Last week I said we would be writing terza rima this week. Did anyone go look up what that is? Or maybe you already know and have even written one before. I once wrote a 26-stanza terza rima called My Zealous Adonai. I won’t be writing one that long for today. For those of you who didn’t look it up and don’t know what a terza rima is, here’s the definition from the T section of the poetry dictionary:
TERZA RIMA (tare’-tsuh ree’-muh; Italian, “third rhyme”) Tercets with an interwoven rhyme scheme, invented by Dante Alighieri for The Divine Comedy: aba bcb cdc ded efe fgf, etc. The poem (or individual section, called a canto by Dante) usually ends with a single line or a couplet, rhyming with the previous tercet’s middle line. But it may also end with a tercet, it’s middle line rhyming with the opening tercet’s first and third lines, making the form circular.
When Dante settled on this interlocking form for his religious epic, he had the Trinity in mind: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. A kind of Roman Catholic numerology pervades the poem, with its “three-fold” arrangement of Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
Geoffrey Chaucer introduced terza rima into English with sixteen lines embedded in section III of “A Complaint to His Lady,” most of which is written in other forms. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” is the best known English poem in terza rima, but he also used the form for “Prince Athanase” and “The Triumph of Life.” . . .
the poetry dictionary, pg 317.
The Challenge
Your challenge for this prompt is to write a terza rima of at least three stanzas. If you want to write an epic poem in this form, you will get a lifetime supply of bonus points, but it’s certainly not expected. (And some of you have so many bonus points by now that you don’t need more, especially since you may have realized you can’t do much with them.)
In keeping with the theme of three, I would like you to use at least three of these paint chip words and phrases: blank canvas, lavender, whirlpool, seedling, happily ever after, golden, and cliff’s edge.
I would also like you to use one of them as the title of your poem without actually using it in the poem itself.
Since the terza rima form doesn’t specify line length, you could write in short, terse lines, or long ambling ones.
My Poem
Blank Canvas He painted a sea of purple lavender A swath of beauty up to the cliff's edge The locals called him the boy wonder On another day it was chocolate sedge Glowing softly in the golden sunset From the vantage point of a window ledge But his portrait of the lovely brunette Surpassed every other by far In her hair a rosebud barrette He only glimpsed her from afar His love a seedling barely sprouted Happily ever after a distant star Only in his mind her name he shouted His next canvas returned to nature's splendor And all dreams of her love he doubted
Your Turn
Now it’s your turn to try your hand at a terza rima. Will you make yours circular like I did mine? Or will you go epic? I can’t wait to find out. You know the drill. Share your poem in the comments, or post it on your website or blog and drop a link in the comments. Remember to share this prompt with your readers so others can come join the fun.