10-line Poem Challenge #24: Ravenfly

Amanda J. Norton, writing on Allpoetry as DarkButterfly, has given us another decastich. Hers is called the Ravenfly. I did my best to create an etymology of the Cinq Trois DecaLa Rhyme, but I’m not even going to guess how the Ravenfly got its name.

This too is a rhyming poem, and it has three stanzas: 2 quatrains and a couplet. The line length is based on syllabic count as opposed to meter, but it could very easily lend itself to tetrameter for the quatrains and pentameter for the couplet.

In summary, the Ravenfly is:

• A decastich (10-line poem) written in 3 stanzas: 2 quatrains and 1 couplet.
• Syllabic count: 8-7-8-7, 8-7-8-7, 10-10
• Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd ee
• Meter is optional

Samples

Below are two samples for you. In both of them I set the scene with the first quatrain, added to it in the second, and then used the couplet to reflect upon the whole and draw a conclusion.

Starry Night

The midnight sky was clear last night,
Full moon illumined the ground;
The heavens were a wondrous sight—
Sparkling stars shone all around.

I stood there gazing at the sky,
Entranced by their steadfastness;
A shooting star sailed quickly by,
But changed not heaven’s vastness.

Star-studded heavens like forever are—
My life as brief as that small shooting star.

Copyright © 2018 Abigail Gronway – All Rights Reserved

Sunny Morning

Clouds drift lazily in the blue,
Love-sick birds in branches meet,
First one honeybee, now a few
Come to gather nectar sweet.

Chirps and trills fill the air with song,
Stirring wind chimes lend their voice.
I could stay out here all day long,
Bask in sunlight and rejoice.

Housework calls, and yet I feel no sorrow—
I’ll come back outside again tomorrow.

Copyright © 2018 Abigail Gronway – All Rights Reserved

It’s Your Turn!

Now it’s time for you to write a Ravenfly. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

1. Choose a topic. It can be anything. If you’re struggling for an idea, you might consider the Daily Prompts from The Daily Post
2. Pay attention to the rhyme scheme.
3. Also keep a handle on the syllable count for each line.
4. Although meter is optional, you may play around with using it or not. The use of meter will give the poem more structure; its absence will give it a more natural flow. It’s up to you and what you wish to accomplish with your poem.
5. Try to avoid filler words. Instead, use a thesaurus to find precise words that give you the right syllable count for each line.
6. And of course, when you are finished, share your poem with the rest of us.

Don’t know how? Follow these simple steps…

1. Write your blog post.
2. Include the tag Decastich Challenge or 10LPC
3. Publish your post on your blog.
4. Come back here and click the blue button below to add your link to the others.

Dig Deeper

To find more samples and to learn from those who taught me, check out these sites. All links open in a separate tab so you can easily find your way back here.

Poet’s Collective ~ The forms on this website are not organized in alphabetical order, but he does have at least one sample poem for each form, he even has tags for rhyme scheme. He also has a visual template for every form so you can see the rhyme scheme and stress patterns, as applicable. That is extremely helpful.

Sol Magazine ~ This resource covers much more than just 10-line poems.

“Metric Forms from Pathways for the Poet” ~ This is an outline of information from Pathways for the Poet by Viola Berg (1977), a book for and by educators. This resource also includes more than just 10-line poems, but it helped to fill in the gaps where my other sources were a bit scanty with their information.

Shadow Poetry ~ This is my favorite resource for learning about poetic forms (and not just the decastich), but I have discovered that there is ever so much more to learn than what I can find here. This is, however, a very good place to start.