Tag: literature

The Ovillejo

On By Adam AstraIn creative writing, original poetry, poetic forms challenge, poetry, Poetry Challenge, writing2 Comments
52-Forms Revisited: This post has been revised and streamlined with refreshed links and new original content (November 2025)

The Ingenious Gentleman Cervantes

The Ovillejo is the first form of this challenge with a lineage that can be traced back to a single well-known source: Miguel de Cervantes’ epic comedy (or is it a tragedy?) The Ingenious Gentleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha, better known today as Don Quixote (1605).

Untangling the Ovillejo

Ovillo in Spanish means “ball.” A Poet’s Glossary explains: “The word ovillego refers to a spool of thread or wool, and this complicated Spanish stanzaic form is tied in a little knot [which] unravels in ten lines.”

Learning by Example

The Ovillejo is a complex form which can perhaps be best grasped through example. Below is an excerpt from Paul Archer’s English translation of Miguel de Cervantes’ poem, “Ovillejos” from Don Quixote, followed by the original Spanish version.

Ovillejos (Archer Translation)

 What undermines all I attempt?
Contempt!
What heaps sorrow onto me?
Jealousy!
And what gnaws me through and through?
Missing you!

That’s why nothing will do
to make my distress less –
I’m killed by hopelessness,
contempt, jealousy and missing you!

Ovillejos (Original Spanish)

¿Quién menoscaba mis bienes?
¡Desdenes!
Y ¿quién aumenta mis duelos?
¡Los celos!
Y ¿quién prueba mi paciencia?
¡Ausencia!

De este modo en mi dolencia
ningún remedio se alcanza,
pues me matan la esperanza,
desdenes, celos y ausencia.

Translation vs Original

Translation of poetry from any language is a task fraught with challenges both practical and creative—the phrase “lost in translation” has become cliché for good reason. In a form with as many requirements as this has, you’ll likely have to make some compromises. Even a non-Spanish speaker should notice that Archer’s translation has preserved the original’s punctuation (excepting the exclamation in the last line) and rhyme scheme. One thing that is lost, however, is the syllable count. The lesson here is you can’t rely solely on any translation to learn the requirements of a given form.

Form Requirements

Structure:
– The Ovillejo is a poem consisting of ten lines

– These ten lines are usually made up of a sestet (6 line stanza) and a quatrain (4 line stanza)

– Any number of Ovillejos can be connected to create a sequence (you’ll see here that Cervantes’ “Ovillejos” is a sequence of three Ovillejos)

Content:
– Lines 1, 3, and 5 of the first stanza must ask a question, which the preceding line (2, 4, 6) must answer

– The second stanza reflects and amplifies the first stanza

– The last line of the second stanza must be a culmination of lines 2, 4, and 6 of the previous stanza (this is known as a redondilla). The exclamation point on the final line appears to be optional.

Rhyming:
– The first stanza can either be seen as three couplets, or a sestet, with an aa bbcc rhyme scheme

– The second stanza is always a quatrain, with a cddc rhyme scheme

Syllable Count:
– In the first stanza, lines 1 ,3, and 5 consist of eight syllables. Lines 2, 4, and 6 consist of two to three syllables

– Lines 7, 8, and 9 consist of eight syllables in the second stanza

– The final line should consist of seven to ten syllables

If all of these rules are leaving your brain feeling like a ball of tangled yarn, here’s a breakdown:

Ovillejo Requirement Breakdown*

Line 1: a rhyme in 8 syllables (question)
Line 2: a rhyme in 2-3 syllables (single word exclamation)
Line 3: b rhyme in 8 syllables (question)
Line 4: b rhyme in 2-3 syllables (single word exclamation)
Line 5: c rhyme in 8 syllables (question)
Line 6: c rhyme in 2-3 syllables (single word exclamation)

Line 7: c rhyme in 8 syllables
Line 8: d rhyme in 8 syllables
Line 9: d rhyme in 8 syllables
Line 10: (Line 2)+(Line 4)+(Line 6) (optional exclamation)

*line breakdown adapted from Writer’s Digest

An Original Ovillejo

What do we say when men oppress?
Confess!
To those who drink as others drown?
Step down!
And after we destroy the throne?
Atone!

