As some of you know, we have completed our monthly poetry form challenges – sonnet, rubaiyat, pantoum and villanelle. I am now hosting the next poetry form with the basic lai and the variation, lai nouveau.
Lai
This form looks to be a very simple form comprising of a five syllabled couplet followed by a two syllable line. The number of lines in each stanza is fixed at nine and the couplets must rhyme with each other, as the two syllable lines must also rhyme. In English this line is probably the most difficult part of the poem.
The Lai is a very old French form and tradition states that the short line must not be indented, it must be left dressed to the poem. This is known as Arbre Fourchu (Forked Tree); there is a pattern meant to be set up as a tree.
The number of lines in each stanza is fixed at nine. The number of stanzas is not fixed and each stanza has its own rhyme pattern. The stanza’s rhyme pattern is… a. a. b. a. a. b. a. a. b.
Here is my example:
First Earth Day (a tribute to Rachel Carson)
I won’t be- silent (a) (Five syllables)
I’ll roar, my trident (a) (Five syllables)
Red flag (b) (Two syllables)
Of lies you brighten (a) (Five syllables)
Green, as you riot (a) (Five syllables)
Waste bag (b) (Two syllables)
Of toxic diet (a) (Five syllables)
I’ll stand, defiant (a) (Five syllables)
Old nag (b) (Two syllables)
Here is another example: Lai of the Cow
The praises I sing
Of that wondrous thing
The cow.
Let the rafters ring!
My Muse shall take wing,
I vow.
Foods our cattle bring
Are fit for a king,
And how!
As white as can be,
The smooth quality
Of silk,
The epitome
Of maternity,
Its milk.
You have to agree
You never will see
Its ilk.
For an honoured guest
Save the very best:
The cream.
While those not so blest
Make do with the rest,
And dream.
So nice to digest,
That when it’s suppressed,
Folk scream!
You can churn milk, so
It becomes yellow
Butter.
What could beat that? Oh,
Don’t scoff in that low
Mutter!
I will not forgo
Such pleasure; I’m no
Nutter.
Or you cheddar it.
Thus you make a bit
Of cheese,
A prerequisite
For one exquisite
Good wheeze:
Let’s get the grill lit
And make Welsh rarebit.
Yes please!
Our bovine-sourced feast,
Has it still not ceased?
Good grief!
No, last but not least,
Its flesh when deceased:
The beef.
The worth of this beast
Could not be increased,
In brief.
Lai Nouveau
This is a much harder form than the lai and only has an eight line stanza and is similar in idea to the Villanelle. In this case the first two lines are the refrain and are used as the last lines of the subsequent verses. The last verse including both lines but in reverse order.
The difficulty with this form is of course picking a rhyme pattern that is strong enough to last even two verses. The alternative rhyme can vary from stanza to stanza.
I wrestle with words (A1) (Five syllables)
Bland, coarse, dulled end swords (A2) (Five syllables)
What hues (b) (Two syllables)
to paint the firebirds (a) (Five syllables)
to catch hummingbirds (a) Five syllables)
The muse (b) (Two syllables)
flips in house of cards (a) (Five syllables)
Where I stand on guard (a) (Five syllables)
Do I go with herd (a) (Five syllables)
milling in the yard (a) (Five syllables)
Or choose (b) (Two syllables)
To spice, sprinkle herbs, (a) (Five syllables)
percolating curds (a) (Five syllables)
To ruse (b) (Two syllables)
Bland, coarse, dulled end words (A2) (Five syllables)
I wrestle with words (A1) (Five syllables)
Tip: I find that the trick was to choose the first/last two lines that would mesh in either position.
- Please write a Lai and/or Lai Nouveau and link up below. Use the opportunity to read through the comment you receive, and edit if you like to.
- You are welcome to link up an old Lai or Lai Nouveau that you feel fits the prompt or you can take a favorite free verse poem and rewrite it as a lai or lai nouveau.
- Comment as usual and if you would like to receive constructive feedback on your poem please indicate that in your comments. Please note that if you asked for constructive feedback be prepared to give constructive feedback as well
- If you would like to edit and improve your poem please update a new link in Mr Linky so it shows.
- As Mr. Linky is open for 1 month, please come back and read, comment on later entries.
Thank you for supporting our poetry form challenges. See you in the poetry trail.
Welcome to our next poetry challenge form – lai and its variation lai nouveau. I look forward to reading them in the coming days.
Hi Grace and All. Very much looking forward to trying my hand at the new form.
Hi! Try 1 lai first, smiles. Looking forward to it.
Hello, still on my way home after a concert – a quite challenging form
I know – looks deceiving simple but its not. I hope to write more as I need more practice, smiles.
Maybe I missed something. It seemed much easier than the Villanelle
Good evening dVerse poets, good evening Grace and thank you for hosting the lai. I’m having Internet connection problems this evening, so I will try to read and comment on as many poems as possible. There’s always the morning!
Good evening Kim. Hope your internet woes will be gone soon. See you at the poetry trail.
