Short Verse Guidelines
COUPLETS Couplets are two-line end-rhymed poems, which
must be able to stand alone as poems, for our purposes. Even when a set of 2 or more couplets
are submitted as a linked or related group, each couplet needs to be self-contained. Simple
rule of thumb: If a couplet does not make sense and have poetic power and impact on its own, we
do not want it. There are several types of couplet which embody the English tradition:
- Short Couplet - iambic or trochaic tetrameter (conceivably, even trimeter);
- Split Couplet - a line of iambic pentameter followed by a line of iambic dimeter (the
split couplet is an exception to our general rule: a set of either 2 or 3 split couplets
which are dependent upon one another is acceptable [or an extremely good set of 4]);
- Heroic Couplet - (our favorite!) iambic pentameter in both lines; and
- Alexandrine Couplet - iambic hexameter in both lines.
In terms of quality, we expect this shortest of forms to be of the highest quality - carefully
polished with every word necessary to the poem. Poets would be well advised to take into
account the fundamentals of haiku writing (concreteness, immediacy, objectivity, juxtaposition
of imagery, and so forth) in writing couplets. Please avoid sending us aphorisms, witty sayings,
mottos, moralistic exclamations, and the like. And remember the most basic of poetic rules:
Show it, don't tell it!
TERCETS Tercets are three-line poems, rhymed or unrhymed,
of various meters. The classic English version of the Japanese haiku is a tercet of 5, 7 and 5
syllables, in that sequence (of course, there is much variation in the form these days). Please
do not submit haiku to the Review; please submit them to Haiku Harvest.
Here are a few types of tercet which embody the English tradition:
- Enclosed Tercet - three lines rhymed A-B-A.
- Sicilian Tercet - three lines of iambic pentameter rhymed A-B-A.
- Terza Rima - linked tercets (for our purposes, 2 or 3 tercets maximum)
QUATRAINS Quatrains are four line poems, rhymed or unrhymed,
of any meter, or not metered. Here are a few types of quatrain which embody the English tradition:
- Alternating Quatrain - four lines rhymed A-B-A-B.
- Sicilian Quatrain - four lines in iambic pentameter rhymed A-B-A-B.
- Envelope Quatrain - four lines rhymed A-B-B-A.
- Italian Quatrain - four lines in iambic pentameter rhymed A-B-B-A.
- In Memoriam Quatrain - four lines in iambic tetrameter rhymed A-B-B-A.
- Redondilla Quatrain - four lines in tetrameter rhymed A-B-B-A, A-B-A-B or A-A-B-B.
- Hymnal Quatrain - four alternating iambic lines, tetrameter, trimeter,
CINQUAINS Cinquains are free verse - five line,
unrhymed poems of twenty-two syllables distributed as follows: 2, 4, 6, 8, 2. They
were invented and written by Adelaide Crapsey in 1909-1914. See her own cinquains for fine
examples. There are no set rules beyond the syllable-count and line-lengths; rhyme is
not required, but also not prohibited. Nevertheless, cinquains are generally are iambic
except that the last line is spondaic (double-stress).
LIMERICKS Limericks are five line poems in a single
acceptable form: five anapestic lines rhymed A-A-B-B-A. The first, second, and fifth
lines, all of which rhyme, are trimeter. The third and fourth, which rhyme, are dimeter.
The limerick has a long history as a vehicle for sexual humor. Nevertheless, the form
was popularized in the 1860s with clean limericks published in the English humor
magazine Punch. We do not want any submissions of dirty limericks. Take them somewhere
else. We want clean limericks, which may or may not be humorous. We prefer wit to
humor. We will be very pleased to consider serious limericks. Despite the popular
wisdom (worth about as much as every other free thing), there is nothing intrinsic
in the limerick form which requires it to be humorous. We are not saying that human
relations are an off-limits subject; but be assured, we know the difference between
wit and smut.
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