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CU Poetry at the Urbana Free Library - Nonets and Cinquains

  • Urbana Free Library 201 S Race St Urbana, IL, 61801 United States (map)

How about a break from the whole sonnet thing and let's count syllables. This week give the nonet and/or the cinquain a try. These are both short little poems made by counting syllables -

"the cinquain, which is a nifty five-line poetic form from Adelaide Crapsey. Inspired by tanka, the cinquain is comprised of 2 syllables in the first line, 4 in the second line, 6 in the third, 8 in the fourth, and 2 in the fifth. Plus, poets have the freedom to add or subtract one syllable from each line. That’s a lot of freedom for such a small poem."

"The nonet poetic form is simple. It’s a 9-line poem that has 9 syllables in the first line, 8 syllables in the second line, 7 syllables in the third line, and continues to count down to one syllable in the final (ninth) line.
I couldn’t find an origin, but I did learn that the word nonet is used for a group of 9 performers or instruments. So I’m assuming this is one of those poetic forms inspired by music."

Or bring in your latest work (8-10 copies please)

Hope to see everyone there!