The Everything Writing Poetry Book (19 page)

Build an Ode

As with the sonnet, there are several exercises that will help you create an ode. Since the ode is freer in form than the sonnet, the exercises will not be as structured. To begin, write a description of an object or person, as you did for the sonnet exercises. This time, however, you can experiment with the number of syllables in each line. Instead of the regular ten-syllable lines you created before, you might come up with a stanza that looks like this:

A cloth doll is
sitting on the sofa beside
me. She has tan
flannel skin that is soft to the
touch. She is wearing a
green felt dress over a yellow
felt shirt and red felt boot-
ies. She has brown yarn hair tied in
a pink flannel
bow. She has black bead eyes, brown felt
eyebrows, pink felt
cheeks, and lavender felt lips turned
up in a smile
.

In this example, a 4-8-4-8-6-8-6-8-4-8-4-8-4 syllable pattern is used, but you can choose any pattern that you wish. In fact, you should experiment with several syllable patterns to see how the lines look. Just comparing this exercise to the one created for the sonnet should show you how different a poem can look simply by changing the line lengths.

Once finished with this exercise, you can go in a couple of different directions. For example, if you want to practice the Pindaric ode, you will have to settle on a syllable pattern, then write a second stanza in the exact same pattern (the antistrophe), and then write a third (and final) stanza (the epode) with its own pattern. If you want to practice the Horatian ode, then you will have to form your lines into quatrains. You will also have to think about a meter. If you want to copy the ornate patterns created by Keats, Shelley, and others, then you will have to look over their poems closely to get a sense of their meter and rhyme scheme, and work with or against those patterns.

The Chazal

The ghazal (pronounced like the word
guzzle
) developed in Persia (now Iran) some time during the tenth century. Originally written as a song of praise for a king, the form acquired other subjects over the centuries, among the most common being women and wine. As such, the subject matter has often been somewhat erotic. In modern times, however, the ghazal has been used as a song of protest, with highly charged political messages. Appropriately, the ghazal was adopted into American poetics during the 1960s.

Formal Requirements

The requirements for the ghazal, as it is still composed in the Middle East, make the poem quite a challenge in English—mostly because of the rhyme scheme. The entire poem is composed of five to twelve couplets. All of the couplets follow a strict syllable count—nineteen for each line. The first couplet of the poem must rhyme, and the last line of every following couplet must rhyme with this first stanza. Hence, for a five-stanza ghazal, you have the following rhyme scheme: AA BA CA DA EA.

Despite the complex rhyme scheme, each couplet in the poem is a self-contained unit. Every couplet develops its own image or idea, almost as if it is a separate poem. The last couplet contains the poet's “signature”—her real name or pen name, and perhaps a message of a personal nature.

Informal Requirements

English-speaking poets have changed the requirements in order to make the ghazal more flexible. For example, some poets have modified the rhyme scheme so that the internal rhymes have been dropped and the end rhymes are limited to the couplets. The resulting rhyme scheme, AA BB CC, and so on, is far easier to manage in English. Some poets have even dropped the rhyme scheme altogether.

English-speaking poets have also done away with the syllable counts for the lines and the poet's signature in the final stanza. The requirement that each couplet be independent has become optional as well. The result of all these changes is a poem that retains only its reliance on five to twelve couplets. In this stripped-down version, the ghazal could be considered a free-verse poem.

Build a Chazal

Because the ghazal has so many different requirements, it actually makes a good form with which to practice various exercises. First, you need to write out a 70-to 100-word description. You can borrow the one you wrote for the sonnet, but it would be good practice to write another one. Next, arrange your description into couplets. Here's how such an arrangement might look:

A cloth doll is sitting on the sofa beside me.
She has tan flannel skin that is soft to the touch
.

She is wearing a green felt dress over a yellow felt shirt
and red felt booties. She has brown yarn hair tied in a pink flannel bow
.

She has black bead eyes, brown felt eyebrows, green felt
cheeks, and lavender felt lips turned up in a smile
.

Here the couplets are broken to keep one or two images intact in each line and to make each couplet end with a sense of completion. If you want, you can attempt to maintain the nineteen-syllable rule of the original form. The lines you create will be very long, but the length will allow for more detail.

If you use the description that you wrote for the sonnet, you should be able to see a clear distinction between the couplets you create for the ghazal and the ten-syllable lines you created for the sonnet. The couplets provide a greater sense of space, the longer lines being more sluggish and slow moving.

Also, pay attention to rhyme in your ghazal. You can try the rhyming couplet pattern that English-speaking poets have used (AA BB CC), or you can try the AA BA CA scheme and just stick to creating end rhymes. If you feel daring, however, you can try the AA BA CA scheme and attempt the internal rhymes called for in the original form. If you created three couplets with your description, as in the previous example, try to assemble three pairs of rhyming words for the first pattern, four rhyming words for the second, and eight words for the third.

An Example of the Chazal

Here is an example of a modern ghazal written by Jeff Knorr called “What Would My Father Have Done?” Note that Knorr retains a flavor of the original rhyme scheme. He also retains the couplet form and the stanza count. However, he plays freely with the line lengths, and he does not force each couplet to contain its own image.

Coming out of the doctor's office, she's crying.
And there I am tossed against the shore, but

this is no shore because the sand,
that line where water meets land
,

is a place for resting.
Logs wash up, glass floats

torn free of a net drift in from Japan.
I don't know what to do
.

I know what I'll do later,
bring a bottle of wine
,

two glasses upside down, clinking
with each step up stairs
.

We'll drink on the bed until she's sleeping.
Later, when some foreign tide of wind recedes
,

I'll go out into the backyard to fetch the dog,
and cry under the hopelessly descending moon
.

Reprinted with the permission of the author
.

Chapter 9
The Sestina, Pantoum, and Villanelle

T
he sestina, pantoum, and villanelle are three repeated verse forms from Europe and the Far East. As you explore these forms, pay attention to how the repeated lines and words affect the meaning of the poems, reinforce key images and themes, or create the sounds and rhythms that give the poems their musical quality You should also be aware of how the poems come to a resolution, building upon the rhythms of the repetitions to reach a satisfying climax of meaning and sound in the final verses.

Poem of the Troubadours

Sometime during the 1200s in southern France, troubadours—traveling groups of singers and poets—created several verse forms, one of which is the modern
sestina
. The form of the sestina has changed little over the centuries. It contains six stanzas of six lines each, and a final tercet of three lines, called the
envoi
or “sendoff.” Like the villanelle and the pantoum, the sestina does not rely on a meter. Unlike the villanelle and the pantoum, the sestina repeats only the end words, not the entire line, so you have more freedom to construct your verses.

The sestina has an intricate pattern for repeating the last words of the lines. It is not as simple to explain as the villanelle or the pantoum, so you will have to rely on the following chart to keep track of it. Remember that the letters in the chart stand for repeated end words, not for rhymes or lines.