Cinquain¶
cinquain · form · validated
Five unrhymed lines of two, four, six, eight and two syllables, rising and then falling away.
Provenance¶
- Source: Adelaide Crapsey, Verse (1915)
- Attribution:
primary— a named author, work and year this catalogue stands behind - Checkability:
self— decidable from the text and its parameters alone - Attested:
author-stated— the originator set this rule down
Details¶
- Kind: restrictive
- Languages: en
- Requires:
tokens,syllables.heuristic - Deterministic: yes
- In other languages: Cinquain (fr)
Prompt hint¶
Write five lines of two, four, six, eight and two syllables.
Examples¶
crapsey-measure¶
en — this text satisfies the procedure.
the cat
sat on the mat
the dog ran past the cat
the cat sat on the mat and thought
of mice
Source: constructed example; the 2-4-6-8-2 measure is Adelaide Crapsey's
wrong-second-line¶
en — this text does not satisfy the procedure.
the cat
sat
the dog ran past the cat
the cat sat on the mat and thought
of mice
Source: constructed counterexample
der-wind-im-schnee¶
de — this text satisfies the procedure.
der Wind
so kalt und klar
der Wind zieht durch das Haus
und trägt den Schnee über das Tor
ganz still
Source: constructed example
mesure-de-crapsey¶
fr — this text satisfies the procedure.
le vent
sur le jardin
sur la vieille montagne
et la pluie tombe sans bruit
au loin
Source: constructed example; the 2-4-6-8-2 measure is Adelaide Crapsey's
deuxieme-ligne-erronee¶
fr — this text does not satisfy the procedure.
le vent
le jardin
sur la vieille montagne
et la pluie tombe sans bruit
au loin
Source: constructed counterexample
crapsey-november-night-cinquain¶
en — this text satisfies the procedure.
Listen...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.
Source: Adelaide Crapsey, "November Night", from Verse (Rochester, NY: The Manas Press, 1915), published posthumously. The apostrophe in "frost-crisp'd" elides the -e of "crisped" and is load-bearing for the 8-syllable fourth line (ADR 0040 D5): expand it and the count moves.