Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Villanelle!

The villanelle comes from the Latin word "villanus", or farmhand, and the Italian word "villano" or peasant.  The original villanelles focussed on pastoral subjects, hence the name.  A villanelle is a fixed form of verse, consisting of 19 lines of five tercets and one quatrain.  The first and third lines of the first tercet are repeated alternately until the last stanza which includes both repeated lines.

In 1606, Jean Passerat was credited with introducing the modern villanelle to the world with his poem, written in Old French, "J'ay perdu ma Tourterelle".

While the French popularized the villanelle, the English soon were writing their own villanelles by the late 19th Century.  No longer focussing on pastoral subjects, obsessions tended to be a popular topic; for example, the aestheticism of the 1890's.  James Joyce wrote a villanelle for his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man".  William Empson revived the poetic form in the 1930's.  Likely the most common villanelle is Dylan's Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" (1951) at  http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night:

Do not go gentle into that good night

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the song in flight,

And learn too late they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men near death who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

http://www.dphotographer.co.uk/image/5403/the_dying_of_the_light

In 1976, Elizabeth Bishop composed "One Art", also a well received villanelle.  The 1980's and 1990's saw the rise of New Formalism and more villanelles.

Here is my villanelle, The Wilhelm Gustloff Villanelle, written in 2008, based on the evacuation of thousands of East Prussians in early 1945:

On an icy night in '45

East Prussian refugees swarmed the ship

Desperately seeking to stay alive.

The boat filled quickly with soldiers' wives

And babes with knuckels between their lips

On an icy night in '45.

Fleeing the Russians' relentless drive

The ship steamed west at a rapid clip

Desperately seeking to stay alive.

Beneath the Baltic, the sub took dives

Aborting the steamer's fateful trip

On an icy night in '45.

Scrambling for lifeboats, many did strive

Thousands jumped as she started to tip

Desperately seeking to stay alive.

Under the corpses, the last to survive

Was a baby blue from winter's grip

On an icy night in '45

Desperately seeking to stay alive.

http://www.wilhelmgustloff.com/images/ikappes_painting.jpg

Acrostic Poetry: A Hidden Message

Acrostic is derived from the French word "acrostiche".  "Stich" refers to a line or row of verse.  An acrostic is a poem in which the first letter, symbol or word of each line or paragraph spells out a word or message.  Acrostics date back to the Bible; examples can be found in the Book of Lamentations as well as the Psalms of the Hebrew Bible.  Psalm 145, which has an acrostic, is repeated three times a day in Jewish services.

Acrostics are also found in Medieval literature in which a poet is often highlighted; some acrostics were written as prayers to saints.  In chronicles, acrostics were often used in German and English. However, the Greeks also used acrostics; one such example spells out JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD, SAVIOUR.  The Dutch national anthem is an example of an acrostic, spelling out the name WILLEM VAN NASSOV, referring to the Dutch royal William of Orange.  Examples of acrostics can be found in literature, such as the final chapter of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, which spells out the real Alice's full name, ALICE PLEASANCE LIDDELL.


Here is a French acrostic:

Paradis des monuments

Attend petits et grands

Reve des touristes et des enfants

Illumine par tous le temps

Sur la tour Eiffel c'est geant.

https://electricite-plus.com/2015/03/12/energie-eolienne-la-tour-eiffel-entre-dans-le-21e-siecle/

Here is a calendar acrostic to help remember the months of the year:

JANet was quite ill one day

FEBrile trouble came her way

MARtyr-like she lay in bed

APRoned nurses softly sped

MAYbe said the leech judicial

JUNket would be beneficial

JULeps, too, though freely tried

AUGured ill, for Janet died

SEPulchre was sadly made

OCTaves pealed and prayers were said

NOVices with ma'y a tear

DECorated Janet's bier.

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-banner-months-year-set-image12958705

The following poem is my attempt at an acrostic:

Put her hair in braids today;

It may be your only chance.

Give her a nice red ribbon.

Time will pass very quickly

And before you tie the bow,

I think she'll be all grown up.

Little girls become young women fast;

So put her hair in pigtails, for it sure won't last.

http://ksoo.com/april-8-2013-kids-jokes/

Visit http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/acrosticterm.htm for more examples of acrostics.

Pantoum: Patterning in Poetry

While Math was never my cup of tea, I do appreciate the patterning involved in writing a pantoum. When you compose a pantoum you repeat every line once in the poem.  What a challenge it is to follow the pattern of the poem, while still preserving its meaning!

The pantoum, or pantun, originated in Malaysia in the 15th Century.  Originally, the poem had only two couplets.  However, in time, the poem lengthened.  Victor Hugo introduced the pantoum to Europe when he published one in his Les Orientales collection.  Charles Baudelaire composed the popular pantoum, Harmonie de Soir.  Later, poets like Anne Waldman and Donald Justice brought the poetic form to America.

