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FORM OF POETRY
Section 001 / Fall 2004 / Susan Tichy / Tuesay 7:20-10:00 / Place TBA


FORM & GENRE LISTS: THE LIST OF LISTS!

AN INDEX TO SELECTED POEMS IN YOUR ANTHOLOGIES
+ a few links to poems at other locations

Poems in the Norton MODERN or CONTEMPorary are italicized. 
Poems on line are linked.
All others with page numbers are in the Norton Anthology of Poetry. 

Quick Reference to Forms

Page One: 4x4 & related forms:   Ballad  /  Common Measure  /  Hymnal  / 

Page Two:   Sonnet  /  Blank verse / Heroic couplet / Hexameter  /  Short couplet / 

Page Three:  Trimeter & Dimeter  /  Triple meters  /  Hexameter

Page Four:  Heroic quatrain / Short quatrain / Rubaiyat / Envelope quatrain / Couplet quatrain / Other quatrains  / 

Page Six:   Tercets & Triplets  /  Terza Rima  /  Quintets  /  Sestets  /  Septets  /  Octaves  /  Nine & Ten Line Forms  /  Other stanza forms  /  Villanelle  / Sestina  /  Pantoum  /  etc.

Page Eight:  Strong-stress & Accentual  /  Syllabics  / 

Page Nine:  Genres (or kinds):  Aubade  /  Epigram  /  Epistle  /  Ars Poetica  /  Nocturne  / Elegy  /   Ekphrasis  /   Carpe Diem  /  Pastoral  /  Satire  /  Ode  /  Dramatic Monologue & Other Persona Poems  /  


Stanza Forms: Quick Reference

Heroic Line: iambic pentameter

Alexandrine: iambic hexameter

Fourteener: iambic heptameter, generally a couplet aa 

Couplet: any two-line unit
    short couplet: iambic tetrameter aa
    heroic couplet: iambic pentameter aa   
    split or uneven couplet: lines of different lengths: aa
    open couplet: first line runs on, second end-stopped aa
    closed couplet: both lines end-stopped aa

Tercet: any three-line unit
    triplet: three lines with a single rhyme aaa
    blues stanza: a triplet with 1st line repeated and third rhyming: AAa BBb
    terza rima: a series of tercets with interlocking lines: aba bcb cdc
    haiku: Japanese: syllabic triplet with 5/7/5 syllables per line

Quatrain: any four-line unit
    ballad stanza: accentual, alternating four-beat & three beat xaxa
    common measure: iambic, alternating tetrameter & trimeter xaxa
    hymnal stanza: same as common measure, but rhymes abab
    heroic quatrain (or stanza): iambic pentameter abab
    envelope quatrain: abba
         Italian q.: envelope q. in iambic pentameter
         “In Memoriam q.”: envelope q. in iambic tetrameter
    couplet quatrain: aabb
    pantoum: Malayan: a set form in quatrains with interlocking refrains and rhymes

Quintet: any five-line unit
    English quintet: ababb
    Tanka: Japanese: syllabic, 5/7/5/77

Sestet: any six-line unit
    heroic: iambic pentameter, ababcc or abbacc
    Italian: iambic pentameter, abcabc
    Sicilian: iambic pentameter, ababab
Burns Stanza: three lines iambic tetrameter, then a dimeter, a tetrameter, and
     a final dimeter, rhymed aaabab

Septet: any seven-line unit
    Rime Royal: iambic pentameter: ababbcc

Octave: any eight-line unit
    Ottava Rima: iambic pentameter, abababcc

Nine-line Forms:
    Spenserian stanza: 8 lines iambic pentameter, last line an Alexandrine

Ten-line Forms:
    English ode stanza: ababcdecde

Sonnet: Italian or Petrarchan: octave & sestet: abbaabba cdecde (or cdcdcd)
    English or Shakespearean: three quatrains & couplet: ababcdcdefef gg
    Spenserian: three interlocking quatrains & couplet: abab bcbc cdcd ee
    Miltonic: Italian sonnet w/ the turn in middle of line, usually the 9th
    Curtal: Hopkins: 11-line form: sestet, quatrain, & the last line a single
         spondee: abbacy dbcd c (considered a sonnet only because Hopkins said so)
    Blues: four blues triplets & couplet: AAa BBb CCc DDd ee

Ballade: French: 2 octaves & a quatrain, turning on 3 rhymes
    (see Chaucer’s “Complaint to His Purse”)

Villanelle: 19 lines: 5 triplets & quatrain, with two rhymes & two refrains

Sestina: 39 lines: 6 sestets & tercet: with six end-words repeated in fixed sequence
nd all 6 words appearing in the tercet, 2 per line