The Cinquain Challenge: Form 9—The Grammar Cinquain

This week, we’re looking at yet another form of cinquain—I have called it a Grammar Cinquain. This form varies from the two base Crapsey forms, using different word-types instead. The first line is made of a single noun, the second line has two adjectives, the third line has three ‘-ing’ words’, the fourth line has a phrase, and the fifth line has a synonym or alternative word for the noun in the first line.

For those of you who are new to this series, a cinquain is a five-line poem that has a set number of syllables (or word types) per line. Sometimes the title of a cinquain acts as a sixth line. Cinquains were invented by Adelaide Crapsey was an American poet who was inspired by the rules of Japanese poetry to create her own poetical form, the cinquain.

Here’s an example, originally written for a poetry collection to come out later this year:

Goblins

Inspired by those horrible green critters of many fantasy tales, this piece is my first grammar cinquain. It was written on May 5, 2014, for the April 29 entry of 365 Days of Poetry.

Goblins

Green-skinned, stinking

Warring, acquiring, admiring

Full of greed

Nightmares

Colonists

Inspired by the hope generated by the idea of colonising other worlds, this is my second attempt at writing a grammar cinquain. It was written on May 5, 2014, for the April 25 entry of 365 Days of Poetry.

Colonists

Hopeful dreamers

Risking, adventuring, living

Chasing a future

Star-flung

Why don’t you give it a try? Try writing at least one grammar cinquain for each day of the week. They don’t take a lot of time, but they can be a bit tricky. Here’s one way you might want to approach them:

• Decide on a topic;
• Think of words, phrases, feelings and ideas that relate to your topic and work out the order you want to express those things in;
• Work out how to express each idea in the right number of syllables for the line it’s on;
• Write your cinquain;
• Check there are the right number of syllables on each line; and
• Centre the poem on your page.

Or you can just write them as you go, letting inspiration take you where it will, but remember to check your syllables and centre