Styles and Techniques: Quatrain

A quatrain is a poem consisting of four line verses with a scheme of either full or half rhyme. Here are a few of the possible rhyming schemes in a quatrain.

1. A-B-A-B
2. A-B-B-A ~ (envelope rhyme)
3. A-A-B-B
4. A-A-B-A, B-B-C-B, C-C-D-C, D-D-D-D ~ (chain rhyme)
5. A-B-C-B ~ (half rhyme)

Quatrains can be traced back to ancient civilizations such as Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, and they continue into the 21st century, where they appear in several languages. Here are a few examples of modern quatrains.

Tyger, tyger, burning bright!

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry

~ From William Blake's "The Tyger"

The circles of the stormy moon

Slide westward toward the River Plate

Death and the Raven drift above

And Sweeney guards the hornéd gate.

~ From T. S. Eliot's "Sweeney Among the Nightingales"

Series of quatrains are most often combined to form one whole poem, including in the cases above (the two examples I provided are excerpts from larger works). Of course, quatrains can stand alone as well, as in the example below.

Rolling beasts of liquid thunder

Bequeath their gift to ashen sand:

The heart and hand of wooden flame

A silent trade from sea to land

~ "The Gift"

One of the most common and beloved styles poetry of today, quatrains are a technique that will certainly not become extinct anytime soon. In fact, when people think of the word "poetry," quatrains, or something like them, are usually what comes immediately to their head.

~ Adam B.

Styles and Techniques: Monorhyme

Before I give you the definition of a monorhyme, try to figure it out for yourself. Mono means one. The words monorail, monologue, and monotone are all examples. And of course, you know what a rhyme is. So, from these clues, we can deduce that monorhyme means one rhyme...and that's exactly what it does mean. A monorhyme is simply a poem in which every line has the same rhyme.

Pilgrim's Prayer

Past the meadow, 'cross the sea

Lie lands of opportunity

A home to both the brave and free

Long I've prayed, and now I plea

As I approach on bended knee

That you will sail away with me

Pack your things and quitely flee

Lock the door and leave the key

Long I've talked with God, you see,

"If just us two, myself and she

could find a place to worship thee

My weary heart would burst with glee

I knowing that we finally

Had reached a land of liberty,"

Don't be fooled. These are much harder to write than they look.

~ Adam B.

Styles and Techniques: Free Verse

Free verse is an irregular form of poetry that does not necessarily follow the rules of rhyme and meter. Free verse is almost the same as descriptive writing, except that the poets can choose where to put line breaks. If this is done in an artful, insightful manner, then free verse poetry can create an atmosphere that mere prose can never hope to achieve.

Violet

Tiny violet

all clad in itself

an infinitesimal speck

raw, naked beauty

in a parched field

in a parched land

in a parched world

WE

the conceited architects

of our own destruction

in the acquirement of our dreams

we have lost our realities

in all of our brilliance

our limitless understanding

we have not achieved

will never achieve

that which the young violet

knows not it possesses

for only in the understanding

that we see nothing

that we know nothing

that we are nothing

will we truly gain

that which we believe

we already have

This is one of the most common styles of poetry today, though it only began to be recognized as poetry within the past 100 or so years. Free verse is probably my favorite type of poetry, for there are no limits to how and what we are allowed to express. I have been writing free verse for awhile now, and will continue to write it, hopefully for a long time yet.

~ Adam B.

Styles and Techniques: Haiku

The haiku is one of the best known forms of poetry in existence. They are always in present-tense, and they usually consist of observations on nature or seasonal changes. They are exactly three lines long, with the following layout.

Line 1: Five Syllables

Line 2: Seven Syllables

Line 3: Five Syllables

So each verse has 17 syllables in all.

Here is an example of a haiku, written by the Japanese poet, Matsuo Basho. The following is probably the most famous of all haikus. Obviously, the English translation is not exactly 17 syllables long, but is to be expected: When words transition between Japanese and English, they do not always correspond.

古池 や

蛙 飛込む

水 の 音

furuike ya

kawazu tobikomu

mizu no oto

old pond...

a frog leaps in

water's sound

Haikus are beautiful and in economical spacing can pack perspective on nature and it's wonders. Anyone can write a good haiku.

clouds swim silently...

great white fish in the ocean

that is the spring sky

~ Adam B.

Styles and Techniques: Epitaph

Epitaphs are brief little poems that are inscribed on tombstones. They praise deceased people, and they usually, but not always, are comprised of rhyming lines.

