Welcome! This is Frank Hubeny. The form today is Ottava rima, an old Italian form consisting of multiple stanzas each of eight lines using iambic meter and having the rhyme pattern abababcc.
Although one can go on and on indefinitely with ottava rima stanzas, for this challenge let’s limit the number of stanzas to four or less. One stanza would do. It can be on any topic you want.
Here’s the procedure.
- Write your ottava rima poem of 1 to 4 stanzas,
- post it on your blog and
- put the link to your blog post in the Mister Linky below.
- Comment below if you have linked something or have some question about ottava rima. I may not know the answer but it will be fun to try to find one.
- And don’t forget to read and comment on the other poems that others have linked. We all get to know each other better that way.
and so to bed i go this night
and lay my head on pillow soft
to sleep perchance without a fright
and stay away from that which oft
has led me to this weary plight
at which my mind has mostly scoffed
that demons which patrol my head
are real as real can be the dead
I wish you freedom from nightmares!
Clever of you to realise we were asked for ‘iambic meter’, not necessarily pentameter. I like that effect.
Very nice! I like how you flipped Hamlet’s idealization of dreams and, for me, that final line is right on.
Nice meter and rhyme. I also liked the use of tetrameter rather than pentameter and the message about the demons as real as the dead.
You all “scramble me brains” at use of meter, pentameter, tetrameter! I only notice that the rhythm is pleasant to my ear … and this one has glorious cadence.
Sometimes falling asleep can be the most scary of it all… love the meter and the rhymes.
You made it seem so easy….how did you do that…it is the flow…you have mastered the flow perfectly….off to have another go….
Enjoyed the nod to Hamlet – nicely done!
Nicely done with rhyme so tight
Perchance a dream might this ignite
at which my mind has mostly scoffed
that demons which patrol my head
are real as real can be the dead
Great ending Paul! Yes, one sleeps well when relationships are on good terms. There may be distractions but a strong stand against them was good enough!
Hank
Poe-etic, Paul. Devilishly delightful, and darkly devised. Awesome.
they haunt me too in hours small
as if they were not dead at all
You sussed it – the trick with the iambic meter is to stick to one and two syllable words! I hope you managed to get some sleep in the wilds of Scotland with no mod cons!