Gavin Bennett's Blog: Rimas Dissolutas: Poetic Form

Here’s a new (to me) form that sounds like it’s a spell from the Harry Potter series of books: Rimas Dissolutas!

Rimas Dissolutas Poems

Popular with 12th and 13th century French poets, rimas dissolutas is a poem that rhymes and doesn’t rhyme. For instance, each stanza contains no end rhymes, but each line in each stanza rhymes with the corresponding line in the next stanza–sometimes employing an envoi at the end.

For example, here’s how the end rhymes would work in a rimas dissolutas with three five-line stanzas:

1-a
2-b
3-c
4-d
5-e

6-a
7-b
8-c
9-d
10-e

11-a
12-b
13-c
14-d
15-e

(If the poem had an envoi, it might be 2-3 lines long using the c, d, and/or e rhymes.)

Note: There are no rules for meter, line length, or syllables–except that it should be consistent from stanza to stanza.

*****

Master Poetic Forms!

Learn how to write sestina, shadorma, haiku, monotetra, golden shovel, and more with The Writer’s Digest Guide to Poetic Forms, by Robert Lee Brewer.

This e-book covers more than 40 poetic forms and shares examples to illustrate how each form works. Discover a new universe of poetic possibilities and apply it to your poetry today!

Click to continue.

*****

Here’s my attempt at Rimas Dissolutas:

the cat of sadness, by Robert Lee Brewer

the cat of sadness does not purr
late at night anymore or hunt
for creatures to offer up still
half-alive & held in her teeth

oblivious to trembling furr
focused on performing her stunt
& pleasing her king on the hill
who loved her above & beneath

but who left her for a new thrill
as she curled up into a wreath

*****

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). Follow him on Twitter @RobertLeeBrewer.

*****