Wednesday 16 April 2014

NaPoWriMo Day 15 –terza rima


Day 15 prompt
This form was invented by Dante, and used in The Divine Comedy. It consists of three-line stanzas, with a “chained” rhyme scheme.
  • The first stanza is A-B-A, 
  • the second is B-C-B, 
  • the third is C-D-C, etc. 
No particular meter is necessary, but English poets have tended to default to iambic pentameter. Shakespearean sonnets used iambic pentameter. This means 10 syllables, patterned in 5 short/long stresses. I find this terribly difficult! I tend to write poems with fewer syllables per line.
One common way of ending a terza rima poem is with a single line standing on its own, rhyming with the middle line of the preceding three-line stanza.

ON A COLD SNOWY DAY THAT STARTED WITH RAIN, CHANGED TO ICE PELLETS, THEN BEGAN TO SNOW

Gently rises the spring once again
Blackbirds antiphonal songs they reprise
Poor Crocus heads bended, icy rain

Dear garden unfolds each surprise
Raccoons waddle seeking supplements
Wearing black masks making disguise

Engaged critters: ceremonial dance
They flitter and flap with excitement
With feeders providing them sustenance

Falling snow gently breeds such incitement
This season it can be mistakened
Jays frantic flapping, no delightment

Bullfrog from slumber has wakened
Her long winter's nap finally ended
Anticipating bugs; none forsakened

My garden just wants to be tended
The fruits and the berries take time
The flowers await to be splendid

The snowfall they all want sublime
The warmth Mother Nature denies
The whiteness will melt –give it more time

Anxious awaiting sun and blue skies
The seasons it calls for forebearance
A change I would like to devise

Some say that we pay us a penance
For land, seas and air in such a mess
Pollution our grandchildren's inheritance

These issues we all must address.

2 comments:

William Kendall said...

Very creative, and thoughtful.

Red said...

That is tricky. Nicely done. I always wrote what I asked the kids to write. Many times I did my assignment on the chalk board. I think some of them tried harder just to write something better than their teacher.