To prove your soul’s not made of stone,
There’s nothing that you need to do
But lift your polished, deadly shoe,
Confess, step down, and atone.

~Ovillejo Revisited & Revised~

Ovillejo

What do we say when men oppress?
Confess!
To those who build on broken ground?
Step down!
And when the tyrant’s overthrown?
Atone!

You cannot rule by wealth alone;
You cannot sell a country’s soul.
Resign, retire—go count your gold.
Confess, step down, atone.

Notes on my revision

Title
I added a title with this revision. Not a very creative one, admittedly.

Revised Lines
Upon revisiting, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with lines 2 and 4, and 7 through 9. So I created an expanded list of rhyme pairings, and, after carefully considering my syllables, landed on these new lines. I believe (hope) they paint a clearer picture and more directly express the purpose of the poem.

Online Resources:

Top 10 Question Poems – Tweetspeak
Ovillejo – Writer’s Digest
Ovillejos – Paul Archer (Translator of Cervantes)
Ovillejo – Dark Side of the Moon
Ovillejo – Popular Poetry Forms
Unraveling the Ovillejo – dVerse Poets

The Magic 9

On By Adam AstraIn creative writing, original poetry, poetic forms challenge, poetry, Poetry Challenge, writing1 Comment
52-Forms Revisited: This post has been revised and streamlined with refreshed links and expanded original content (November 2025)

The Mysterious Magic 9

The Magic 9 is a newer form with uncertain origins. The idea for the rhyme scheme is rumored to have sprung from the rushed misspelling of the famous incantatory exclamation: abacadabra!

Structure of the Magic 9 Poem

Requirements of the Magic 9 form:

– Comprised of a single nine-line stanza

– Must follow the rhyme scheme: abacadaba

– No restrictions on line length, meter or subject matter

Tips and Techniques

One way to get started is to make a list of end words.

To do this form correctly you’ll need:
– 5 a end rhymes
– 2 b end rhymes
– 1 c end word
– 1 d end word

Determine what kind of end rhymes you’d like to use. Click here for a handy guide on the different rhyme types used in poetry.

First try single-syllable end rhyme words, and then expand to two or even three-syllable words. Consider how these changes feel and how each possibility resonates within the structure of the form.

Now brainstorm around your favorite end rhyme clusters, looking for meaningful ways of bringing them together.

Keep it loose at the beginning and let the creativity flow. Your internal editor is not allowed in this free-flowing creative space, so don’t stop to judge or think too critically–that’s what revision is for.

An Original Magic 9 Poem

The Stargazers

Away from the glare of the city’s light,
We follow the firefly’s flash.
Abandoning the screens that so narrow our sight,
We trace the heavens for our favorite constellations.
With galaxies and gods, all going ’round in our flight,
We lay down our blanket in a hidden patch of prairie.
In this brilliant darkness, our vision’s set right,
As the dazzling meteors slash
Across the impossible night.

Links to Online Resources:

Types of Rhyme – Daily Writing Tips

~Magic 9 Revisited~

Rather than creating a new poem in the Magic 9 form, I thought I’d share the lyrics to a song I wrote using The Stargazers as a jumping off point. I often look for ways to use formal poetry as a springboard into songwriting.


Escape to the Cosmos

The city at night is a lovely sight,
But the lights can strain your eyes.
I know of a grove off a dark country road.
Why don’t we go for a ride?

We’ll slip away when the daylight fades
And the stars begin to shine.
The clouds have all cleared, and the moon’s not too bright.
We’ll escape to the cosmos tonight.

Far from the bars, the streetlights, and cars,
We’ll lay our blankets down,
Trace the constellations from our bed in the weeds,
And share all the wonders we’ve found.

