The GogyohkaThe Gogyohka is a modern Japanese form developed by Enta Kusakabe in 1957. Based on the Tanka and Kodai kayo, Gogyohka literally translates into 5-line poem. The rules of the Gogyohka are seemingly very simple. The stanza is 5 lines, and each line is its own phrase. What is considered a phrase, however, is...Read More
History: Previously called Hokku, HaikuHistory: Previously called Hokku, Haiku was given it's name by Masoka Shiki around 1900. Hokku, meaning starting verse, is the opening stanza of a Japanese orthodox collaborative linked poem, renga, or of its later derivative, renku (haikai no renga), and its establishment as an independent verse form is credited to Basho and...Read More
History: KnittelversHistory: Knittelvers, also Knüttelvers or Knittel, can be traced back to Otfrid of Weissenburg “who, using Latin verse as a model, introduced couplets into German verse in the 9th century. From the Middle High German knittel meaning "rhyme", but also knütte or keule meaning “club” because of it’s clumsy, irregular rhythm. Knittelvers was originally a German verse measure...Read More
History: The PantoumHistory: The Pantoum is a Malaysian poetry form that originated in the 15th century derived from the pantun, specifically from the pantun berkait, a series of interwoven quatrains, which itself originated as a traditional oral form of expression. As it made it's way into the West it was adapted and altered by French poets,...Read More
History: A SevenlingHistory: A Sevenling is a seven line form created by Roddy Lumsden as a teaching exercise, based on this poem written by Anna Akhmatova and translated by D M Thomas: He loved three things alone: White peacocks, evensong, Old maps of America. He hated children crying, And raspberry jam with his tea, And womanish hysteria....Read More
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