There are variations of the Sapphic Stanza and I have chosen the Loose Sapphic form created by Marie Marshall. The form is composed over four lines, the first three being hendecasyllabic and the fourth being pentasyllabic.
The focus is on syllabic meter rather than accentual giving the poet more room to explore poetical device and grammatical schema within the verse structure. From the creator's own examples I have found the poems to be more vibrant and dramatic than their strictly metric counterparts.
Using 'X' to represent each syllable the schema of the Loose Sapphic form can be shown as thus:
X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X
Here is an example of that form by Marie Marshall:
To Chincoteague
My eyes now light upon an oystercatcher
in its jav'lin flight low over the grey waves
as dawn touches the beach, wind whips stings of sand
I narrow my eyes.
Sun struggling over the horizon; surf-noise
and the bird's piping call are the only sounds.
My gaze follows the flight straight and swift until
the little spark fades.
Bird, can you fly the seas to the west of us?
Can you make that journey flat against the wind,
the dawn at your back, to be there and to call
my dear heart to wake?
Steer by the lighthouse at Assateague, and then
just a little north to Chinoteague whose name
means beautiful, whose beauty is made greater
by my love's presence.
Can your cry start the ponies and Sika deer?
Can you dodge the merlin and the peregrine
to lay your cry upon my darling's ear,
as the sun rises?
If not, dear bird, if you cannot make that flight,
what chance do my own cries have as I stand here?
My tears make little difference to the great sea,
my own heart, broken.
http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/2009Challenge/form2a.html
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27 lines, 11 comments, on Aug 31 2:46 AM
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