We’ll slip away when the daylight fades
And the stars begin to shine.
With galaxies and gods, all goin’ round in our flight,
We’ll escape to the cosmos tonight.

The fireflies flash, the meteors dash
All across the impossible sky.

We’ll slip away when the daylight fades
And the stars begin to shine.
In this brilliant darkness, our vision’s set right.
We’ll escape to the cosmos tonight.





Hear it at:
Bandcamp
YouTube
Spotify

The Gwawdodyn

On By Adam AstraIn creative writing, poetic forms challenge, poetry, Poetry Challenge, writing5 Comments
52 Forms Revisited: This post has been revised and streamlined with refreshed links and a new original poem. (November 2025)

The Gwawdodyn

Welsh poetry—much like the language itself—has a musical quality that emphasizes the sound of words through the use of alliteration, assonance, consonance, and rhyme. This traditional form, pronounced (gwow-DOD-in), is a great example of this musicality. Comprised of one or more quatrains, this form has strict syllabic restrictions, and features both internal rhyme and end-rhyme requirements.

Snowdon from Nantlle Valley 
Sir Kyffin Williams R.A. (1918-2006) 

Structure of the Gwawdodyn

Requirements of the Gwawdodyn form:
– Comprised of any number of quatrains (four-line stanzas).
– Usually features a 9/9/10/9 syllable pattern for each stanza.
– Follows a unique rhyme scheme with matching end rhymes (a) on lines 1, 2, and 4, with a variable internal rhyme (b) on line 3:

1-xxxxxxxxa
2-xxxxxxxxa
3-xxxxbxxxxb
4-xxxxxxxxa

Variations on lines 3 and 4:
– The internal ‘b‘ rhyme in the third line can be shifted to the left or right as needed, but is usually found towards the middle of the line.
– One possible variation features a matching internal rhyme in lines 3 and 4, with no end rhyme in line 3:

1-xxxxxxxxa
2-xxxxxxxxa
3-xxxxbxxxxx
4-xxxbxxxxa

Other Variations
You may find other variations of this form featuring slightly different syllable counts and rhyming patterns, with the most variation found in lines 3 and 4.

An Original Gwawdodyn

Sons of Abraham

Tell me all you Sons of Abraham
Spilling sacred blood for sacred land:
Do your daughters weep to see the slaughter
Of so many sacrificial lambs?

Notes on my original poem
While there are no metrical specifications for this form, I enjoy writing in meter, and you’ll find my poem is mostly written in iambic tetrameter.

Though this poem in its current form consists of a single quatrain, a traditional Gwawdodyn can be made up of as many quatrains as the poet pleases. I’ll no doubt explore options for expanding this work in the future.

I use a mixture of masculine and feminine rhymes. And although my rhymes are often slanted, I still match the sounds closely.

There is a great deal of assonance (long and short a sounds), alliteration (beginning s sounds), and consonance (internal and ending s sounds) in this piece, which I believe is in keeping with the musicality often associated with traditional Welsh poetry.

~Gwawdodyn Revisited~

One Night Only at the Tŷ Cwrw

There’s no time to dilly or dally
The minutes continue to tally
So pick up your feet, the pub up the street
Is screening How Green Was My Valley

Notes on my new original poem

The phrase Tŷ Cwrw translates to English as ‘ale house’ and is pronounced something like ‘tee kuh-roo.’

How Green Was My Valley is a 1941 film directed by John Ford, which takes place in a Welsh mining community and is adapted from a 1939 novel of the same name. Though it faced some criticism in the UK (mostly for dodgy accents), it is probably the film most associated with Wales and is famously a favorite film of Clint Eastwood and Alex Trebek.

