Poems and that

[hjdoom]

I was reading ‘The Man Who Was Thursday’ by G. K. Chesterton and saw a reference to a form of poetry I had not come across before, the triolet. I did a little digging and discovered that it’s a highly constrained poem with a strong emphasis on repetition. It consists eight lines of eight syllables, usually written in iambic tetrameter. The first, fourth, and seventh lines repeat as do the second and eighth lines in a ABaAabAB rhyme scheme with the capital letters indicating the repeated lines. I had a crack at writing my own, it’s an interesting challenge, it requires a singular focus of intent and, ideally, a weight of meaning in the repeated lines. I wouldn’t normally share poetry, it’s a art form I think everyone should practice and almost everyone should keep to themselves but an example, even a poor one, might be illustrative of the curious effect of so much repetition in such a small space.

Britain is world enough for me
I seek no paradise on Earth
Save refuge in antiquity
Britain is world enough for me
Bounded by cerulean sea
Though many shores have sublime worth
Britain is world enough for me
I seek no paradise on Earth