About

Rosefire Rising is the poetry blog of PF Anderson. I have a possibly unfortunate affection for formalism in poetry, and am especially fond of sonnets and waka (especially haiku [575] and tanka [57577]).

Shakespearean Sonnet
a b a b
c d c d
e f e f
g g

Spenserian Sonnet
a b a b b c b c c d c d e e

Petrarchan Sonnet
a b b a a b b a c d c d c d (and variations)

There are other forms I am also fond of, including Haiku / Tanka / Renga (I even tried a Ghazal once) and some of the following.

Villanelle
A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2

Pantoum

line A
line B
line C
line D

line B (repeated)
line E
line D (repeated)
line F

line E (repeated)
line G
line F (repeated)
line H

…

line Y
line C (repeated)
line Z
line A (repeated)

OR you could use Dana Guthrie Martin’s instructions on how to write a pantoum from over at the defunct Poetry Collaborative.

1. Start with a four-line stanza.
2. Repeat lines 2 and 4 of the first stanza as lines 1 and 3 of the next stanza.
3. Finish the second stanza by creating new lines for 2 and 4.
4. Repeat the pattern. Take lines 2 and 4 of the second stanza and make them 1 and 3 of the third.
5. Do this over and over until you think you got yourself a complete poem. (But don’t prattle on for too long or the poem will devolve into a repetitive nonsensical mess that will send readers heading for the hills.)
6. For the final stanza, you’ll need lines 1 and 3 of the first stanza. Make line 3 the second line of the final stanza, and make line 1 the final line of the poem.