Fussy Little Forms: Rondelet

Happy Weekend, Toads! Today I offer to you the very definition of a Fussy Little Form, the RONDELET. The rondelet is a short French poetry form featuring a strict rhyme and meter pattern plus a lovely repeated refrain. It looks like this:

Line 1 :: A—four syllables

Line 2 :: b—eight syllables

Line 3 :: A—repeat of line one

Line 4 :: a—eight syllables

Line 5 :: b—eight syllables

Line 6 :: b—eight syllables

Line 7 :: A—repeat of line one

Of course, mapping it out that way does not allow for the beauty of this form, which is in part due to the refrain (lines 1, 3, and 7). The refrained lines should contain the same words, but substitution or different use of punctuation on the lines is accepted. For example, here is a rondelet about the rondelet, by Charles Henry Luders (1889):

A RONDELET

Is just seven verses rhymed on two.

A rondelet

Is an old jewel quaintly set

In poesy--a drop of dew

Caught in a roseleaf. Lo! For you,

A rondelet.

Here is one of my rondelet attempts, called "Mount to the Sky"

You looked like rain

before the wild hurricane flew.

You looked like rain.

Clamoring down tin eaves, the pain

rollicked like thunder. Meanwhile, you

colored outside the lines. All blue.

You looked like rain.

(from my book Responsive Pleading)

And here is a more detailed explanation from a format challenge handed down in earlier times by former Toad, Pirate Grace O’Malley in earlier Garden times: SHORTENING THE SAILS

I hope you all will be inspired and try it. Rondelet, rondelet!

from Libri de piscibus marinis in quibus verae piscium effigies expressae sunt by Guillaume Rondelet (1554)