Poetic Devices at Work:

Structure

  • Syllable Count – 9/9/10/9 (strict)
  • Lines Per Stanza – 4 (strict)

Sound Repetition

  • Rhyme (external) – dally/tally/valley
  • Rhyme (internal) – feet/street, screen(ing)/Green
  • Alliteration (t) – Time/To/Tally
  • Alliteration (d) – dilly/dally
  • Alliteration (p) – pick/pub
  • Consonance (t) – minutes/continue
  • Assonance (i) – dilly/minutes/pick,
  • Assonance (E) – feet/screen(ing)

Links to Online Resources (*Refreshed*):
Gwawdodyn: Poetic Forms – Writer’s Digest
Gwawdodyn – Wikipedia

Week Nine: The Horatian Ode

On By Adam AstraIn horace, horatian ode, kansas poetry, original poetry, poetic forms challenge, poetry1 Comment

Horace (65 – 8 BCE)

Quintus Horatius Flaccus–better known to the English-speaking world by the mononym Horace–was a Roman soldier, lyric poet and satirist during the time of Augustus. He was a leading Latin poet of his time and is still celebrated for his odes, satires, and epistles. “Ars Poetica,” or “The Art of Poetry,” (c. 19 BC), his most influential epistle, offers advice on the art of writing poetry and drama.

Horatian Odes

Horace studied Greek ode forms–works by celebrated Greek poets such as Alcaeus, Anacreon, and Pindar–and adapted them for his own purposes, making them suitable for Latin. He not only changed the formal conventions of the Greek odes (stanzaic patterns, meter, rhyme scheme), but also modified the tone and subject matter to best highlight his own unique artistic sensibilities. While Greek odes tended to be heroic–elaborately glorifying a person or event–Horace’s odes were more personal, contemplative, and philosophical. The odes of Horace are also known for their charm, sophistication, and occasional touches of light humor.

Reading Horace

Non-Latin readers are immediately confronted with the challenge of translation. It is widely considered a fool’s errand to attempt to preserve formal conventions such as meter and rhyme when translating poetry, so you’ll need to regard any English translations of Horace’s work as approximating the art and meaning of Horace’s original odes, rather than duplicating their formal conventions.

That being said, there is a great deal to be gained by reading Horace–keeping this limitations in mind–in English and many translations are available online. For the bookshelf, I recommend Oxford World’s Classic’s Horace: The Complete Odes and Epodes featuring translations by David West.

A Horatian Ode in English

Although we can’t look directly to Horace to learn the conventions of his signature odes (without first learning Latin, that is), we can, however, look to Horatian odes written in English by English poets, and there are several good examples. Perhaps the most famous of these is Andrew Marvell’s “An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland”.

The forward youth that would appear 
Must now forsake his Muses dear, 
Nor in the shadows sing 
His numbers languishing. 
’Tis time to leave the books in dust, 
And oil th’ unused armour’s rust, 
Removing from the wall 
The corslet of the hall. 
So restless Cromwell could not cease 
In the inglorious arts of peace, 
But thorough advent’rous war 
Urged his active star. 

Scanning the first eight lines of Marvell’s Horatian ode reveals several key requirements of the form. Firstly, you’ll notice each two lines feature an end rhyme in an aabbccdd… pattern. Secondly, you’ll notice that while lines 1 and 2 are written in iambic tetrameter, lines 3 and 4 are written in iambic trimeter. Thirdly, you’ll notice that–and this is an important feature unique to the Horatian ode–the pattern set in the first four lines is repeated without variation in each subsequent quatrain.

Requirements of the Form

Structure

Any number of stanzas that unvaringly follow the pattern set by the first stanza. Stanzas can be of any length, but Horatian odes usually feature repeating stanzas of two to four lines. Enjambment is allowed.

Content

– Tone tends toward philosophical, contemplative, gently playful, tranquil
– Style is sophisticated and formal, but not restrictive

Meter

Meter is chosen at the discretion of the poet. Again, the important factor is consistency from stanza to stanza. Iambic meter is commonly used in English.

Rhyme

Rhyme schemes vary, but (again) subsequent stanzas must repeat the pattern set by the first stanza. Lines are always end-rhymed.

