A NEW LITERARY IMPULSE CHALLENGE

Uncommon Poetic Forms

Would You Give It A Go?

Hello Dear Writers,

Hope you all are doing well and staying safe. We had been thinking for quite some time to come up with a new prompts challenge but then there was a EUREKA moment! Why not try something new? How about get a list of a few very uncommon poetic forms from various regions and request the amazing Medium writers to create anything out of them?

So this time around the poetic form is fixed but the theme stays universal. Doesn’t that sound good? We are sure you’ll all come up with some exceptional poetic pieces.

There’s no specific rule, except the ones below:-

Mandatory tags:- Literary Impulse, poetry. Mandatory:- Do mention the poetic form you’re using anywhere in your piece. Mandatory:- Please do drop a link to this post at the end so that anyone else can read and submit, if interested. Non-mandatory:- Please do tag any three or more of your favourite writer friends on Medium so as to keep the challenge moving forward.

And yes, we would be publishing the piece as soon as we see it, there’s no waiting time here. The only condition being it is properly formatted as per Medium’s guidelines.

You can start submitting as soon as you see the post, of course after you finish writing it. This continues till the end of August(Update- Extended till the end of September). If we get enough submissions, we may convert the best ones into an illustrated anthology, like the earlier ones.

Without further ado, here goes the list of the 15 (uncommon) poetic forms that we have thought of. Get scribbling.

You can submit any number of poems on any of your favourite forms from below.

We’re already waiting to see what wonders the amazing Medium community conjures out of it all.

French poetic forms:-

DIZAIN-

The dizain was a favorite of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century French poets, but it has also been employed in English by the likes of Philip Sidney and John Keats. Here are the basic rules:

One ten-line stanza Ten syllables per line Employs the following rhyme scheme: ababbccdcd

LAI-

The lai is a nine-line poem or stanza that uses an “a” and “b” rhyme following this pattern: aabaabaab. The lines with an “a” rhyme use five syllables; the “b” rhyme lines have two syllables.

DESCORT-

The descort differentiates itself from other forms by differentiating its lines from other lines within the poem. That is, the main rule of descort poems is that each line needs to be different from every other line in the poem.

A descort poem has different line lengths, meters, avoids rhyming with other lines, no refrains, and that goes for stanzas as well. In other words, no two lines in a descort should look like each other, and the same could be said for each descort.

NOTE: This is different than free verse, because even free verse may occasionally have similar line lengths and meters. However, descort is very intentional in its variability.

Irish Poetic Forms:-

CETHRAMTU RANNAIGECHTA MOIRE:-

Here are the guidelines for the cethramtu rannaigechta moire:

Quatrain (four-line stanza) form All the lines have three syllables Lines two and four end rhyme

LIMERICK:-

The origin of the limerick is shrouded in some mystery, but most sources point to the early eighteenth century. Then, Edward Lear popularized the form in the mid-nineteenth century. Here are the basic guidelines:

Five lines Lines one, two, and five are longer (eight to ten syllables) and rhyme with each other Lines three and four are shorter (around six syllables) and rhyme with each other

Italian Poetic Form-

STORNELLO:-

The stornello is a tercet (or three-line stanza) form with eleven syllables per line and an aaa end rhyme. It’s as simple as that!

OTTAVA RIMA:-

The earliest known ottava rima was written by Giovanni Boccaccio. In English, Lord Byron used the form to write Don Juan. More contemporary English poets to use the form include William Butler Yeats and Kenneth Koch.

Ottava rima is eight lines with an abababcc rhyme scheme, most commonly written in iambic pentameter (or ten-syllable lines). The form can work as a stand-alone poem, or be used as connecting stanzas.

Japanese Poetic Forms-

IMAYO:-

The imayo is a four-line Japanese poem that has twelve syllables in each line. If a twelve-syllable line sounds unique for a Japanese poetic form, don’t fret. There is a planned caesura (or pause) between the first seven syllables and the final five.

MONDO:-

Mondo poems are often very brief collaborative affairs that present a question and answer in the style of trying to glean meaning from nature. Mondos can be as short as a one-liner or as long as two 5–7–7 syllable stanzas (the first stanza presenting the question; the second the answer).

