B&P’s Shadorma & Beyond

Hello, Bastet here.

Last week whilst commenting with one of our writers I mentioned the Kyrielle Sonnet and she hadn’t heard about it … I think perhaps we’ve already done the Kyrielle Sonnet in one of it’s  two versions .. the real one and mine ( 😉 ) but I thought we’d have another look today.

First of all .. let’s remember that a Kyrielle is a poem of French descent and by applying certain rules becomes part of the family of sonnets … which include: The Italian Sonnet (Petrarchan Sonnet), The English Sonnet  (Shakespearian Sonnet),  The Spenserian Sonnet, The Modern Sonnet, The Kyrielle Sonnet and The Indefinable Sonnets etc.

Let’s look at the structure of a Kyrielle Poem … it is composed of rhyming three quatrains (four lines) or stanzas and like all Classical French poetry it is octosyllabic (eight syllables).  Each quatrain ends with the same line (known as a refrain) – it becomes a sonnet when we add a couplet at the end of the poem composed of the first line and the refrain – so it’s important to choose your first line wisely.   The rhyming structures are:

AbaB
cbbB
dbdB
AB

or

AabB
ccbB
ddbB
eebB
AB

Of course as in all things it’s easier to write a Kyrielle Sonnet rather than describe how to write a Kyrielle Sonnet!  So here’s an example from my personal archives called:

Writer’s Block

Alas the words don’t come to me!
My blank mind keeps me company
Not sure of what to write just now,
I’ll write about a spotted cow.

I would write of bikes and flowers
Maybe of grapes on their bowers
But no words come of trees or bough
I’ll write about a spotted cow.

But cows are not inspiring!
This is becoming alarming!
Oh Bastet give your cat meow!
I’ll write about a spotted cow.

Alas the words don’t come to me!
I’ll write about a spotted cow.

© G.s.k. ’13

(my personal variation to the Kyrielle Sonnet is to write it without rhyming)

So … we have the form and I hope I’ve been lucid in describing this form, it’s one of my favourites.  Now let’s look for inspiration!

Rain Over Rovereto by G.s.k.

So, once you feel inspired (either by my photo above or by your own chosen medium)  and have written your poem (either a Kyrielle Sonnet or a Shadorma – or perhaps a combination of the two?), please tag your work: Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie and B&P’s Shadorma & Beyond then link to our Mr. Linky App:

 

 

Hope you have fun this week!  Happy writing,  Bastet.

For extra reading:

What is a Kyrielle poem?

Sonnets

The Poet’s Garret Sonnets 2007 Form Challenges #7 Kyrielle Sonnet

Glossary of Forms, Poetic Terminology, and Literary Devices