Glossary of Poetic Forms
The following are poetic forms that have appeared in Shot Glass Journal.
Black out
A found poem where words are crossed out until the poem remains.
Butterfly cinquain
A nine-line syllabic verse of the pattern 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 2 / 8 / 6 / 4 / 2.
Cento
A cento is a work wholly composed of verses or passages taken from other authors; only disposed in a new form or order.
Cherita
A short verse that tells a story, created by ai li, UK poet and artist. 6 line narrative poem made up of 3 separate strophes. A single line, a couplet and a tercet.
Cinquain
Cinquain is a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines
Ekphrastic
A poem that is inspired by another art form, such as a painting, sculpture, photograph. The poem defines or describes the artwork.
Epitaph
Something which indicates the salient facts about or characteristics of the deceased. Shortened form of the elegy.
Ghazal
The Ghazal (pronounced "ghuzzle" was developed in Persia in the 10th century AD. It comprises of 5 or more couplets. Each couplet must be a poem in itself. Both lines of the couplet should be of the similar syllable length. Both lines of the first couple must end with the same word or refrain. The second line of all subsequent couplets must end with the same word ending the first couplet. The last couplet could contain an alias or signature of the poet. There can also be a rhyming pattern with the word that precedes the repeated word in the second line of each couplet.
Jisei
Jisei is a poem written by the poet before their own death. These poems reflect the final reflections of one's life. It was generally a tradition with zen monks but were written by poets as well. These poems originated in Japanese, Chinese and Korean cultures as far back as the 7th Century, and can be written in any poetry form, but were traditionally written in tanka or haiku style.
Naani
Naani is one of the Indian popular Telugu poems. It consists of 4 lines with the total lines consists of 20 to 25 syllables. The poem is not bounded to a particular subject. Generally it depends upon human relations and current statements.
Nonce
A nonce form is generally created by a poet for a specific poem but which may, over time, and with repeated usage by subsequent poets, become a "received form."
Oviellejo
An Old Spanish verse form (derived from ovillo, a ball of yarn). A stanza consists of 10 lines, with a
rhyme scheme of AABBCCCDDC. The second line of each rhyme scheme, Line 2,4,6, is short line of up to 5 syllables. The last line is a "redondilla," a "little round" that collects all three of the short lines.