FIXED FORM POETRY: IT’S

EASY, YOU WIMPS

By Hope Fletcher

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY FIXED FORM POETRY, HOPE?Well, idiots, it’s quite simple. “the general term covering the various

kinds of poem in which the metre and rhyme scheme are governed by a prescribed pattern” –Answers.com

“any form of poetry where the style and the placement of words has an intended purpose and/or significance” –Hope Fletcher

WHAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF A FIXED FORM POEM?Well to begin with there are Villanelles Sestinas Shakespearean Sonnets Italian Sonnets Haikus Odes Closed Couplets Quatrains Rhyming Verses

DON’T BE FRIGHTENED, MY CHILDREN. Yes, there are many different forms of fixed form poetry. But do not let that discourage you.

FINDING THE PERFECT FIT The hardest thing about fixed form poetry is finding out what types of poems you are best at. And the only way to figure that out it to…

NOW FOR THE BREAK DOWN

VILLANELLES (MY PERSONAL FAVORITE) _________ 1_________ 2_________ 3

___________________________ 1

_________ _________

_________ 3

… and so on until

___________________________ 1_________ 3

FOR EXAMPLE Those Girls Across the Lunch Table

 Those girls across the lunch table 1Talking about their friendDon’t know how much their words hurt.

3 Laughing and giggling at Shy girl They never say a word to her face,Those girls across the lunch table 1 They don’t care that she can hear them, The Pretty girl, the Vain girl, and the

Desperate girl whoDon’t know how much their words hurt.3  Shy girl inside is scared that all her

friends Mock her the same way as Those girls across the lunch table 1

 The girls who gossip about herA Shy girl who already changed herself

so much But they don’t know how much their

words hurt. 3 Now Shy girl is crying all alone in her car Wanting the approval of the people she

admires most, Those girls across the lunch table. 1 She drives home, all alone, wanting to

hit Dying inside because Those girls across the lunch table 1Don’t know how much their words hurt.

3

SESTINAS (ALSO A LOT OF FUN)Stanza 1: A, B, C, D, E, FStanza 2: F, A, E, B, D, CStanza 3: C, F, D, A, B, EStanza 4: E, C, B, F, A, DStanza 5: D, E, A, C, F, BStanza 6: B, D, F, E, C, AFinal Tercet is ACE, ECA, BDF, or FDB.

FOR EXAMPLE Advice to Jane

Do you want to be beautiful? AOh, so perfect and thin? BBe given envious glances that are so hard. CEveryone in tan, but you’ll be the one in red. Wearing the cutest clothes, not a care in the world, because

you look trim and clean EMy advice to you is, cease. F

Forget life’s indulgences and cease FSee the other girls, lean and beautiful AOn the inside, be clean EWant nothing more than to be thin BWho would want a girl with cheeks rosy and red? D End all your cravings, it isn’t all too hard C Your heart may grow hard CEmotions will cling to you, but you must continue to cease FNever give up on your dream, though your eyes may be red

DWith jealousy, as you strive to be like the girls in the

magazines, to be beautiful ABut who wouldn’t want a girl to be perfect and thin? BOn the outside, everything will be shiny and clean E

You reputation may not become so clean, EAs people hear of what you have done, their judgments will

be hard CThe stories of what you have done to be thin B

But who cares, you have done what is good, you ceased FBut are you really happy? Are you really beautiful? AWith your eyes poisoned and red D  In the end, who will care about you? Besides the EKG that

glows so red. DYou’ll probably end up in some place, so clean EBut you can at least say, “Once I was beautiful,” AEven when the needles plunge into you and feel so hard CYou had starved and began to cease FCeased loving your peace of mind and began worshiping the

body thin. B But you were became bone thin BWith lusting that made you red DYou had given up loving your imperfections, you had ceased

FTrying to accept yourself and you were shuttled to the

hospital to be clean EYou worked for the undistinguishable perfection, which

many relish as earned through work so hard CBut how is that perfection beautiful? A

In the end, as you cling to your state of mind, with fingers so thin, B

The Devil grows happy and red DAs he gains another defenseless girl, as she ceases. F

SHAKESPEAREAN SONNETS_____ a_____ b_____ a_____ b

_____ c_____ d_____ c_____ d

_____ e_____ f_____ e_____ f

_____ g_____ g

FOR EXAMPLESonnet XXIVWhen in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes, AI all alone beweep my outcast state, BAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, AAnd look upon myself and curse my fate, BWishing me like to one more rich in hope, CFeatured like him, like him with friends possessed, DDesiring this man's art and that man's scope, CWith what I most enjoy contented least, DYet in these thoughts my self almost despising, EHaply I think on thee, and then my state, F(Like to the lark at break of day arising EFrom sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate, FFor thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings, GThat then I scorn to change my state with kings. G

HAIKUS If you don’t know what a haiku is, I am so sorry.

_______ 5 syllables _________ 7 syllables _______ 5 syllables

FOR EXAMPLEI like to eat cheeseExcept for AmericanI do not like that.

I COULD GO ON, BUT I WONT FOR THE SAKE OF TIME

STEP ONE: STARTING OUT AND CHOOSING YOUR TOPICThere’s a lot of pressure to make your poetry the best and most thought provoking there is. Do not let this control what you write. YOU are the poet. YOU decide what topic needs addressing. YOU make the choice. No one else can do that for you. Once you realize this, then choose your topic. Make it special to you. Make it important. Poetry is about emphasis so emphasize.

STEP TWO: CHOOSING THE RIGHT FORM This one is really hard and I can’t tell you what to do. My only advice is to write about the same topic a hundred different times in a hundred different fixed forms from a hundred different perspectives then choose your number one.

FOR EXAMPLE- MY TAKE ON BULLYING Wilting Flowers- Sestina- Outside

Perspective My Frenemy- Villanelle- Bullied My Frenemy Reprisal- Free Verse-

Same Person as the Villanelle Version

Those Girls Across the Lunch Table- Villanelle- Peer Pressured

Advice to Jane- Sestina- Outside Perspective

SHAKESPEARE’S TAKE ON LOVE MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Sonnet 116- “Let me not to the marriage

of true minds” Sonnet 18- “Shall I compare thee to a

summer's day?” Sonnet 116- “Love is not love” All’s Well That Ends Well- “Love all, trust

a few, do wrong to none.” “If you love and get hurt, love more.”

STEP THREE: FIX ITThe first draft will be crap. Throw it out. Cry. Get it out of the trash can. Bring it to someone with poetic abilities and get help. Rewrite it. Cry at how awesome it is. Show it to Mrs. White. Cry about how much red pen there is on your paper. Fix it again. Repeat until-

STEP FOUR: SATISFACTION You will never be completely happy with your work. You will always find something that you hate about it. My advice to you is get over it. When someone else who analyzes it says it is good, show it off. Be proud of your creation. And if you aren’t, bring it to me and I will be proud of you for you.

CHALLENGE TIMEWrite me a poem. NO HAIKUS, IDJITS. If you need help, I’ll be right here to help you out and figure out what you want to write about, what form, whatever. Make sure it’s fixed form. It does not have to rhyme. It does not have to be perfect. It just has to follow a pattern and we can work on the rest. NOW GO. YOU GOT DIS.