Cinquains from America The American cinquain is a five-line unrhymed literary form defined by the number of syllables in each line (the first line contains two, the second four, the third six, the fourth eight, and the fifth two). They are usually written in iambs. The term comes from the French word for "five," cinq.
The cinquain was popular in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Many poets used it as an alternative to sonnetting. Today, few people know that it existed before Thomas Wyatt invented it in 1549.
How many types of cinquains are there? There are three main kinds of cinquains: the seasonal cinquain, the love cinquain, and the political cinquain.
Seasonal cinquains are poems that describe a season or time of year. They were common in medieval Europe where poets would compose thematic poems on a particular subject such as winter or flowers. Modern versions of these poems are called seasonal calendars.
Love cinquains are poems that talk about a person falling in love with another person. They were popular in 16th-century England when Sir Philip Sidney published his first collection of love poems entitled Astrophel and Stella.
Crapsey, Adelaide Adelaide Crapsey created the American cinquain, which is now often referred to as a cinquain. It's a five-line non-rhyming poem with two syllables in the first, four in the second, six in the third, eight in the fourth, and two in the fifth. The form originated in England in the 16th century and was popularized by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Chaucer introduced the cinquain into English poetry. Other notable poets who used this form include John Donne, Michael Drayton, and Edward Thomas.
Donne used it to great effect in "A Nocturnal upon S. Lucy's Day". This poem is also noteworthy for being one of the first poems ever published (in 1633). Drayton adopted the cinquain mode for some of his pastorals, such as "The Nymphs' Reply to Pygmalion" from "Galatea 2" (1636). Thomas used it in some of his love poems such as "The Cincuain", "The Sea", and "The Wild Swans".
Modern use of the cinquain can be found in many works of poetry, especially nature poems. Some examples include: "Under the Moon and Under the Sun" by Sylvia Plath, "In Cincuain" by Robert Frost, and "Five Songs for Voice & Guitar" by Peter Paul Fuchs.
Cinquain Form in America. Crapsey first devised the five-line American cinquain form. The opening line contains one stress and is often written in iambic meter, with the first syllable unstressed and the second stressed. The other four lines each have two stresses.
The quintain was a small cart used for testing horses' strength by allowing them to pull it along a road; if the horse could not lift it over a pole, it was considered unfit for use. The term "quintain" came from the French word for pole, which in turn comes from the Latin word for young oak tree.
In modern usage, a quintain is a small frame on which someone who can write will write five short lines, usually about seventy-five words each. Quintains were popular in Europe from the 13th century until the seventeenth century, when they were replaced by the piano stool poem.
A quire is a collection of sheets of paper that can be folded together to make a volume. A book composed of such a collection is called a bound book.
A scroll is a continuous piece of writing or drawing rolled up around a central stick or needle. The word comes from the Greek skrollos, meaning "little roll", because the invention resembles a roll of parchment or paper. However, this original meaning has been modified over time.
Cinquain Plan The cinquain is distinguished by the syllable count of each line. The first and last lines are each two syllables long. Furthermore, the second line has four, the third line has six, and the fourth line has eight. As you can see in this untitled poem by Anonymous, the rhyme system is 2-4-6-8-2. This type of poem is known as an "octave poem" because each line contains eight feet.
There are several other types of octave poems.
In conclusion, the cinquain is characterized by its eight-syllable line. It can be any length as long as it includes one end rhyme.
A cinquain is a poem that includes: Line 1: a single word (noun) Line 2 consists of two words (adjectives) that characterize line 1. (4 syllables) Line 3 has three words (action verbs) that are related to line 1. (6 syllables) Line 4 has four words (adverbs) that modify the action in line 3.
Examples: John came running. Mary had a little lamb. His car broke down on the road. Her dog barked at him. Its engine stopped working. They went to the shop to get it fixed.
Cinquains are often used in children's books as a way to keep the poems within certain limits word-for-word same as they appear in the story being told. This helps prevent plagiarism because students cannot change the wording of lines that have been written by others.
The term comes from French where it means "five things," referring to the number of lines in a cinquain.
In English, too, we sometimes call a poem that uses this form a cinquain, but more commonly it is called a "five-line poem."
Generally, a cinquain should not exceed five lines in length. However, some poets may include six or seven lines in a cinquain if they want to.
The Cinquain's Rules
8 Types of Quintains A Cinquain: A cinquain is a poem or five-line stanza with a rigid syllable count for each line. This modern form was invented by the American poet Adelaide Crapsey. She first used it in 1922, and since then many other poets have added their own twists to this type of poem.
The most common cinquain consists of an octave followed by a sestet. The term "octave" comes from the Latin word for eight and refers to the number of lines that make up a cinquain. An octave usually has two four-line stanzas or halves or fuerzas. The term "sestet" comes from the Latin word for six and refers to the number of lines in a typical six-part verse composition. A sestet has two three-line stanzas or thirds.
Although octaves and sestets are the most common units of cinquain structure, there are other possible combinations of lines of equal length. For example, a decemquartette is a ten-line cinquain composed of two fives, while a decasyllabic line is ten syllables long. Although these other unit lengths can be used in place of octaves or sestets, they are less common.
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