It’s intermittent – again! I’m typing comments as fast as I can in a Word document as it drops out every time I try to post! I’m not sure what the problem is; there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with the router. People here and in the surrounding villages have been complaining about line and Internet outage for weeks, since British Telecom started upgrading from old cable to new fibre.
Hi Grace–thank you for hosting this new form. It looks like a challenge!
I know Merrill. Looks simple but its not, smiles.
Oh, this sounds like fun – if I can find a great rhymey word to start with!
That’s the trick, I believe Candy.
Heading out for dinner right now. I finished my first lai and will be back later to read.
You hit it in the nail. The original form tackled stories of adventure and romance. Enjoy your dinner and see you in the poetry trail.
So glad to hear that Grace! See you on the trail
Hello Grace- thank you for hosting. I have never heard of this form but I gave it a try. It is a tricky one indeed.
Tricky, I know. But once you get going, its fun (which checking the rhzming sources). Thanks for giving this a spin.
So much to learn about poetry and styles .. thank you for this entightening post.
You are welcome. For me, poetry forms are challenging puzzles, with a help of rhyming dictionary.
I need to take part in these . Right now strughling to blog just once a week.
OMG, I thought, time for a new form. But your explication and examples fueled me up, for I could see the possibilities and latitude in the simple Lai form. Turns out, I enjoyed it even more than the villanelle.
Glenn, you wrote your lai effortlessly. Once you get going, its hard to stop, smiles. Thanks for trying out this form.
Love this form. I did a Lai Nouveau for my first one (because I’m an over-achiever sometimes), but I can see myself writing an ordinary Lai in the near future.
Lai Nouveau is even more challenging. Looking forward to your writing Lai Linda.
Hm, interesting. Not the form I think of with ‘lai’. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lai_(poetic_form) I must admit this version is still eluding me…
Wow this is a challenge! Good one, grace. I finally squeaked out one about not being able to write one! Lol. I found, in trying to fit the form, I was floundering, and either had to omit too much or inject a lot of filler…
It is a challenge to find the “right” words. I found myself floundering too, ha..ha…
Thank you for hosting Grace! 🙂 I think I may be sitting out on this prompt. I am not a strong fan of “forms” to begin with, and they all tend to feel a bit forced, some more than others. But this one just really isn’t inspiring me yet. It is too awkward feeling for my soul. But I will keep kicking it around to see if I can get it to feel comfortable. Maybe? But very nice job finding an exotic form!
Just read Merril’s Lai entitled “Suns and Moons Arise”. WOW! That was the inspiration I needed to pursue the Lai – thanks Merril!
Well, I wrote one. Not my best work, but didn’t feel a spark.
Lai is a good form. I appreciate the art that comes from it.
I tend to agree with Rob, in that some poetry forms seem to muffle my muse! I did “avvago”, albeit a bit of tongue-in-cheek sass. I have been impressed at the very clever treatments of the form that have appeared. I must have a serious talk with my muse! At any rate, Grace, you’ve presented an interesting format for us to consider.
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This form fights back. I welcome the challenge, but I think I have bruises now. 🙂
I may try one more of these once I find the right topic (I burned myself out finding different ways to write about spring.)
Anyway, I posted it. I’m also doing the NaPoWriMo challenge and getting absolutely wrecked by poetry. I’m a day behind and trying to catch up. I’ll be reading, but it will be later in the weekend after I have caught up with the rest of the pack.
Good luck on that NaPoWriMo challenge. I find it hard to write good poems everyday. Yes, the form is a bit tricky to handle at first.
Can I just be a pedant for a minute and point out that Lai is pronounced roughly like lay not lie. Just saying.
Ha..ha… Jane. I have read some wonderful lai, yours included.
I am getting so nitpicking in my old age 🙂
Thanks for hosting, Grace! I had trouble with my first few attempts, but kept trying and glad I did. 🙂
It comes with a bit of trial and error. Reading the other entries helps too.
Though I found this form difficult, I’ve written 3 Lai’s (sp?) 🙂 Haven’t tried the Lai Nouveau yet, but hopefully I will!
Looking forward to it. It’s like a crossword puzzle. 🙂
Thank you for those who have participated in the poetry form challenge. Some of you said its a bit of challenge but I have read poems that are done effortlessly. For those of you who are stuck, it helps to read a few poems so you have an idea of how it can be pulled off. I am inspired to write another one after my reading rounds.
Thank you for introducing us to this new (to me) form Grace! I’ve started with a Lai Nouveau and will swing by later to read xxx
Very very late to the party, but, almost over jet lag so brain is a bit less addled…so gave this a try. Found it most challenging to keep the poem meaningful and not “sound” choppy when writing the 2 syllable lines.
And…although Rhymezone says peregrine rhymes with green and team, I looked up the pronunciation and it is “pair-a-grin” and this does rhyme with skin etc.
Just linked a Lai that I posted on another blog I contribute to. I actually found the Lai form harder than the Lai Nouveau. Those two-syllable lines are a bear!
This form has been in my writing desk for a while…i hope i make it before Mr. LINKY closes…