The Repetitive Forms Challenge!!!

The Repetitive Forms Challenge:

This is a challenge to write a poem where repetition is employed. The objective of this challenge is to write a poem where a phrase, line, or refrain is repeated throughout. The poem must be Formatted (structured), Repetition Base, Stanzaic, Rhymed, and Metrical. The entries (poems) can be Free Form (of your own original structure/ format) or of one of these Forms/Styles; Kyrielle, Kyrielle Sonnet, Quatern, or Retourne. Your poems do not have to be perfectly symmetrically metered, but they must have a definite rhythm to them.

The Retourne does not have to rhyme, although extra points and special consideration will be given to those that do.

Structured Form: Form that dictates the shape of a poem through requirements for rhyme, repetition, metrical components, and so forth.

Stanzaic: A poem done and seperated into stansas.

Metrical: 1. The rhythmic arrangement of syllables; of or composed according to a rhythmic pattern or meter. 2. Of, relating to, or composed in poetic meter.

Meter: (a measurement of rhythm) The measured arrangement of words in poetry as by accenting rhythm.

Rhythm: 1. The pattern or flow of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in accentual verse or of long and short syllables in quantitative verse. 2. The measured flow of words and phrases in verse or prose as determined by the length of and stress on syllables.

A metrical piece (poem) has symmetry and a correspondence of rhythm.

Note: This is not a competitive challenge, but one to challenge you skill, introduce you to writing with repetition, and heighten your skill level -- as to repetition and in the craft, overall. Although this is not a competitive challenge, all good will receive votes and comments praise your job well done.

Repetition 101 (Lesson on using Repetition);
http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/article.html?id=470

KYRIELLE

A Kyrielle is a French form of rhyming poetry written in quatrains (a stanza consisting of 4 lines), and each quatrain contains a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the poem consists of only eight syllables. There is no limit to the amount of stanzas a Kyrielle may have, but three is considered the accepted minimum.

Some popular rhyming schemes for a Kyrielle are: aabB, ccbB, ddbB, with B being the repeated line, or abaB, cbcB, dbdB.

Mixing up the rhyme scheme is possible for an unusual pattern of: axaZ, bxbZ, cxcZ, dxdZ, etc. with Z being the repeated line.

The rhyme pattern is completely up to the poet.

Kyrielles shall be no longer than eight stanzas (quatrains) with the standard minimum of three.

Example:

Some days I sing, some days I cry.
My soul's the one determines why.
Sometimes it laughs, sometimes it mourns.
On my bouquet are many thorns.

Wake up each day, face a dark cloud.
My happiness wrapped in a shroud.
The day begins; to me it scorns.
On my bouquet are many thorns.

Lay down my head, dark nights begun.
With the sad setting of the sun.
From all my sorrows my heart mourns.
On my bouquet are many thorns.

KYRIELLE SONNET

A Kyrielle Sonnet consists of 14 lines (three rhyming quatrain stanzas and a non-rhyming couplet). Just like the traditional Kyrielle poem, the Kyrielle Sonnet also has a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the Kyrielle Sonnet consists of only eight syllables. French poetry forms have a tendency to link back to the beginning of the poem, so common practice is to use the first and last line of the first quatrain as the ending couplet. This would also re-enforce the refrain within the poem. Therefore, a good rhyming scheme for a Kyrielle Sonnet would be:

1st stanza - AabB
2nd stanza - ccbB
3rd stanza - ddbB
4th stanza - AB

or

1st stanza - AbaB
2nd stanza - cbcB
3rd stanza - dbdB
4th stanza – AB

Example:

Make Believe

In a realm some call Make Believe,
they promised they would never leave.
Where crystal blue waters still flow,
Fairies dance beyond the rainbow.

Elves and Unicorns join along
with magical refrains of song.
Through fresh morning dew - all aglow,
Fairies dance beyond the rainbow.

Where Spring is, always, in the air,
iridescent wings - flutter there.
Playfully, putting on a show,
Fairies dance beyond the rainbow.

In a realm some call Make Believe,
Fairies dance beyond the rainbow.

