Sestina
“A Miracle for Breakfast” by Elizabeth Bishop
At six o'clock we were waiting for coffee,
waiting for coffee and the charitable crumb
that was going to be served from a certain
balcony
--like kings of old, or like a miracle.
It was still dark. One foot of the sun
steadied itself on a long ripple in the river.
Was the man crazy? What under the sun
was he trying to do, up there on his balcony!
Each man received one rather hard crumb,
which some flicked scornfully into the river,
and, in a cup, one drop of the coffee.
Some of us stood around, waiting for the
miracle.
The first ferry of the day had just crossed the
river.
It was so cold we hoped that the coffee
would be very hot, seeing that the sun
was not going to warm us; and that the crumb
would be a loaf each, buttered, by a miracle.
At seven a man stepped out on the balcony.
I can tell what I saw next; it was not a miracle.
A beautiful villa stood in the sun
and from its doors came the smell of hot coffee.
In front, a baroque white plaster balcony
added by birds, who nest along the river,
--I saw it with one eye close to the crumb--
He stood for a minute alone on the balcony
looking over our heads toward the river.
A servant handed him the makings of a miracle,
consisting of one lone cup of coffee
and one roll, which he proceeded to crumb,
his head, so to speak, in the clouds--along with
the sun.
and galleries and marble chambers. My crumb
my mansion, made for me by a miracle,
through ages, by insects, birds, and the river
working the stone. Every day, in the sun,
at breakfast time I sit on my balcony
with my feet up, and drink gallons of coffee.
We licked up the crumb and swallowed the
coffee.
A window across the river caught the sun
as if the miracle were working, on the wrong
balcony.
Rules: 6 stanzas of six lines each, using the same six words to end each line in a rotating pattern.
Then, an envoi of three lines.
1. ABCDEF
2. FAEBDC
3. CFDABE
4. ECBFAD
5. DEACFB
6. BDFECA
7. (envoi) ECA or ACE -and include the other words in there somewhere!
Pantoum
1
2
3
4
“Riverside”
As I walk by the riverside
Ripples disturb the water
Fish dart upstream
Fighting against the flow
2
5
4
6
Ripples disturb the water
Struggling to their destination
Fighting against the flow
In their underwater world
5
3
6
1
Struggling to their destination
Fish dart upstream
In their underwater world
As I walk by the riverside
Rule: Lines repeat in a pattern through sets of stanzas (usually three, for a total of 12 lines)
Stanza 1
A
B
C
D
Stanza 2
B
E
D
F
Cinquain
“November Night” by Adalaide Crapsey
Listen...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.
Rules: 5 line poem (yours would be two sets of
5) with 1, 2, 3, 4, 1 iambs in each line
(Remember: an iamb is a pair of syllables, the
first unstressed)
Stanza 3
E
G
F
H
Vilanelle
“Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Rules: The villanelle consists of five stanzas of three lines (tercets) followed by a single stanza
of four lines (a quatrain) for a total of nineteen lines. It is structured by two repeating rhymes and
two refrains: the first line of the first stanza serves as the last line of the second and fourth
stanzas, and the third line of the first stanza serves as the last line of the third and fifth stanzas.
The last stanza includes both repeated lines.
Sonnet (English or Shakespearean)
“Sonnet 73” by William Shakespeare
That time of year thou mayst in me behold,
When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day,
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self that seals up all in rest.
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed, whereon it must expire,
Consumed by that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.
Rule: Shakespearean or English sonnets consist of three quatrains and a couplet following this
rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg. The “volta” or turn is usually held until the final couplet,
representing a twist (burn or mic drop) at the end of the poem. Additionally, each line is 10 syllables
following iambic pentameter. (5 iambs per line) If you’re interested, you can try an italian or modern
sonnet, which has slightly different formatting.
Concrete
Rules: A concrete poem is when your
words create the shape of the object
you are writing about.