SOMONKA:-

The somonka is basically two tankas(5–7–5–7–7 syllable format) written as two love letters to each other (one tanka per love letter). This form usually demands two authors, but it is possible to have a poet take on two personas.

Spanish Poetic Forms-

FLAMENCA:-

The flamenca is a quintain (or five-line stanza) form with a staccato rhythm meant to replicate the click of heels by flamenco dancers. The flamenca goes by a few other names, including seguidilla gitana, playera, and/or sequiriya.

Here are basic guidelines of the flamenca:

Five lines Lines one, two, four, and five have six syllables Line three has five syllables Lines two and five assonate

VARIATION: Lines three and four may be combined to make an 11-syllable line and quatrain (or four-line) stanza.

GLOSE (OR GLOSA):-

The glose or glosa is an interesting form that reminds me a bit of the golden shovel or cento. The basic premise is that you quote four lines of poetry as an epigraph from another poem or poet. These four lines act as a refrain in the final line of the four stanzas written by the poet. So the first line of the epigraph would be the final line of the first stanza, the second line ends the second stanza, etc.

The most common convention is for each of these stanzas to be ten lines in length. There are no other hard and fast rules for rhymes or syllables, though line length is usually consistent within the poem (so the epigraph kind of sets the line length).

SHADORMA:-

Shadorma is a six-line poem of 3–5–3–3–7–5 syllable lines respectively. Simple as that.

Welsh Poetic Forms-

RHUPUNT:-

The rhupunt has some variability to it, but also some rigid rules as well. Here are the guidelines:

The form can be broken down into lines or stanzas. Each line or stanza contains three to five sections. Each section has four syllables. All but the final section rhyme with each other. The final section of each line or stanza rhymes with the final section of the other lines or stanzas.

TAWDDGYRCH CADWYNOG:-

The tawddgyrch cadwynog is a poetic form with at least two quatrains and recurring end rhymes. Here are the guidelines:

Composed of pairs of quatrains (or four-line stanzas). Each pair of quatrains rhyme abbc/abbc. Four syllables per line.

There are actually many many more but we thought to include the uncommon ones that are not very complex to start with. Also, many of these may be common to many of you, so if you have any extra tidbits on them, do let us know. Also, if you have a poetic form that you want us to know about, do drop a note as well.

Best regards, Som (Somsubhra Banerjee)

Medium Editors:- Priyanka Srivastava/ Elisabeth Khan/ Nachi Keta

Tagging a few of our regular contributors and well-wishers. This is not to spam your notifications. But just to let you know so that if you are interested, you can chip in with your fantastic wordplay. Please let us know in case you do not want to be tagged in the future and we’ll keep that in mind. Thanks!

Jonah Lightwhale/ Samantha Lazar/ William J Spirdione/ David Rudder/ Jessica Lee McMillan/ Upasana Sharma/ Joseph Lieungh/ Pablo Pereyra/ Lee Ameka/ Dr. Preeti Singh/ Paroma Sen/ Jack Herlocker /Jessica Lee McMillan/ James G Brennan/ Tree Langdon/ Jenine Bsharah Baines/ Deborah Barchi/ Pierre Trudel/ Shalini C/ Iva Hotko/ Dr. Jackie Greenwood/ Vinitha Dileep/ Erika Burkhalter/ Ruchi Thalwal/ R. Rangan PhD/ Chris Mooney-Singh/ Eli Snow/ Joe Barca/ Era Garg/ Aparna Das Sadhukhan/ Sylvia Wohlfarth/ MDSHall/ Wolfie Bain/ Dr. Fatima Imam/ James G Brennan/ Saurabh/ Adam, Diabetic Cyborg/ Lubna Yusuf/ Ruchi Thalwal/ Venkataraman Mahalingam/ Iva Hotko/ Iulia Halatz/ Unni Nambiar/ Sylvia Wohlfarth/ Franco Amati/ Wolfie Bain/ Carolyn Hastings/ Dr. Amy Pierovich

Apologies if we’ve missed anyone. Please feel free to join in. Also, do let us know if you want to write for LI by dropping a comment on this post.

Like always, we are accepting submissions for SALVE as well which shall go live on the website(https://shabd.aaweg.com/). Read more on it below:

Note:- I have taken help from the amazing book called- The complete guide of poetic forms by Robert Lee Brewer to read and know about these unique poetic forms mentioned above.