Hello everyone!  I am excited to share this new poetry form.

The English Madrigal is one of many varieties of the Italian madrigal, an early lyric form that began as a pastoral song. Medieval author and poet Geoffrey Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales) defined the rules of the madrigal in English, which include a number of formal requirements, including meter, end rhyme, and several repeated refrains. Some of the best-regarded English language madrigals are those of Scottish poet William Drummond, who wrote eighty madrigals in his collection Poems (1616).

Key Features of the English Madrigal

Content: Often includes a theme of love

Structure of an English madrigal

*Usually written in iambic pentameter.
*Comprised of three stanzas: a tercet, quatrain, and sestet.
*All three of the lines in the opening tercet are refrains.

Form: A thirteen-line form in three stanzas:
Stanza 1] Tercet -Three lines
Stanza 2] Quatrain – Four lines
Stanza 3] Sestet – Six lines

Rhyme and Refrain

An English Madrigal

[L1] A (refrain 1)
[L2] B1 (refrain 2)
[L3] B2 (refrain 3)

[L4] a
[L5] b
[L6] A (refrain 1)
[L7] B1 (refrain 2)

[L8] a
[L9] b
[L10] b
[L11] A (refrain 1)
[L12] B1 (refrain 2)
[L13] B2 (refrain 3)

Here is my poem:

Widow’s Last Winter
by Grace Guevara

Death – come & cover me – burs & soft twine
Turning feet to plum, bones to earth – bury
My face under orchid’s sun, wild cherry

My body is bent tree, crowing to wind
Pining to fly & ride the last ferry
Death – come & cover me – burs & soft twine
Turning feet to plum, bones to earth – bury

This weighted sadness, blue trimmed with iced-rime
Spinning legs more than I care to carry
Recalling a love, sweet as mulberry
Death – come & cover me – burs & soft twine
Turning feet to plum, bones to earth – bury
My face under orchid’s sun, wild cherry

****

Sources:  Poet’s Collective       Writer’s Digest

The challenge is to write an English Madrigal poetry form following the rhyme scheme as described above.

New to dVerse? Here’s how to join in:

*Write a 13-line English Madrigal poem 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.