A. Couplet-Two Lines
A poem may consist of a single couplet:
INSPIRATION
The bard who Hippocrene for gin gave up
Saw empty couplets gush from empty cup.
Couplets, not necessarily set apart as stanzas, can be building blocks for poems of any length. If tow rhymed lines in iambic hexameter from a self-contained verse unit, expressing a complete though, they are a heroic couplet. (The two lines above do not make a heroic couplet because they are written in pentameter-five syllables-instead of hexameter-six.)The continuation of a sentence or idea from one couplet to the next is enjambment. The verse below starts to enjamb in the third stanza.
A PUP BY ANY OTHER NAME
Ah, Chloe, the animal kingdom's a-teem
With litters that turn out not quite what they seem:
For a cow has a calf, but the calf of a mare
Is a foal, and a cub is the foal of a bear;
A fawn is the cub of a deer, while the fawn
Of a beaver's a kitten; and carrying on.
The kit of a sheep is a lamb, and the lamb
Of a wolf is a whelp, while the whelp of Madame
Is a babe and the babe of a dog is a pup,
And I thought for a while this would wind the thing up,
But the pup of a goad is a kid, and-ah, Chloe-
What else is a kangaroo's kid but a joey?
B. Triplet (Tercet)--Three Lines
Except in terza rima, where they are strung together with a rhyme scheme of a b a, b c b, c d c, and so on, you can rhyme triplets any way you like. If a single triplet makes up a complete poem, you will have to rhyme it a a a, though, unless you are willing to leave one line unrhymed:
THE BRIEFER THE BETTER
For Jim's scant thought no style could be too terse;
A couplet were too long, a triplet worse
Jim just might justify a one-line verse.
C. Quatrain-Four Lines
The quatrain is frequently a self-contained poem, though as often is it one stanza in a series. It may be written so that only the second and fourth lines rhyme: a b c d. Generally, though it consists of two couplets (a a b b), CALLED A rubai, or of lines rhyming a b a b, as in the two following examples:
THE HEAVING OF HER MAIDEN BREAST
The heaving of her maiden breast
Had to be seen to be believed.
The boat lurched down another crest-
And up she heaved.
ME VS GOD
God holds a dialogue with me
With which we both are growing fed up
Says He to I, says I to He
"Oh, sheddup! Sheddup! Sheddup! Sheddup!"
D. Quintet-Five Lines
As the number of lines in a stanza increases, so does the potential number of rhyme schemes. The scheme here is a b a a b, and the subject is forgotten positives-words that reverse their meanings if you knock away their negative prefix.
A DREAM OF COUTH
I dreamt of a corrigible, nocuous youth,
Gainly, gruntled, and kept;
A mayed and a sidious fellow, forsooth---
Ordinate, effable, shevelled and couth;
A delible fellow I dreamt.
(if you play with forgotten positives, remember that the prefix in- does not always mean not. Inflammable means the same as flammable. In- may mean in or into, as in innate, insert. It may indicate intensive action, as in inosculate.)
E. Sextet-Six Lines
A sextet could run a a a b b b; or a b a b a b; or a b c a b c -oh, there is no need to bother listing all the possibilities. This one is a a b b c c.
Pygmy. One of a nation fabled to be only three spans high,
and after long wars to have been destroyed by the cranes.-Johnson's Dictionary.
Pygmies? Weren't they little guys,
Only three hand spans in size?
Yes-and they had pygmy brains
Not to know those giant cranes
Could beat them standing on one leg.
And still take time to lay an egg.
F. Septet-Seven Lines
There are too many possible rhyme variations in a seven-line stanza to bother listing them all. The verse that follows runs a b a a b a b.
THERE'S SELDOM BEEN A MAN I KNEW
There's seldom been a man I knew
Who struck me as a pest.
Of women, there were quite a few,
Yet when I take the longer view,
The women worked out best.
Those rare exceptions-one or two-
Made up for all the rest.
G. Octave-Eight Lines
An octave can be rhymed as four couplets, or two quatrains, or two tercets and a couplet, or-well, here it has only three rhyming lines, a a a, and really consists of four lines split in two.
HOW MANY ANGELS CAN DANCE ON THE HEAD OF A PIN?
(Medieval Church Argument)
If you're ab-
le to spin
On the Head
of a pin
You must be
an An-
gel-or ter-
ribly thin.
H. Nine-line Stanza
The rhyme scheme in this example is a b c c b B a B B*
KITCHY-KOO
My dear's dear kitchy-koo am I.
As she is my dear kitchy-koo
What tears one kitchy-koo would shed
If t'other kitchy-koo were dead!
And yet grief's freshets often do
Wash up another kitchy-koo
(I hear my kitchy-koo reply:
"They do; they do, Kitchy-koo.")
*The capitalized letter represents a refrain line, or as here, the repetition of part of a
line.
I. Ten-line Stanza
The example consists of five rhyming couplets.
WILD BOARS AND LIONS
Wild boars and lions haul Admetus' car.
White horses seven pull the Morning Star
Gold panthers lead bright Bacchus on his way;
Gemmed peacocks Juno's chariot convey.
By chastened lions Cybele is drawn,
And antlered stags tug fair Diana on.
Behind her winged dragons Ceres travels,
And flights of doves bear Venus to her revels.
Sea horses carry their thalassic lord.
I drive a Ford.