QUATERN

A quatern has four stanzas, each of which has four lines. Each line contains eight syllables. It does not have to rhyme, but it does follow a specific pattern of line repetition: the first stanza's first line is repeated as the second stanza's second line, the third stanza's third, and the final stanza's fourth. This form originated in France.

line 1
line 2
line 3
line 4

line 5
line 6 (line 1)
line 7
line 8

line 9
line 10
line 11 (line 1)
line 12

line 13
line 14
line 15
line 16 (line 1)

Example:

Enough of somber, grim attire!
No longer will I dress in black
To greet events which should be glad
Why be so formal? Let it go!

A wedding is a time of joy
No longer will I dress in black!
Why bundle in hot stuffy clothes?
Are T-shirts wrong? Are blue jeans bad?

The Reaper comes arrayed in black
Now truly, can we follow suit
To greet events which should be glad?
Why, Death himself is no such fool!

Tuxedos are for penguins best
And darkness fits the raven well
But we, unfeathered as we are
Why be so formal? Let it go!

RETOURNE

Like so many other French forms, the retourne is all about repetition. It contains four quatrains (four-line stanzas), and each line has eight syllables. The trick is that the first stanza's second line must also be the second stanza's first line, the first stanza's third line is the third stanza's first, and the first stanza's fourth line is the fourth stanza's first. Retournes do not have to rhyme. Consider the following example:

Peruse the wide and distant sky
What gifts of glory do you see?
Perhaps a wisp of cloud appears
Or maybe sunlight streams across.

What gifts of glory do you see?
How perfect is the firmament -
A panegyric to the world
That shames the sapphire with its light.

Perhaps a wisp of cloud appears
It cannot mar the cosmic sphere
But rather complements its scope
And makes it august all the more.

Or maybe sunlight streams across
As from the dusk or coming dawn
Or clear and vibrant down from noon
To sweep the placid world below.

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD WRITING!!!!

Here's an example of a Retourne I wrote in honor of this challenge. This is a Retourne employing rhyme:

Enchanted!!! (Retourne)

Enchanted is my heart, enshroud,
By you love, your beauty, divine.
I'm lifted up, amongst, the clouds.
Enraptured, is this heart, of mine.

By you love, your beauty, divine,
To heaven, each time, I'm taken.
Enamored, is my soul, with thine.
My passion, you have, awaken.

I'm lifted up, amongst, the clouds,
Whenever, your presence, I’m in.
You resound, rapture, all so loud.
Your rhapsody, I’m just, wrapped in.

Enraptured, is this heart, of mine,
By the wondrous splendor, of you.
You've captured, this being, of mine.
You, I've taken a liking to!!!

Robert Gardiner
R.G.Love

Another Form you might want to partake is Pantoums:

The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines
of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a
new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing
quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.

The design is simple:

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4

Line 5 (repeat of line 2)
Line 6
Line 7 (repeat of line 4)
Line 8

Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanzathen repeats the second and
fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of
the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first
line of the poem is also the last.

Last stanza:

Line 2 of previous stanza
Line 3 of first stanza
Line 4 of previous stanza
Line 1 of first stanza

Example #1:
It All Started With A Packet of Seeds

It all started with a packet of seeds,
To be planted with tenderness and care,
At the base of an Oak, free from all weeds.
They will produce such beauty and flare.

To be planted with tenderness and care,
A cacophony of colorful flowers,
They will produce such beauty and flare.
With an aroma that can continue for hours.

A cacophony of colorful flowers,
Bright oranges with yellows and reds,
With an aroma that can continue for hours,
Delivered from their fresh flower beds.

Bright oranges with yellows and reds,
At the base of an oak, free from all weeds,
Delivered from their fresh flower beds,
At all started with a packet of seeds.

