXAMPLE:

june sky

an'ya petrovich
hortensia anderson


lotus pond --
rings of blue petals
open to morning

the dive ino a pool -
cool liquid aquamarine

looking glass . . .
a girlchild's eye color
pales the june sky

after the end
of Gemini -
second full moon

finish line --
a 1st place ribbon

corner saloon --
deepening shadows turn
indigo

Definition

A rhyming poem has the repetition of the same or similar sounds of two or more words, often at the end of the line.

Example

Jabberwocky (First Two Stanzas)
Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

Definition

A type of poetry consisting of seven lines, usually in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-b-c-c. In practice, the stanza can be constructed either as a tercet and two couplets (a-b-a, b-b, c-c) or a quatrain and a tercet (a-b-a-b, b-c-c). This allows for a good deal of variety, especially when the form is used for longer narrative poems and along with the couplet, it was the standard narrative metre in the late Middle Ages.

Example

Here is the opening stanza of Troilus and Criseyde:

The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen,

That was the king Priamus sone of Troye,

In lovinge, how his aventures fellen

Fro wo to wele, and after out of Ioye,

My purpos is, er that I parte fro ye,

Thesiphone, thou help me for tendyte

Thise woful vers, that wepen as I wryt

and this is the first stanza of the Wyatt poem:

They flee from me that sometime did me seek

With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.

I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,

That now are wild and do not remember

That sometime they put themself in danger

To take bread at my hand; and now they range,

Busily seeking with a continual change.

Definition

A rictameter is a nine line poetry form. The 1st and last lines are the same with the syllable count as follows: • line 1 - 2 syllables - same as line 9 • line 2 - 4 syllables • line 3 - 6 syllables • line 4 - 8 syllables • line 5 - 10 syllables • line 6 - 8 syllables • line 7 - 6 syllables • line 8 - 4 syllables • line 9 - 2 syllables - same as line 1

Example

England's Ascot, Yorshire five day event in June Queen Elizabeth led the way in fashion and style on Ladies Parade. The first time for 300 years this racing event was held at Yorkshire England.

Definition

rispetto, (Italian:: “respect,” )plural rispetti, a Tuscan folk verse form, a version of strambotto. The rispetto lyric is generally composed of eight hendecasyllabic (11-syllable) lines. In its earliest form the rhyme scheme was usually abababcc. Later, the scheme ababccdd became more prominent, and other variations can also be found. from theEncyclopædia Britannica

Example

Definition

A poem about nature and love while having emphasis on the personal experience.

Example

Silvia
by William Shakespeare

Who is Silvia? What is she?
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admired be.

Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness:
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness;
And, being help'd, inhabits there.

Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling:
To her let us garlands bring.

Definition

A rondeau (plural rondeaux) is a form of French poetry with 15 lines written on two rhymes. Variant forms may have 10 or 13 lines. It makes use of refrains, repeated according to a certain stylized pattern. It was customarily regarded as a challenge to arrange for these refrains to contribute to the meaning of the poem in as succinct and poignant a manner as possible. 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.

Example

Perhaps the best-known rondeau is the following World War I poem,

In Flanders Fields, by John McCrae:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place, and in the sky,

The larks, still bravely singing, fly,

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead; short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe!

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high!

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Definition

The rondeau redouble is the French translation of a double rondeau. Consisting of 25 lines, it features a four-line refrain which forms the first quatrain. These four lines are then used successively as the last lines of the following four quatrains. The sixth and final stanza is a quintrain which contains no repetition of previous lines; it does, however, include a 'tail' which is the beginning clause or phrase from line one. The same two rhymes are used throughout and the rhyming scheme is as follows: Stanza One A1B1A2B2 Stanza Two abbA1 Stanza Three abaB1 Stanza Four babA2 Stanza Five abaB2 Stanza Six abab tail from line one

Example

Rondeau Redoublé (and Scarcely Worth the Trouble, at That)

Definition

Ruba'i, is a poetry style, the Arabic term for "quatrain". The plural form of the word, ruba?iyat, often anglicised rubaiyat, is used to describe a collection of such quatrains.

Example

Definition

The Rubaiyat is a Persian form of several quatrains. Its name derives from the Arabic plural of the word for "quatrain". This, in turn, comes from the Arabic Rubá, meaning "four."

This Persian form of poetry is a series of rhymed quatrains. In each quatrain, all lines rhyme except the third, leading to this pattern:

a
a - 2nd line rhymes with the first.
b
a - 4th line rhymes with the first and second

Example

These are some of the favorite quatrains from the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam translated by Edward Fitzgerald:

Wake! For the Sun who scattered into flight
The Stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives Night along with them from Heaven and Strikes
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.
[Stanza 1]

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
The Winter garment of Repentance fling;
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly - and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
[Stanza 7, 1st edition]

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread -- and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness --
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
[Stanza 12]

The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
[Stanza 71]