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Poetry Forum Index -> Poetic Form and Technique

On streams of air (#41 Rondeau)

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Eiregirl



Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 10230
Location: Chasing a pink bunny
On streams of air (#41 Rondeau)

Rondeau

What is a Rondeau
It is a French lyrical form of poetry that consists of either 12 and 15 lines. You may be thinking, “I have always seen Rondeau in lines of 10 and 13.” Well that all depends on whether or not you count the refrain lines. If they are counted (some do not) then you have 12 and 15. If they are not counted then you have 10 and 13. Personally I always thought they were 15 lines myself until I found a dictionary definition that stated a Rondeau is “a French verse form of 10 or 13 lines running on two rhymes; the opening phrase is repeated as the refrain of the second and third stanzas.” After that I had to dig deeper and from here to the end of the history section is what I found out. So you can have either 10 and 13 (not counting refrain lines) or 12 and 15 lines (counting the refrain lines). The most common length is 15 lines so that is what we will discuss here but I will give the structure for the 10 (12) line Rondeau.

Structure…
The Rondeau has eight syllable lines with the possible exception of the refrain line which can be one word or four syllables. For the fifteen (thirteen) line Rondeau there are three stanza’s consisting of a quintet (five lines), a quatrain (four lines) and a sestet (six lines). The first line of the poem is used as the refrain line for the ninth and fifteenth line. As stated before, the refrain line can be one word, four syllable or the full eight syllables. There is a rhyme scheme of AABBA AABR AABBAR (R is for refrain).

xxxxxxxA
xxxxxxxA
xxxxxxxB
xxxxxxxB
xxxxxxxA

xxxxxxxA
xxxxxxxA
xxxxxxxB
Refrain line here

xxxxxxxA
xxxxxxxA
xxxxxxxB
xxxxxxxB
Refrain line here

What about metre? The metre can be simply octosyllabic or decasyllabic while iambic tetrameter or iambic pentameter are also used frequently especially when written in English but I will leave it up to you the writer. The reason for this variable (as far as I can determine) is that the original French form had an open meter and as it was developed into English iambic tetrameter and iambic pentameter were incorporated but in recent times octo and decasyllabic lines have appeared more frequently. So feel free to mix it up a little if you wish by using octosyllabic and iambic tetrameter or decasyllabic and iambic pentameter…I have and it can be fun to mix it up a little. However if you plan on entering a Rondeau in a competition…use iambic tetrameter if you write it in English because judges can be finicky.

The ten (twelve) line Rondeau consists of a sestet (six lines plus a refrain line for a total of seven lines which is a septet) and a quatrain (four lines plus a refrain line for a total of five lines which is a quintet). The refrain line can be either the first word, the first four syllables or complete first line. The rhyme scheme is ABBAABR, ABBAR (R still stands for refrain).

Note…
When using a refrain it is important that the refrain, at the very least, appears to be a natural part of the poem and that it does not appear to be forced. By this I mean…when a refrain is used make it look like it is suppose to be there instead of looking like it is there because it is the refrain and it has to be put there because that is the form.

Terms…
Metre (or if you prefer “meter” looking over my shoulder at Deb : P ) is a measurement of the rhythmic quantity…in other words how long the line of verse should be. Such as tetrameter, pentameter, decasyllabic etc.
Iambic – I have given and explanation of this several times before but will try to explain it a little differently this time. Iambic is a measurement in poetry of a single foot of verse. Basically iambic is two beats “ba BUM”. That is to say Iambic is a single short syllable followed by a single long syllable…an unaccented syllable and a accented syllable or an unstressed syllable an a stressed syllable.
Tetrameter – is the measurement in the number of feet per line of verse…in this case tetrameter would be four feet.
Pentameter – is a five foot line of verse.
Octosyllabic – is an eight syllable line.
Decasyllabic – is a ten syllable line.
Sestet – is a term for a six line stanza.
Quintet – is a term for a five line stanza.
Quatrain – is a term for a four line stanza.
Refrain – a repeated line of verse used throughout the poem. It can be a portion of a line or a single word that is usually repeated at regular intervals.

History…
The Rondeau was originally developed as a form of medieval court music around the 12th century (depending on which book you read). The Rondeau was also adapted by church musicians who found it well suited for expressing religious worship and it was also widely used in expressing subjects such as the seasons, love and depression but can be used for any subject matter. When the subject was of a depressive nature the poem was most often moved toward a happier expression at the last stanza. In more recent times the poem has taken on a more upbeat theme. The form was adopted by the English around the end of the 18th century.

Some poets to read…
Thomas Wyatt - Rondeau 1 to 9
Guillaume de Machaut - To hear Machaut's rondeau, "Rose, liz, printemps" being sung by Lionheart, click here http://www.chantboy.com/lionheart/machaut.htm
John McCrae - Flanders fields
Eustache Deschamps – Rondeau

Now my poem…
On streams of air

On streams of air I heard her call
As the wind whistles, the leaves fall
With the change the world is aglow
With the colours of the rainbow
In her grip the world is in thrall

I hear her words as the leaves sprawl
Through currents of air I recall
On whispered winds I came to know
On streams of air

The change has come to one and all
For across the land it will crawl
As seasons continue to flow
Nature is putting on her show
And all the world she will enthrall
On streams of air

_________________
All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.

Post Mon Sep 25, 2006 10:57 pm 
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desert-fish



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 2777
Location: deleted
?!

woof this is all so technical...
do you decide in advance what form you are going to use??
i usually just do whatever sounds right to me..
and whatever suits the mood of what im saying... Very Happy

Post Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:26 pm 
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Eiregirl



Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 10230
Location: Chasing a pink bunny
Re: ?!

quote:
Originally posted by pale mirage:
woof this is all so technical...
do you decide in advance what form you are going to use??
i usually just do whatever sounds right to me..
and whatever suits the mood of what im saying... Very Happy


Pale,
Thank you thank you Smile I get few replies here and it is always appreciated very very much when one is left and even more when one is left with a question Smile

Hugs you tight...thanks.

Technical? na
I may have over explained it a little but this is actually a very simple form to write. All you have to do is write it in either 8 or 10 syllable lines and follow the rhyming scheme and use the refrain.

For this section (poetic forms section) I usually have about 3 or 4 entries in work so I guess in a way I have decided in advance what form I'm going to use when I write an entry for this section then I write a poem to suit the form...hopefully it works out. However when I write other poetry I generally just write out what I'm wanting to say then tweek it to fit a particular form or just make one up to suit what I have written.

I hope that answers your question.

Eiregirl Arrow
_________________
All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.

Post Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:17 am 
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