April 13, 2017

• Looking Pained

  On love many wise have written
  Still we stumble in the darkness
  In confusion a lost kitten
  On love so many wise have written
  Men and women hurt and smitten
  Sweet wounds of love’s arrow sharpness
  On love so many wise have written
  Still we stumble in the darkness

  This is a Triolet. This form of poetry was popular in 13th century medieval France. It is composed of 8 lines in iambic tetrameter (blech). The rhyme scheme is ABaAabAB where the 1st, 4th, and 7th lines are identical and the 2nd and 8th lines are identical. So there are lots of rules and the poet must labor under some pretty severe restrictions to get their point across. Since this is kind of a rare form there aren't too many examples. However it is known to have been a favorite of women poets and thus you can imagine the main topic seems to be love. Even the poems that survived and have been recorded have made love their topic. Go figure. Anyway as a penance I wrote this in iambic tetrameter. I will strive to avoid sin and thus this form of poetry. Since it is a penance for me it becomes (I'm pretty sure) a penance for you to have to read this...

  • 6:40 am
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