Queen of the May

She is the queen of starlit nights, her beauty beyond mortal sights, one kiss, she will possess my soul...

Cold Tranquillity Descends

On winter's nights, so calm, so still, the Goddess starts to sing, a voice of warmth against the chill...

Italian Sestet Notes

Originally the Italian Sestet had no set meter, but with its introduction to England by Edmund Spenser, English poets used iambic tetrameter or pentameter with the rhyme schema as follows: abcabc Example Dream Catcher by Divena Collins To catch a dream and hold it tightYou cherish it dear from the startTime spent together so long …

Envelope Sestet Notes

The Envelope Sestet is a stricter variation of the stave stanza. The last line of each stanza is a repetition of the first line. The second and fifth lines rhyme with the refrain lines, leaving only the third and fourth line to change rhyme. The rhyme scheme, therefore, is:AabbaA CcddcC EeffeE… and so on Example …

English Sestet Notes

From the popular Sicilian sestet evolved the English variant made popular by William Shakespeare using the rhyme scheme in his sonnets. Strictly speaking the lines should be in Iambic pentameter but many modern poets prefer to use decasyllabic lines. The rhyme scheme for the English sestet is ababcc dedeff… and so on Example Mother Moon …

Collins Sestet Notes

The Collin’s sestet is a creative combination of three poetic groups – rhyming couplets, creating a sestet with the last line of the stanza being a repeat of the line, phrase, or word in the next stanza. No meter is specified other than that if only heroic (iambic pentameter) couplets are used the stanza is …

As Nature Intended

Warm your breath breezes across my bare skin. Flooding the valleys of my body with need. Lasting heat of your kisses deep within...

Burns’ Stanza Notes

Also known as the Standard Habbie this stanza consists of six lines. Lines 1, 2, 3, and 5 are octosyllabic and rhyme. Lines 4 and 6 are hexasyllabic and form the second rhyme. This gives the following schematic: xxxxxxxaxxxxxxxaxxxxxxxaxxxxxbxxxxxxxaxxxxxb Example: To a Mouse on Turning up her Nest with a Plough by Robert Burns Wee …

Standard Habbie/Burns’ Stanza

The Standard Habbie, often used by Robert Burns who may have created the form, is a sestet stanza.

Short Particular Measure

Short Particular Measure is a stanza form with each stanza consisting of six lines. Lines 1, 2, 4 and 5 are trimeter or six syllables and lines 3 and 6 are tetrameter or eight syllables in length. The rhyme scheme is aabaab Example: The Beautiful Mind by Jez Farmer You insist I am straight Sorry …