An Original Horatian Ode

A Horatian Ode to the World Goddess

The Goddess of the World, I sing–
Her many forms and faces bring
The light of fertile life,
The fear of judgement’s knife.

Like Draupadi of Indian fame,
Born of the sacrificial flame–
Where she perceives a wall,
Illusion’s palace falls.

Or Anath, golden Canaanite,
Her retribution fierce and right,
She’ll cut you with a word,
Then feed you to the birds.

Online Resources

Ode – Wikipedia
Odes: Praise Poetry! – Writer’s Digest
An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland – Poetry Foundation
Ode – Poetry Foundation
How to Write an Horatian Ode – Forward Poetry
The Horatian Ode – Poetry Magnum Opus

The Miltonic Sonnet

On By Adam AstraIn creative writing, poetic forms challenge, poetry, Poetry Challenge, writing1 Comment
52 Forms Revisited: this post has been revised and streamlined with refreshed links and new original content (November 2025)

John Milton (1608-1674)

The Miltonic Sonnet is named after the 17th century English poet, political writer, and civil servant, John Milton. With the publishing of his epic poem Paradise Lost, widely regarded as one of the greatest works written in the English language, Milton solidified his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time. Milton’s work would go on to influence Romantic poets such as William Blake and William Wordsworth.

Photo caption: A wood engraving from the 19th century depicts a blind John Milton dictating his influential epic poem “Paradise Lost” (Fortuné Louis Méaulle / Wellcome Library) 

Milton’s Sonnet

Starting with the then-popular Petrachan sonnet (named for Italian poet-scholar Petrach), Milton made several changes to make the form his own. He took the sonnet out of the category of love poem and brought it into the spheres of politics, religion, and social issues. He also introduced enjambment (the technique of carrying one line through into the next), while at the same time removing the break between the first and second stanzas, thus tightening up the form. By removing the volta (also known as a pivot, or turn) after the octave (first eight lines) and varying the rhyme scheme of the sestet (proceeding six lines), he further reshaped the form.

The following poem—one of Milton’s most famous—demonstrates these contributions to the evolution of the sonnet:

“When I Consider How My Light Is Spent”*

When I consider how my light is spent,
    Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
    And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
    My true account, lest He returning chide;
    “Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
    Either man’s work or His own gifts. Who best
    Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
    And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
   They also serve who only stand and wait.”

*provided courtesy of Poetry Foundation

Requirements of the Form

Structure

– Fourteen lines
– No spaces between parts (written as a single stanza)
– Lines contain enjambment
eg: Who best / Bear His mild yoke…His state / Is kingly…

Content

– Occasional (celebrating an event), political, and religious subjects
– Unlike other sonnets, does not have a distinct volta (or pivot) after the eighth line

Meter

– Iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line, unstressed-stressed pattern).

Rhyme Scheme

– First eight lines (octave): abbaabba
– Preceding six lines (sestet): often cdecde, but variable

An Original Miltonic Sonnet

The viral image haunted every screen—
A photograph too horrid to ignore:
A pair of bloated bodies on the shore.
In Congress followed yet another scene
Of bickering and washing white-hands clean.
No older than The Virgin when she bore
The Savior that they claim to so adore,
The budding mother wonders what they mean.
As children hungry, dirty, sick and scared
Are torn away and locked in concrete halls
Lay weak with worry, overwhelmed with fear,
The value of their lives is weighed and tared;
As Washington debates the costs of walls,
Who dares to speak of Christ’s compassion here?

Notes on My Original Sonnet

I challenged myself to write a sonnet that was true to the Miltonic themes of politics, religion, and current events, and found in the issue of immigration a combination of all three. The line “children hungry, dirty, sick and scared” was taken from this BBC News article and served as the fulcrum of this poem.

Online Resources


Sonnet Examples – Poetry Through the Ages
Miltonic Sonnet – Poetry Magnum Opus
John Milton – Wikipedia
Petrarchan Sonnet – Wikipedia