The rhyming scheme is ABAB, but can also be ABBA.  Here is the format for a five stanza quatrain (four is also common):

Stanza 1:  1, 2, 3, 4
Stanza 2:  2, 5, 4, 6
Stanza 3:  5, 7, 6, 8
Stanza 4:  7, 9, 8, 10
Stanza 5:  9, 3, 10, 1

My pantoum, The Magic of a Father and a Daughter, written while at the Lake Erie beach in Long Point in 2006, follows the structure above:

I see the magic of a father and a daughter

As they build sandcastles on the beach.

I watch the pair as they lounge by the blue water,

Knowing fatherhood is something that you cannot teach.

As they build sandcastles on the beach, 

He sculpts the sand with a big strong hand.

Knowing fatherhood is something that you cannot teach;

Next to him, she look so little as she pours the sand.

He sculpts the sand with a big strong hand.

No words are needed as they work side by side.

Next to him, she looks so little as she pours the sand.

Father an daughter share a bond that they cannot hide.

No words are needed as they work side by side.

Clad in an orange bikini, she builds the castle tall.

Father and daughter share a bond that they cannot hide.

AS the waves encroach, he builds a giant wall.

Clad in an orange bikini, she builds the castle tall.

I watch the pair as they lounge by the blue water.

As the waves encroach, he builds a giant wall.

I see the magic of a father and a daughter.





http://www.shutterstock.com/s/sandcastle/search.html

Here is Donald Justice's Pantoum of the Great Depression, which has no rhyming scheme, but does repeat each line.

Our lives avoided tragedy

Simply by going on and on.

Without end and without any apparent meaning.

Oh, there were storms and small catastrophes.

Simply by going on and on
We managed.  No need for the heroic.
Oh, there were storms and small catastrophes.
I don't remember all the particulars.

We managed.  No need for the heroic.
There were the usual celebrations, the usual sorrows.
I don't remember all the particulars.
Across the fence, the neighbours were our chorus.

There were the usual celebrations, the usual sorrows.
Thank God no one said anything in verse.
The neighbours were our only chorus.
And if we suffered we kept quiet about it.

At no time did anyone say anything in verse.
It was the ordinary pities and fears consumed us.
We gathered on porches; the moon rose; we were poor.
No audience would ever know our story.

It was the ordinary pities and fears consumed us.
We gathered on porches; the moon rose; we were poor.
What audience would every know our story?
Beyond our windows shone the actual world.

We gathered on porches; the moon rose; we were poor.
And time went by, drawn by slow horses.
Somewhere beyond our windows shone the world.
The Great Depression had entered our souls like fog.

And time went by, drawn by slow horses.
We did not ourselves know what the end was.
The Great Depression had entered our souls like fog.
We had our flaws, perhaps a few private virtues.

But we did not ourselves know what the end was.
People like us simply go on.
We had our flaws, perhaps a few private virtues.
But it is by blind chance only that we escape tragedy.

And there is no plot in that; it is devoid of poetry.




http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2008/oct/14/dark_memories_revived/

For more about the pantoum, visit http://www.utmostchristianwriters.com/articles/article3020.php.

Altars, Axes & Wings: Constructing a Concrete Poem

The term concrete poetry, also known as shape, visual or pattern poetry, first appeared in the 1950's.  According to Wikipedia, "its typographical arrangement of words is as important in conveying the intended effect as the conventional elements of the poem" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_poetry).  Brazilian pioneer Augusto de Campos hosted the first international exhibit of shape poetry in 1956 in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Shape poetry can be built with images rather than words as in the poem Eye for Eye

by Augusto de Campos courtesy http://www2.uol.com.br/augustodecampos/poemas.htm.

While the term is new, the concept is old.  Poets used letter arrangements to enhance the meaning of their poems back in the third and second century BC in Greek Alexandria, Egypt.  Early shapes included wings, altars and axes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_poetry#/media/File:Gerechtigkeitsspirale.jpg

Possibly the earliest German shape poem, Gerechtigkeitsspirale, is carved in wood in the St. Valentin Church in Hesse, Germany.  George Hebert's Easter Wings, written in a shape to convey birds flying up with outstretched wings, was composed in the 1600's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_poetry#/media/File:GeorgeHerbertEasterWingsPatternPoem1633.jpg

In the story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the concrete poem a mouse's "tale" appears, in the shape of a tail.  E. E. Cummings, known for his lower case poems, also used the arrangement of letters to convey meaning in his writing.  Ezra Pound was known for his Chinese idioms.

John Holland's poem Swan & Shadow circa 1969 courtesy http://beckyjaffephotography.com/category/upcoming-events/exhibits/

For more information about concrete poetry, read Pattern Poetry:  Guide to an Unknown Literature (Dick Higgins).

