Quintain (poetry) explained
A quintain or pentastich is any poetic form containing five lines. Examples include the tanka, the cinquain, the quintilla, Shakespeare's Sonnet 99, and the limerick.
Examples
Sonnet 99 (first stanza)
The forward violet thus did I chide:Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smellsIf not from my love’s breath? The purple prideWhich on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells,In my love’s veins thou hast too grossly dyed.— William Shakespeare[1]
Autumn Song
Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf How the heart feels a languid grief Laid on it for a covering, And how sleep seems a goodly thing In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?
And how the swift beat of the brain Falters because it is in vain, In Autumn at the fall of the leaf Knowest thou not? and how the chief Of joys seems—not to suffer pain?
Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf How the soul feels like a dried sheaf Bound up at length for harvesting, And how death seems a comely thing In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?— Dante Gabriel Rossetti[2]
The Corporal (extract)
Half of my youth I watched the soldiersAnd saw mechanic clerk and cook Subsumed beneath a uniform.Gray black and khaki was their lookWhose tool and instrument was death.
I watched them wheel on white parade grounds.How could the flesh have such control?Ballets with symmetry of the flowerOutlined the aspect of a soulWhose pure precision was of death. — Thom Gunn[3]
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation,O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation:All ye who hearNow to his temple draw near,Joining in glad adoration.— Catherine Winkworth[4]
See also
Further reading
External links
Notes and References
- Hammond, Gerald. The Reader and the Young Man Sonnets. Barnes & Noble, 1981. P. 144.
- http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174271
- Thom Gunn from "Jack Straw's Castle", Faber & Faber, 1976 ISBN 057111010X
- Hymns for Church and School. Gresham Books, 1985 edition. P. 239.
