Adelaide Crapsey ,the 'imagist supremo',creator of the American Cinquain, after her extensive studies of Japanese poetry and metrics,concluded her unique imagist version of the cinquain form that she had devised ,worked better than, an imported form translated from another culture.Her contemporary ,also supreme in the American cinquain form ,William Souter,but more prolific therein*,wrote the form with a more ' down to earth flavour' compared to some of Adelaide's more classical-orientated (as my chapbook** thereon reveals).Notwithstanding ,her American cinquain remains the unique English language imagist short form ,with its emphasis on 'stresses ' rather than syllables,and, the final line 'surprise' or 'contrast' that leads to a heightened awareness, as a lasting conclusion, lives long with the reader.
*Adelaide more critical than most,destroyed a large amount of her work in the last days before her untimely death from TB
**FLOWERS OF LIFE ISBN 1-903203-473 William Soutar'American Cinquains edited by myself
link to Adelaide's cinquains
http://www.cinquain.org/cinquain.html
In depth study of Adelaide's American cinquain
http://www.cinquain.org/theory.html
UPDATES
Here is a link to my William Soutar article from the 2006 ssue of Amaze mentioned in my reply comment
http://www.amaze-cinquain.com/WINTER_06/soutar_article.html