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Hi everyone! Today we will learn a poetry form, called Sequidilla.
The Seguidilla began as a popular dance song of Spain. The verse form was established and branched into variations by the 17th century. It has an alternating long short rhythm.
The Seguidilla is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of 2 part septets. (7 lines)
• syllabic, 7-5-7-5 : 5-7-5 per line. There is a slight pause between L4 and L5 suggesting L4 should be end-stopped.
• rhymed by assonance xAxABxB or xAxABAB. x being unrhymed. True rhyme is generally not used.
• composed with a volta or change in thought between L4 and L5.
• sometimes serves as a conclusion for another verse.
Example:
So quiet now, the ripples
lapping on the shore
scarcely disturb the silence
– a whisper, no more.
But who knows the power
the growing breakers may have
in another hour?
– Paul Hansford
And for those interested to know the definition of assonance, here it is:
Assonance is a literary device in which the repetition of similar vowel sounds takes place in two or more words in proximity to each other within a line of poetry. Assonance most often refers to the repetition of internal vowel sounds in words that do not end the same. For example, “he fell asleep under the cherry tree” is a phrase that features assonance with the repetition of the long “e” vowel, despite the fact that the words containing this vowel do not end in perfect rhymes. This allows writers the means of emphasizing important words in a phrase or line, as well as creating a sense of rhythm, enhancing mood, and offering a lyrical effect of words and sounds.
Sources: Seguidilla Assonance
Today’s challenge is to write a seguidilla. You choose your theme and set the mood. If one stanza is not enough for you, you can continue to add, following the seguidilla pattern of rhyme and number of lines.
New to dVerse? Here’s how to join in:
*Write a sequidilla in response to the challenge.
*Enter a link directly to your poem and your name by clicking Mr. Linky below
and remember to check the little box to accept the use/privacy policy.
*You will find links to other poets and more will join so please do check
back later in order to read their poems.
*Read and comment on other poets’ work–we all come here to have our poems read.
*Please link back to dVerse from your site/blog.
See you at the poetry trail! ~ Grace
Good afternoon from a warm spring week from Canada. I am so excited about the change in season. I look forward to reading your sequidilla poems. I hope you all enjoy writing to this form.
Good evening everyone! Wow, Grace this is a tough technical challenge. But thank you for introducing me to a new form. I will have a go…
A puzzle to challenge the brain, smiles. Looking forward to reading yours.
Good evening all and thank you Grace for hosting and introducing us to a new form, which I enjoyed writing.
A delightful new form for me too. Glad you enjoyed it.
A long time since I did a new form… it was more challenging than I thought at first
My first time to do this too. I am thinking of doing more poetry forms (new ones) for future sessions.
Hello Grace and All. Glad to hear you are having a warm spring week in Canada. Need to get busy writing on what looks like a fun and challenging new form. Not sure which critters I will write about that I saw yesterday and today but it gives you a hint on my topic. If you’re pouring something tasty today, will you pour me one please.
Yes finally, we are so happy. I will cheer you on with wine! Looking forward to your poem.
Thank you so much and cheers! Just linked it up.
Loved the challenge, Grace! It’s been a long time since I tried a new form 🙂 hope you like the poem. 💝💝
Me too. I like that its short enough but challenging with the requirements. A bit like tanka&haiku, but with the volta and syllabic pattern. I love your septets !
Thank you! I loved yours too, Grace 😀
This is a fun challenge! I may do two stanzas. Feeling adventurous! 😆
Go ahead, you can write more than 1 stanza. These forms are fun and challenging.
I have to admit the restrictions/constrictions of some of the formats seem to stifle free poetic expression. I am always amazed, however, at the talents of my fellow poets.
Bev, so nice to see you. For me, I write short verses and just “fit” or “beat” them into the form, ha..ha… Take care!
Hi Grace–and all! Thank for this new (to me) form. I definitely want to try it, but we’ve been out all day enjoying our unseasonably warm weather. I’ll see if I can get one written later or tomorrow.
Hi Merril! Been out myself after work, enjoying the warm weather. Take care.
Oy.
Hello!
Good Evening Grace, and thank you for teaching me a new form. Never heard of this one before, although I’m sure there are a lot of forms I’ve never heard of.
This one was a bit of puzzle and I had to write 3 verses to get a feel for it. 😊
Yes, my first time to try this form too. Lovely theme for your verses. Glad you had fun writing it.
This was fun! Writing Haikus every day is a help!!!
I had the same thought when I got to the last 3 lines 😀
Yes it was like a reverse Tanka! ☺️👍
Grace,
Two things – I love trying new forms! Thank you! And – I think that the poem you gave as an example above is a bit off because it uses exact rhyme. Am I wrong about that?
Yours,
David
Oh I’m so glad you said that. I was feeling a bit thick, wondering if I hadn’t understood the idea of rhyming by assonance or if maybe my accent was the problem.
Confused poet at your service!
I noticed that, too, but I assumed rhyme and/or assonance.
Yes, that is correct. It provides a little leeway.
I /ove/ technical prompts. Taking a deep breath and diving in. I’ve got some subject prompts from some friends and will combine them! May take the weekend!
Looking forward to it. Thanks for checking in.
Thank you for hosting Grace. I posted a end of winter poem. That is all I had in me. My creative juices are drained. Feel free to dispose of the link if you wish..
Hi Rob. This Mr. Linky is for the poetry form. We always have OpenLinkNight if you wish to link up with any poem of your choice. I will be hitting the trail in a bit.
…if you feel it missed your prompt…
Thanks so much for joinining folks. I noticed that some might be confused by the syllabic count per line requirement. You count the syllables per line (it does not mean the number of words though). I will be reading and commenting on your poems throughout the days.
Hello everyone! Wow, a challenging form but a lovely one, as well. I’ll give it a try if I can. Since I started my weekly prompt back up, I’ve been overwhelmed with WordPress activities! Take care!
Thanks for your visit. Enjoy the weekend.
My pleasure, Grace.
Happy weekend everyone …..
Happy weekend Helen.
Hi Grace,
Thank you for hosting the challenge. I enjoyed trying this new form very much.
Dear Grace, am very inspired by your post and interested in the form. I have posted on open link night a poem I wrote for a Spanish occasion and it was translated. It’s not quite a seguidilla but I think I was driven in the right direction by other Spanish poetry examples. I love Neruda’s style and Antonio Machado but I was searcing for a form and did not find anything. So thanks this fits perfectly with some of the future work I want to do in Spanish and English.
Thanks for sharing and introducing me to something new.