[Michael Cantor]

David -

Here's Rhina's intro to the ovillejo, from an old thread:

Originally posted by Rhina P. Espaillat:

...the "ovillejo," an old Spanish verse form that means "tight little bundle." "-ejo" is one of our blessed diminutives, and "ovillo" means "tangled ball of yarn." I've seen only a few of them, but it was love at first sight, because of the
fun involved. Here's a home-made sample that will show why it's called what it's called, and illustrate the way the lines are related to each other. The last line is a "redondilla," a "little round" that collects all three of the short lines. The rhyme scheme is established, but the meter is at the poet's discretion, although in Spanish the longer lines tend to be octosyllabic. Here goes:

OSTINATO

Evidence says I lie
....But I--
Though all the world concur--
....Prefer
One voice, and one alone:
....My own.
The experts cluck and groan,
"No, no! It's round, not flat!"
Their data second that.
But I prefer my own.

Ovillejos don't have to be light verse, of course.

And here's mine:

1001 Ovillejos

“There are, my Lord, the slave girl said,
.... in bed,
“One thousand poems I can recall.
.... They’re all
on varied forms of sex: I claim
.... the same
great skills in love as verse; and came
with joy tonight – and will each night.”
She smiled, and thought, with fists clenched white,
In bed, they’re all the same.


Quick Additional Gloss: Ten line poem. Rhyme scheme aabbcccddc. L2, L4, L6 are one foot each. They then combine to form L10.



[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited November 21, 2006).]

[David Landrum]

Thanks, Michael, I'll give it a try.

[R. S. Gwynn]

Coming to this late, I must admit, but here are opinions on the uses of some common fixed forms:

The sonnet can work if the poet doesn't try to cram too much into it. If he/she has basically a two-part argument, yes! If more than that, i. e. a syllogism, forget it.

The villanelle can work if the subject (repetitive, obsessive) fits. And if the poet is obsessive/compulsive. Ditto the audience.

The triolet can work if the idea is very slight. Or very, very slight. Or even more slighter.

The limerick can work if the meter is rigid and the rhymes are dead-on and the subject is carried through and is not dirty. Or is very dirty.

The haiku can work if the poet has attention-deficit disorder. Ditto the tanka. Ditto the audience.

The cinquain can work if the poet has little or nothing to say but can say it memorably. If not, try the haiku or tanka.

The rondeau can work if one has an audience with attention-deficit disorder. The roundeau redouble can work if one has a patient audience with attention-deficit disorder.

The clerihew can work if the subject has a name that will rhyme with some other word. Names like "Johnson" and "Williams" present obvious difficulties.

The sestina will not work. Ever. At all.

I hope that these comments have been helpful.

[Janet Kenny]

Originally posted by R. S. Gwynn:

The sestina will not work. Ever. At all.

Sam,
Edmund Conti has written a very successful sestina

The main thing is to finish it.

Wonderful summation of the forms.
Janet

[David Landrum]

Maybe this will provide subject matter for the next set of limricks! I'd love to see it.

[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

For Quincy

Fourteeners help me sleep at night, their regular parade
is easier than counting sheep, a stream of light and shade.
They’re solemn on the surface, but susceptible to fun;
I like their weird ambivalence. I challenge anyone
to find a better meter. When fourteeners come alive,
you wonder why it is they have to struggle to survive.

Duncan

[Mark Allinson]

For Duncan


Better than fourteeners, roll the oceanic swells of the classical hexameter,
favourite form of the great epic masters, such as Homer and Ovid.
Rolling down the centuries, the six beating wave form has carried the message
to readers who thrill to the tales of Odysseus, and the myths of antiquity,
conveyed in a form which varies naturally as the sea-pulse it echoes.

[Michael Cantor]

For Duncan -

The rhythm that fourteeners flaunt is often a charade
of images and verbal tricks that easily can be made
to march across the printed page until their task is done -
the length of these unvaried lines makes writing, when begun,
quite simple once you're bopping to that heptametric jive;
and if you don't get seasick, your fourteeners, Dunc'' will thrive!

I even used the template of your jingle and its rhymes;
the long lines of fourteeners gave me room to work my crimes.

Michael



[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited November 26, 2006).]

[Michael Cantor]

Brave Mark, oh favored sage of hexametric, whine-dark ocean's gush;
quick-fingered Mark, dropper of names, mentioner of classic gods and bards,
whose every post decries the cretin's modern world and swirls to flush
men's faces with the throb of ancient poetry; I hurl the shards
of chaste and tetrametric sonnets at your epic feet this night,
and pledge to stand by beacon-fires even as we greet the light.




[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited November 27, 2006).]

[Janet Kenny]

I am a modern metricist I like to keep the score
and often use a metronome which pleases me still more.
It was the stuff of Gilbert in the operas at Savoy,
the Modern Major General depended on that ploy.
The Empire built its influence on Fourteeners to beat
the lesser breeds in thought and deed to metrical defeat.
So sing of spring and rum tee tum and honey still for tea,
don't let my people go, oh no, I'll never set them free.