The Cinquain

The word cinquain means two different poems, and it is worth saying which one is meant. This lesson teaches both, because both are in use and they are not the same thing. The Crapsey cinquain is named for the American poet Adelaide Crapsey, who fixed its shape around 1911. It is five lines of two, four, six, eight and two syllables, in loose iambic measure, unrhymed, and usually given a title. Its power is the last two-syllable line, which must turn the image rather than finish it. The didactic cinquain is the version taught in classrooms. It is five lines made of one word, then two describing words, then three words ending in -ing, then a four-word phrase, then one word that means the same as the first line. It is a thinking exercise in word choice rather than a syllabic form, and its lines are not counted in syllables at all. Distinguishing characteristics - Crapsey: five lines, 2-4-6-8-2 syllables, unrhymed, titled, ending on a turn. - Didactic: five lines of one word, two words, three words, four words, one word. - Both are five lines; only one counts syllables. A brief original example of the Crapsey form, written for this platform Winter Morning Winter the kettle sings and steam unlatches windows the room forgets the cold it carried in and waits Count the lines: two syllables, four, six, eight, two. Nothing rhymes, and the last line turns the image towards patience rather than closing it. A brief original example of the didactic form, written for this platform Morning grey, patient raining, ticking, waking a room begins again daybreak One word, two words, three, four, and a final word that means what the first line meant. This one is a lesson in precision: every word must be chosen. Exercise to try Write both versions of the same subject, one on each side of a page. The Crapsey form will teach you compression and the turn; the didactic form will teach you the exactness of a single adjective. When you have written both, decide which one the subject deserved. Revising it For the Crapsey form, count the syllables aloud on your fingers; there is nowhere to hide in five lines. Check that the last two syllables are not a summary of the poem but a small turn away from it. For the didactic form, check that the -ing words are verbs the subject really does, and that the final word is a true synonym rather than a rhyme or a repeat. Keep the title: in the Crapsey form it does part of the work.