Saturday, March 15, 2014

Sunday Form Challenge - Constanza

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Today, we are going to try our hands at the Constanza form, which was invented in 2007 by Connie Marcum Wong. In essence, it is two poems in one constructed in the following manner:

There are 5 stanzas of 3 lines each, written in iambic tetrameter, or a count of 8 syllables. The first lines of each stanza must form a complete poem, independent of the remainder of the poem. This internal poem is reinforced through the use of monorhyme. The remaining two lines of each stanza, are an elaboration, description or extension of the first line, and they are presented as a rhyming couplet.


photo credit: woordenbrouwer via photopin cc

The Schema

a - b - b / a -c -c / a - d - d / a - e - e / a - f - f  in which each line has 8 syllables.

A further option appears to be to print the 5 lines with rhyme a after stanza five as a sixth stanza, which allows the reader to appreciate the thematic poem on its own.

Here is an example on Poemhunter.com written by the inventor of the form.

The Sunday Mini-Challenge is posted at noon on Saturday (CST) in order to allow the extra time needed to perfect a form piece. Therefore, we ask that only new pieces, which follow the schema, above, be linked to this forum. If you have an unrelated poem that you would like to share on RT, you are encouraged to link up on Monday, when it is writer's choice.



21 comments:

Helen said...

You are in fine form today, Kerry!!

Kerry O'Connor said...

Heehee!

Well, I'll be very interested to see where the form takes poets today.

Anonymous said...

Grace cheated! Hers is at her blog already :). Hmm. Muse has mostly been absent of late. We'll see if she checks in to visit. ~

Kerry O'Connor said...

I loved your response to the art last week, Grapey :) My poem of the day.

avalon said...

Fiendishly difficult.

Fireblossom said...

*grumble*

brudberg said...

Wonderful form... I simply had to do a spring poem again...

Ella said...

Oh,my-it sounds beautiful and difficult. I wonder if I could tweak my flashback poem to fit?! Thanks Kerry for pushing us to play with new forms! I'm intrigued and horrified at the same time~lol

Kerry O'Connor said...

I worked on my own last night, and it is more difficult than I imagined. By the time I got to the 4th stanza I wasn't sure I liked it, so I quit. I'll take another look this morning.

Sumana Roy said...

a nice challenge to face..as my land is celebrating Holi today..my lines tried to catch a glimpse of that...a
very Happy Sunday to you all.. :)

hedgewitch said...

Been a bit under the weather the last few days with fever and some disgusting bug--I will have to try this one when my brain is more lucid, Kerry.

Fireblossom said...

Ugh! Writing this became something of a grudge match: Me vs. The Form.

Maude Lynn said...

Like Shay said; grudge match.

Kerry O'Connor said...

Haha! Dear friends, it's a Sunday.. no grudges, just a bit of light form for fun.

Susan said...

I posted, still stiff with form, but I am enjoying playing with this. Have a great week.

kaykuala said...

Kerry Ma'am,
To please delete #11. I had meant it for OLM. Thanks!

Hank

Kathryn Dyche said...

This was a tough challenge, thanks for making me think!

Susan said...

Hey Kerry! I read your post on Fireblossom's poem and wondered at your source because I had always blamed France's Racine and Moliere for the tetrameter and English speaking patterns for the pentameter. Course, I suppose everyone is sharing now that we are 4 centuries past Shakespeare.

Susie Clevenger said...

I wrote rhyme about I can't do rhyme...lol

Hannah said...

Thank you, Kerry, I think this is the first I've written in this form...I enjoyed it!

Anonymous said...

This is a great prompt-challenge --- thank you.