THIS WEEK’S WORDS come from “The New Song” by W.S. Merwin: time, always, imagine, back, first, know, when, sound, rain, night, thrush, singing
Cowardly connections
Of day to day life
First give me directions
Imagine no strife
Of day to day life
Always singing at night
You know when time’s rife
When we thrush for our plight
First give me directions
The sound of the rain
Not so much corrections
Back to it again
Imagine no strife
Accept what fate gives us
Look after wild life
And that’s without a fuss*
(c) ladyleemanila 2020
For: https://flashfictionforthepracticalpractitioner.wordpress.com/2020/10/27/flash-fiction-for-the-purposeful-practitioner-2020-week-46/, https://puttingmyfeetinthedirt.com/2020/10/01/october-writing-prompts-3/, http://sundayswhirligig.blogspot.com/2020/10/whirligig-289.html
Created by C. G. V. Lewis, the Quadrilew is a form of quatrain poem with an abab rhyming scheme, repeating lines, and contains an alternating syllable structure.
In the first verse, the poet may either start with a five or six syllable line. If the choice is five then the ‘sounding’ syllable count is (and opposite if the count is six):
VERSE ONE,
Line 1, 5 syllables.
Line 2, 6 syllables.
Line 3, 5 syllables.
Line 4, 6 syllables.
VERSE TWO,
Line 1, (which is a REPEAT of line 2 of the FIRST verse) has 6 syllables.
Line 2 new line of 5 syllables
Line 3 new line of 6 syllables
Line 4 new line of 5 syllables.
VERSE THREE,
Line 1, (which is a REPEAT of line 3 of the first verse) has 5 syllables.
Line 2 new line of 6 syllables.
Line 3 new line of 5 syllables.
Line 4 new line of 6 syllables.
VERSE FOUR,
Line 1, (which is a REPEAT of line 4 of the first verse) has 6 syllables.
Line 2 new line of 5 syllables.
Line 3 new line of 6 syllables.
Line 4 new line of 5 syllables.
If the first line of verse one has 6 syllables then the pattern is
Verse 1, 6565,
Verse 2, 5656,
Verse 3, 6565,
Verse 4 5656: (the rhyme pattern still being abab.)
If wishing to create a longer poem then the next verse (5) must be a completely fresh set of four lines, these being used as before in the following three verses. Etcetera, etcetera.
Ladyleemanila 