Here lies Dan, beloved of all

He held himself while others crawled

But now he's gone, the prospect's black

We're pretty sure he won't come back

Most epitaphs are meant to be mournful. However, despite the fact that there is rarely anything funny in death, there are huge amounts of comical epitaphs. Many epitaphs are unintentionally, and occasionally intentionally, amusing. Apparently, the family stonecutters did not realize how future generations would look upon their attempts to venerate loved ones who had passed on. At the following link is a compilation of humorous epitaphs.

http://www.webpanda.com/ponder/epitaphs.htm

Naturally, epitaphs are not something to spend your free time writing. But I spent twenty minutes just reading and laughing at all the funny epitaphs at the link. If you get a few minutes, or need a laugh, I would recommend reading them yourself.

~ Adam B.

Styles and Techniques: Limerick

The limerick is one of the most recognized of all poetry styles. Short, humorous and/or nonsensical poems, limericks consist of five lines with a rhyming scheme of A-A-B-B-A. Lines 1, 2, and 5 are eight or nine syllables long, and lines 3 and 4 are five to six syllables long. Here is a silly little limerick that I wrote today...it's based on a true story!

There once was a lady of Lee

Who cried out with a hysteric plea

To her side we did rush

Her sobbings to hush

Once again, she had spotted a bee

Verses in limerick-form are often combined to create limerick songs, humorous drinking songs often containing vulgar or obscene verses. In fact, many limericks written in the 20th century are credited to drunkards!

Simple limericks are quite easy to write. You do not have to think hard about what to put in a limerick, because the ending result does not have to make sense. I wrote the "bee" limerick in around three minutes, and most of that was spent thinking of a topic.

~ Adam B.

Styles and Techniques: Shape

Shape poetry is one of the things that separates simple prose from poetry. Poetry can come in many different styles, but perhaps the most unique and inventive style is for the poetry to take on the shape of its subject. So if the the poem's subject is a fish, then the words and lines would be formatted in a way that the poem itself looks like a fish. Here is an example, entitled "Forest King".

Far away,

deep in the shadowy

wood stands a royal forest king,

so grand and majestic that even the birds

dare not desecrate its tangled labyrinths of

shining, shifting emerald. Long it has stood,

watching with unseen eyes the changes

the world has undergone. Silently

it weeps, longing for

day that

it knows

will nev-

er come

again. t-

he world

has chan-

ged, and it

is going to

stay as such.

Naturally, the color in this particular shape poem is not a necessity. I merely took advantage of my own creative freedom during its conception. Black and white is perfectly fine as well.

Personally, I love shape poetry. It is incredibly fun and surprisingly easy to write, and the complex shapes you end up creating may surprise even you. Though slightly unorthodox, this is one of my favorite types of poetry ever.

~ Adam B.

Styles and Techniques: Diamante

A diamante is a seven line poem that is put together in the following way;

Line 1: Noun or subject

Line 2: Two adjectives

Line 3: Three gerund form words (words ending with -ing)

Line 4: Four words about the subject

Line 5: Three gerund form words

Line 6: Two adjectives

Line 7: Synonym/antonym for subject.

Here is an example. This poem is entitled "Love".

Passion

Blazing, Fervent

Holding, Kissing, Loving

Partner, Child, Family, Friend

Smiling, Sharing, Caring

Gentle, Tender

Love

Some diamantes are arranged in such a way that the first half of the poem is about the noun or subject in line 1, and the second half is about a noun or subject related in line 7, usually an antonym of the original word. The dividing point is the space between the second and third words in the fourth line. The following is an example of this variety of diamante. It is entitled "Contrast".

Dark

Black, Cold

Veiling, Shrouding, Fearing

Shadows, Demons, Angels, Radiance

Blazing, Shimmering, Shining

Warm, White

Light

Diamantes don't have to be perfectly diamond shaped, so long as they follow the general rules. Either way, they are interesting and unique. I reccomend writing one yourself if you get the time.

~ Adam B.

Styles and Techniques: Clerihew

The clerihew is a lesser-known style of comic poem that has the four following properties. One, it is biographical and usually quirky. It shows the topical person in a unique and unusual view. clerihews often "poke fun" at famous people. Two, it consists of four lines of unequal length (for humorous effect). The third and fourth lines are typically longer than the first two. Three, the rhyming scheme is always A-A-B-B. And four, last but not least, the first line consists solely, or almost solely, of the subject person's name.

Clerihews are not mocking or abusive, but they often target well-known individuals and reposition them in an absurd or humdrum setting, often portraying them using over-simplified and jumbled wording.

