Top Five, Shadorma, and a Question

I’ve got a top five list for you today:

Top 5 Movies about Poetry

No. 5 – Dead Poet’s Society – It has ‘poet’ in the title so there’s some rule that it has to be included.

No. 4 – Byron – BBC television series. Incest, homosexuality, nudity, sodomy, poetry… it’s got it all.

No. 3 – Dangerous Beauty – gotta love the workin’ girls.

No. 2 – Possession – book and movie were both actually equally good. First time EVER!

And the best movie about poetry of all time:



No. 1 – Shakespeare in Love – I don’t care what you say about it, I have guy friends who tear up over this one. Not quite “I don’t know how to quit you” but melodramatic awesomeness.


Form of the day:

In honor of the Bard, today’s form should be the sonnet, but you can find that anywhere (abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme in iambic pentameter or “oh SHIT” meter), so instead, we’re going with a Spanish form, which I thought was a Japanese form, but no, my bad. No gold star.

The shadorma is a SPANISH form of poetry, based on syllable count (thus my impression that it was Japanese since there’s such an emphasis on syllables there, but no matter). It’s a 6-line poem with a syllable count of 3/5/3/3/7/5. I got it from Writer’s Digest and Robert Lee Brewer talks about it on Poetic Asides. I couldn’t find much relating to origins or history of this form, though one source mentioned the syllable scheme can be used as stanzas. http://allpoetry.com/list/62863-Shadorma. Shadormas are fun to write, but beware! they are addictive.

And an announcement: I’ve nearly completed a chapbook. (YEY!) It’s not new work, but work I revised from college. I’m interested to know how many readers would be interested in a pdf version of it. It’s a self-publishing/self-promotion scheme but since the format of the book is a little unusual with its mix of poetry, flash fiction, and short stories, I know better than to try sending it to a traditional publisher and it doesn’t read as well (in my opinion) broken up into parts. One of those the end is more than the sum of its parts things. So leave a comment if you’d be interested and we’ll go from there.

Never Work a Shift in Rubber Knee Boots that Don’t Fit.

I think the title says it all.

Haven’t done forms for awhile, so today we have two Spanish forms, the Cancione (not to be confused with the canzone, or the calzone for that matter, completely different) and the Lira.

First of all, the cancione is based on the nonce form. What is this nonce form? you ask. Well, I’m glad you did. There’s an explanation of it at  http://www.writing.com/main/books/action/view/entry_id/373905, basically explaining that all forms were once nonce forms. How can that be? You ask. Well, I’m glad you did because its actually quite interesting. The nonce form is not free verse. To be a nonce poem, the poem must have structure, a distinctive rhyme scheme, meter, and form. Sound familiar? It should, most poem types we’ve covered this month have certain specific elements to them that mark them as one form or another. Except free verse, but that’s in a class all by itself. So, once upon a time, some guy kept going abab cdcd efef gg in iambic pentameter. It became recognized as a form and even got a name, the sonnet. So all forms begin as nonce forms, it’s just a matter of which ones get picked up and used and which don’t.

So the cancione as a nonce form isn’t popular yet, but it does have set rules for meter. To write a cancione, use seven and eleven syllable lines, or heptasyllable (7) and hendesyllable (11) lines. That’s it. I couldn’t fine much reference to the cancione on the web, but the cancion is mentioned on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canci%C3%B3n .

Now the lira. It’s a five-line form with special attention to syllable count and an ababb rhyme scheme. The syllable count and rhyme look like this:

xxxxxxa

xxxxxxxxxxb

xxxxxxa

xxxxxxb

xxxxxxxxxxb

For an example, try http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/nature/poems.php?id=1141330. This isn’t my poem and all credit goes to the Italian Stallion, as indicated.

The same site has a fun rhymer tool. Try it out at http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/rhymer.html.

So that’s it for Spanish poetry. We’re in the downward trend on poetry month. I’ve had a lot of fun, I don’t know about you. I’ve still got some stuff up my sleeve with poets reading poetry and poets who pioneered one form or another, especially love, with focus on courtly love, in poetry. But in the days we have left, if there’s anything you’d like to see more of, less of, or bring up for the first time, leave a comment and be sure to check back for a response. Later days.

Glose form

A glose, or glosa, originated in Spain and Portugal. It works like a conversation, one poem with two perspectives, even two separate authors. The first half, the texte or cabeza, is written from one perspective and sets the poem’s theme. This part of the poem can quote or paraphrase work from a well-known poem or poet, though writing your own is perfectly acceptable. Quoting or paraphrasing serves as a homage to a respected poet, using their words to amplify your own. Some warn to select a poet and their words carefully, something where you complement one another, not allowing their work to overshadow your own.

The second part, the glose or glosa, explains the first part, expanding the initial argument, so to speak. It’s written like an ode, one stanza per line of texte. Each stanza expands on the corresponding line of texte, ending with a repetition of the corresponding line.

http://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/glose.htm explains it better. Also try http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/discussion/topic.html?topic_id=115346

A double glose takes the texte portion and uses each line in the texte twice in the poem, so, basically, double the fun. There seems to be quite a few variations on the glose, so do some research of your own. The glose is related to the sonnet form, with the sonnet being the basis, fourteen lines, that can be used over and over, expanded into a glose.

And tomorrow, get ready for the infinite glose. That’s just plain trippy.