The Rondeau's Renaissance

The rondeau is a form of Medieval and Renaissance poetry which originated in France.  The poem is 15 lines long and follows a rhyming scheme of:  aabbaR--aabR--aabbaR.  Thomas Wyatt brought the rondeau to England in the 15th Century.  Paul Laurence Dunbar reintroduced the form in the 19th and 20th Century.  One of the most popular rondeaus in history is "In Flanders Fields", the World War I poem written by Dr. John McCrae.  Here is one of Paul Lauren Dunbar's rondeaus, We Wear the Mask:

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,

This debt we pay to human guile

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

We smile, but O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask.

http://fantasticvoyagesunlimited.com/2013/01/31/we-wear-the-mask-that-grins-and-lies/

Here is the rondeau, On Prussian Plains, that I wrote for Rob's Oma, about the invasion of East Prussia toward the end of the Second World War:

On Prussian plains she works the land;

She plants the seeds and crops by hand.

Babe in a basket by her side,

A girl in braids goes for a ride

While her brave soldier fights so grand.

The war goes not as Prussia planned.

Her friends all flee by sea or land;

But she remains and plans to hide

On Prussian plains.

The Russian soldiers seize her land;

Force her to roam with babes in hand.

She begs for food, but is denied.

Then comes the news her husband died.

They even take her wedding band

On Prussian plains.

http://justice4germans.com/third-reich/

The Shakespearean Sonnet: A Thing of Beauty

The Shakespearean Sonnet is one of the oldest traditions in English poetry.  Composed of 14 lines this sonnet follows the following rhyming scheme:  ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG.  It is written in iambic pentameter:  each line is composed of five feet; each foot is composed of an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter).

It is divided into three quatrains and one couplet.  The first quatrain introduces the main theme or metaphor.  The second quatrain extends the theme or metaphor.  The third quatrain gives the poem an unexpected twist, called peripeteia.  The couplet summarizes the poem; it gives the poem a concluding image (http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/writing-a-sonnet.html).

One of Shakespeare's most popular sonnets is Sonnet 18:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course, untrimmed.

But they eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,

Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest.

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

http://www.polyvore.com/shall_compare_thee_to_summers/contest.show?id=177037

Here is a Shakespearean sonnet I wrote in 2006 about a bridge that Rob and I used to visit in St. Mary's, Ontario, called As I Stand on the Old Train Bridge:

O'er the river Thames the red sun disappears

As I stand on the old train bridge looking down.

I can almost hear the trains of yesteryear

Winding their weary way through the old stone town.

The river carves a path through the fertile ground.

Next to the running water lies a lush plain.

The grass is so green and the trees do abound

Where Jersey cows once grazed beneath passing trains.

Two ducks take a long drink after the soft rain.

As they hide behind a swaying poplar tree.

In the distance grows a field of golden grain

As far away as the naked eye can see.

As I stand on the old train bridge, silence speaks:

And a hush falls over the meandering creak.

http://www.townofstmarys.com/discover/attractions/attractions.aspx?id=4332

Let Loose the Limerick in You!

The first limerick, a Latin prayer is attributed to Thomas Aquinas back in the 13th Century.  Edward Lear, who wrote 212 limericks in the 19th Century, is credited with making the genre popular. Limericks are five lines in length, with the first, second and fifth lines being longer.  They follow the rhyming scheme AABBA and usually exhibit anapestic meter.  Early limerick writers often made the last line a repetition of the first.  Sometimes the final line has a surprise twist.  Limericks are most often about a person or a place.  Mother Goose's Hickory Dickory Dock is an early example of a limerick. Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_%28poetry%29 for more information.

Limericks are often humorous or even obscene.  "As limericks were short, relatively easy to compose and bawdy or sexual in nature, they were often repeated by beggars or the working class in British pubs and taverns of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries." The word limerick derives from the town of Limerick, Ireland and the pub song "Will you come down to Limerick?" where such a song was sung (http://www.famousliteraryworks.com/limericks.htm).

Here is one of Edward Lear's poems:

There was a young lady from Niger

Who smiled as she rode on a tiger;

They returned from the ride

With the lady inside

And the smile on the face of the tiger.

The first American limerick appeared in the Princeton Tiger:

There once was a man from Nantucket

Who kept all of his cash in a bucket.

But his daughter named Nan

Ran away with a man 

And as for the bucket Nantucket.

Here is a more modern limerick:

New York is a fabulous place

Where everyone gets in your face.

English ain't spoken

Unless it is broken

And nothing is said lowercase.

Here is my first attempt at a limerick from several summers ago:

A peach and a pear set to wed.

For they were in love it is said.

Cried the peach:  "Let's elope!"

Asked the pear:  "How will they cope?"

So the peach married a nectarine instead.

For more information on how to write a limerick, visit http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Limerick.

http://dversepoets.com/2012/03/22/formforall-how-to-write-a-limerick/