Extravagaria Workshop Wiki

Triolet

The triolet is a French form. Conrad Geller remarks:

"Going back at least to the thirteenth century, triolets are short, usually witty poems, just perfect for tucking into a box of candy or some flowers."

A triolet has eight lines, of which the first is repeated

as the fourth and seventh lines, and the second is repeated

as the eighth line. The repetitions may be exact or may

involve homophonic wordplay or repunctuation; even if the repetition is exact,

in a well-written triolet the meaning or connotation may shift

in some interesting way.

The third and fifth lines rhyme with (and have the same length)

as the first,

and the sixth line rhymes with (and has the same length as)

the second. Thus the form is ABaAabAB, where capital letters

indicate line repetition and small letters indicate rhyme.

Tetrameter, or tetrameter and trimeter, are the most commonly

used line forms nowadays (at least in English),

though pentameter may also be used,

especially for more serious subjects

(as it often was in earlier times).

Here is an example from 1873 by Robert Seymour Bridges:

When first we met, we did not guess

That Love would prove so hard a master;

Of more than common friendliness,

When first we met we did not guess.

Who could foretell the sore distress,

This irretrievable disaster,

When first we met? We did not guess

That Love would prove so hard a master.

A trio from about a century ago, by Henry Austin Dobson (note the use of anapestic rather than iambic meter):

Rose kissed me to-day.

Will she kiss me tomorrow?

Let it be as it may,

Rose kissed me today.

But the pleasure gives way

To a savour of sorrow;-

Rose kissed me to-day,-

Will she kiss me tomorrow?

I intended an Ode,

And it turn'd to a Sonnet

It began � la mode,

I intended an Ode;

But Rose cross'd the road 5

In her latest new bonnet;

I intended an Ode;

And it turn'd to a Sonnet.

In the School of Coquettes

Madam Rose is a scholar,-

O, they fish with all nets

In the School of Coquettes!

When her brooch she forgets

'Tis to show her new collar;

In the School of Coquettes

Madam Rose is a scholar!

An alternate form is ABaAbaAB (with lines 5 and 6 transposed),

of which this gem by G. K. Chesterton is perhaps the most

famous example:

I wish I were a jellyfish

That cannot fall downstairs;

Of all the things I wish to wish,

I wish I were a jellyfish

That hasn't any cares

And doesn't even have to wish

'I wish I were a jellyfish

That cannot fall downstairs.'