Triolet, Poetic Form Exercise Options

[Cleo_Serapis]

The Triolet is a poetic form consisting of only 8 lines.  Within a Triolet, the 1st, 4th, and  7th lines repeat, as do the 2nd and 8th lines.  

The rhyme scheme is quite simple:  ABaAabAB, capital letters representing the repeated lines.

As an exercise, I learned of the Triolet from Shadow Poetry recently and have come to respect the form a great deal.

You can write them in iambic tetrameter, or try it in pentameter where each line only has 10 syllables for an added challenge with 4 and 5 metrical feet, respectively, although not a requirement of the form.

The repeating lines do NOT have to be the same words per se, but MUST have the same SOUNDS..for example, line 1 could start with "I" and line 4 could start with "Eye".

Good luck!

An example for you from my first attempt at the triolet:

Fervor's Lust

In response to Percy Bysshe Shelley's "The Indian Serenade"

The night is filled with fervor's lust,
where whispers of our love is told;
and in this trance of forlorn trust,
the night is filled with fervor's lust.
Our climax swells with sun's slow thrust;
Star's gleam is lost in sorrow's hold.
The night is filled with fervor's lust,
where whispers of our love is told.

Copyright © 2003 Lorraine M Kanter