Clerihew

Edmund Clerihew Bentley

(a Londoner, incidentally),

Made his living by just having fun

Writing silly poems like this one

I wrote the above poem about the creator of the first clerihew, Edmund Clerihew Bentley.

Clerihews are quick and easy to write, and they can provide you with a few minutes of entertainment when you are bored and have nothing to do. Whether you are reading them or writing them, clerihews are a fun style of poetry that can put a smile on almost anyone's face.

~ Adam B.

Styles and Techniques: Acrostic

Acrostic poetry is a style in which the first letter of each line, when combined, spell a word, usually the title.

Sunset

S hadows swelling

U nder vivid skies

N ever doth nature

S ee such beauty

E re the sun fades

T he world weeps

The actual rules of acrostic poetry are much better known than the style's name: though I was familiar with the general idea, I had never even heard the word "acrostic" until I began my research for this project.

Acrostic poetry can be fun to work with, and it is a good starting place for amateur and aspiring poets. Personally, I had fun writing the example. I'm hoping that I will have time to create more soon.

~ Adam B.

Styles and Techniques: Types of Poetry

According to Webster's Dictionary, the definition of poetry is "literature in metrical form." This is, of course, a very broad definition. Throughout history, poetry has taken on many different forms, most with specific rules that apply only to that particular style. In the following posts, I will give examples of 18 different styles of poetry, some well known, others slightly obscure. All, however, can be used to express yourself in unique and creative ways that everyday speech cannot begin to rival.

~ Adam B.

Timeless: History of Poetry

Poetry has been around almost since the beginning of human dialect. In fact, the earliest known poem, the "Epic of Gilgamesh," is thought to have been recorded at around 2,500 B.C, a time that experts believe is almost as old as speech itself. Most of the earliest poems were written to verbally record cultural events and relate stories. Experts believe that these poems, including countless epics that have been lost in the sands of time, were performed orally and through song prehistorically.

Most of the oldest poems are attributed to containing prayers and religious matter. In fact, histories about these people's menial, everyday events such as war and politics are extremely rare and incredibly valuable to historians.

With the development of writing, poems moved into a more developed form. Poetry styles with specific, sharply defined boundaries emerged, including sonnets and rhymes. William Shakespeare is a great example of a poet who specialized in sonnets, he wrote over 150 of them, each with a unique idea expressed.

Such was the main focus of poetry until the late 1800's, when, mirroring society, it moved on from the quaint, laid-out styles it had so naturally taken to and exchanged them in favor of free-verse. Free-verse is the non-rhyming and seemingly chaotic poetry technique favored by writers such as T. S. Eliot, Carl Sandburg, Ezra Pound and others. It is argued by many that even some of the King James translation of the Bible, namely the book of Psalms and the Song of Solomon, is actually a form of free-verse. Free-verse, though it is unrhyming and often makes little sense to the uneducated reader, is known to be particularly thought provoking. Free-verse poets pride themselves in sringing together words in such ways that they force the reader into looking beyond literal meanings and digging deeper into metaphorical and symbolical concepts.

Currently, poetry is a perplexing torrent of free-verse and structured styles. While I do not believe either will ever completely overpower the other, I do think that both will continue to battle for position in the hearts and minds of modern readers who have learned to appreciate them. Poetry itself, I am sure, will never die. As man lives, so will it live.

~ Adam B.

And Then There Was One...

Hello, and welcome to my blog.

This is the first post in what is to be an informative and inspiring project on the enthralling and seemingly supernatural topic that is poetry.

My name is Adam, and I am a student at Kihei Charter High School on the island of Maui, in Hawaii. Kihei Charter is a unique school that emphasizes learning, not through humdrum and largely ineffective lectures of typical teachers, but through hands-on experience. Kihei Charter is a project-based learning school, meaning that they believe that the best way to teach students is to assist them in completing projects. Giving students opportunities to work on educational projects that teach real-world skills is usually a much more effective teaching method than the "lecture and test" system favored by most schools.

For this particular project, which I happen to have planned myself, I will, over the course of the next month, attempt to answer the fundamental question: "What makes a good poem?" With this guiding question in mind, I will explore poems created by the world's greatest and best-known poets. I will experiment with creating poetry of my own using different writing methods. I will investigate how poetry fits into the world of both written and visual art. Over the course of the next month, I will also post random poems by me and others, complete with an analysis of each. At the end of the project, I will make a summarizing blog post that relates what I have learned and provides my answer to the question:

"What makes a good poem?"

~ Adam B.