shot glass
title
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Glossary of Poetic Forms


The following are poetic forms that have appeared in Shot Glass Journal.

Quandrel
A Quandrel is a poem of twelve lines, with the refrain appearing at the start and repeating twice. It differs from a Roundel in that the middle stanza has an additional line. The refrain establishes the second or 'b' rhyme (abaR baba abaR).

Rondeau
A lyric poem from the 13th century which is characterized by repeating lines or "rounds". It has 15 lines written as a quintet, quatrain and sestet, with two rhyme schemes.

Rondel
A 14th Century French lyrical poem. A variation of the Roundeau, it consists of two quatrains followed by a quintet (13 lines total) or a sestet (14 lines total). The first two lines are refrains which repeat at the end of the second and third stanzas. The rhyming pattern is ABba, abAB, abbaA.

Rondolet
The Rondolet is a French form consisting of a single septet with two rhymes and one refrain AbAabbA. The capital letters are the refrains, or repeats. The refrain is written in tetra-syllabic or dimeter and the other lines are twice as long - octasyllabic or tetrameter.

Roundel
A Roundel is a poetry form created by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909). It is a variation of the French rondeau form. A roundel consists of nine lines each having the same number of syllables, plus a refrain after the third line and after the last line. The refrain must be identical with the beginning of the first line: it may be a half-line, and rhymes with the second line. It has three stanzas and its rhyme scheme is as follows: A B A R ; B A B ; A B A R ; where R is the refrain.

Schuttelreim
A rhymed couplet with the first consonant of the end word of the first line and the first consonant of the word prior to the end word on the first line is reversed in the second line. The first consonant of the end word becomes the first consonant of the word prior to the end word on the second line.

Shakespearean Sonnet
A sonnet with 14 lines consisting of three quatrains and a couplet, with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg.

Sijo
The Sijo is a Korean short poetry form the 7th Century. A cousin of Haiku having originated from the Chinese. Three lines of 14-16 syllables totaling 44-46 syllables. Beginning - Line 1 presents a problem. Development - Line 2 develops or "turns" the thought. Conclusion - Line 3 resolves the problem or concludes the theme - surprise turn or twist is a must. A natural pause occurs midway in each line. Each half line should be 6-9 syllables.

Syllabic
Poetic verse having a fixed number of syllables per line whether stressed or not.

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