Copyright © 2001 Sally Ann Roberts

Example #2:
Celestial Dreams

Moonbeams creamy as pie
Racing across the night
On a journey into the sky
Dreams seeking celestial light

Racing across the night
Past Venus waking from sleep
Dreams seeking celestial light
Cast into the dark so deep

Past Venus waking from sleep
To Saturn's expanding rings
Cast into the dark so deep
Catching a ride on angel's wings

To Saturn's expanding rings
On a journey into the sky
Catching a ride on angel's wings
Moonbeams creamy as pie

Copyright © 2001 Marie Summers

Example #3:
Dance In The Rain

Come, dance in the rain with me
Let it wash our cares away
Drench us through and set us free
If only for today

Let it wash our cares away
Don't worry about tomorrow
If only for today
Along my path, please follow

Don't worry about tomorrow
This shower soon will end
Along my path, please follow
Cast worry to the wind

This shower soon will end
The memory, it will linger
Cast worry to the wind
Sate the primal hunger

The memory, it will linger
Drench us through and set us free
Sate the primal hunger
Come, dance in the rain with me...

Copyright © 2001 Chelle Wood

Example #4:
Osprey

O, sleek and beauteous hunter
Who deftly takes to wing
And tears her prey asunder,
A victory cry she sings.

Who deftly takes to wing
This chilly, salty morn?
A victory cry she sings
As this new day is born.

This chilly salty morn
A seahawk silently dives,
As this new day is born,
To feed three brand new lives.

A seahawk silently dives
And tears her prey asunder
To feed three brand new lives,
O, sleek and beauteous hunter.

Copyright © 2001 Dendrobia

Another excellent example of a well written Pantoum is found at 'The Starlite Cafe';

http://www.thestarlitecafe.com/poems/101/poem_8345563.html

Enjoy and Good Writing!!!!

Repetition is the basis for many poetic forms. The use of repetition can heighten the emotional impact of a piece. Repetition of a sound, syllable, word, phrase, line, stanza, or metrical pattern is a basic unifying device in all poetry. It may reinforce, supplement, or even substitute for meter. Repetition emphasizes whatever it is that is repeated, making it stand out so the reader knows it is important. If you repeat a word or a line in poetry, then that word or line (or those words or lines) appears to be more important than other parts of the poem. In fact, in a poem with repeating lines, all of the other lines are often comments on or elaborations of the repeated line. Repetition can also affect the rhythm of a poem and the way it sounds. In particular, repetition of individual sounds or groups of sounds can strengthen the rhythmic structure.

Repetition can be a great tool in poetry and a very effective one, when done well (right), but it is not easy to do. Anyone whose ever partook of poetry forms that use repetition know that it can be a difficult task, that repeating lines and phrases dispersed throughout your poem can sometimes adversely affect your rhythm and the overall flow of the poem. Repetition is not the hardest thing in the world to do, but is very easy to do badly.

Repetition emphasizes whatever it is that's repeated, but too much repetition can make a great word or phrase seem commonplace. It's a matter of balance or moderation. Repetition is another one of those elements that we usually think of in connection with strict forms of poetry, but which is also of great use in less structured poems, including free verse. There are many possibilities - one can repeat words, phrases or whole stanzas, and one can play with the location of repeated parts. One of the keys to repetition is what you choose to repeat and where you choose to repeat it. If it's done in a poem that requires a specifically structured repetition, as many of the repetitive poetry forms, (formats) do and require, then, it's a matter of effectively choosing what will be repeated in your poem, choosing what to use as your refrain or repeated sound, syllable, word, phrase, line, or stanza, and choosing to repeat something that will still allow your poem to be rhythmic and fluent, (to flow).

If repetition, repeating yourself, in a poem, doesn't lend itself well to the rhythm and flow of the poem, it shouldn't be done, used, at all. I personally have tried using repetition effectively in poetry and can safely say doing it "effectively" is the most difficult part of the task, although I have managed to do so on occasion.

Repetition is a skill and like all skills not everybody is graced, blessed, with the ability naturally. The use of repetition is an investment of time and effort. It takes a certain level of skill and craftsmanship to do it well, so for those who aren't graced with the natural ability it takes work to be able to do it well, right, if you will.

I have repeated myself on and on
on and on repeating myself while repeating on and on
though on and on I keep on repeating
and on and on I’ll keep repeating
till someone tells me to stop repeating myself on and on