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Saturday Mix – Lucky Dip, 10 February 2018

Welcome to the Saturday Mix, 10 February 2018!

This week I have reached into my mystery bag and pulled out a Cinquain. It’s my husband’s birthday in two days, so your challenge today, is to write a Cinquain poem with the theme of “Birthday”.

You may be thinking to yourself, What on earth is a Cinquain? 

Luckily, Forward Poetry has an explanation…

A Cinquain poem is a verse of five lines that do not rhyme. The Cinquain poem was created by Adelaide Crapsey.

What is the structure of a Cinquain?

A cinquain consists of 5 unrhymed lines.

Each line has a set number of syllables and words. See below:

Line 1 – one word, 2 syllables (noun)
Line 2 – two words, 4 syllables (adjectives)
Line 3 – three words, 6 syllables (verbs ending in -ing)
Line 4 – four words, 8 syllables (express feeling or describe noun)
Line 5 – one word, 2 syllables (synonym for noun in line 1)

An example of a Cinquain Poem (by me!)

Panic.
Deviant mind
flagging, wobbling, drowning.
Stoicism propels me to
withstand.

By Sarah  © 2017

Source: Forward Poetry Editors, https://www.forwardpoetry.co.uk/cinquain.php (accessed on 10 February, 2018)

Good luck with your ‘Lucky Dip Cinquain’ – I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Don’t forget to tag ‘Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie’, ‘Saturday Mix’, and hashtag #LuckyDip.

As always, make sure you link your fabulous creation to the helpful Mister Linky.

13 comments

  5. Sarah – did you know your example poem is also an Elfje?
    Five line 11 word poem; first line one word, etc up to the forth line four words… fifth line one word.
    See https://simplyelfje.wordpress.com/about/ 🙂

    I think your definition is the most detailed I’ve seen. 🙂

    Aren’t there also different Cinquains?
    I found this simple definition:
    Prosody.
    a short poem consisting of five, usually unrhymed lines containing, respectively, two, four, six, eight, and two syllables.
    any stanza of five lines.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Jules. I didn’t twig that it was also an elfje! I found a number of definitions for a cinquain whilst researching for the post. Thought the complex one added an extra layer to the challenge 😊 but you’re quite right. It is also defined as five line stanzas that follow the 2,4,6,8,2 syllable pattern.

      Liked by 1 person

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