Poetry Challenge: Introducing the Kyrielle
The kyrielle is a French poetic form dating from medieval times. It sometimes consists of couplets, or couplets paired into a quatrain usually linked by a chorus or refrain. The chorus may be as short as one word, or take up a whole line. Each couplet is usually four lines long, and each line consists of eight syllables. Different rhyming formats are used. If the poem is written in couplets it has an a-A, a-A format. If it is in quatrains, it might be rhymed in a-a-b-B, c-c-b-B or a-b-a-B, c-b-c-B format, with the capital letters signifying a rhyme ending a chorus line. A kyriells should be no less than three quatrain stanzas (24 lines) long. An example of a kyrielle is below. Have all the Dragons Gone and Died Long ago, they lived in caves, as did mankind; we were their slaves We feared them once, all men and I Why ever did the dragons die? Where did they go, the dragons bold? Where did they go, when they grew old? There is no sign of them on high. ...