Sestina Poem
Poetry Contest
Sestina poetry consists of very rigid writing rules described below. I will allow a 4 week deadline for this complex contest.
The Form of the Sestina
--(from Turco, The New Book of Forms)
The Form of the Sestina
--(from Turco, The New Book of Forms)
The sestina is a French form, syllabic originally but often adapted to accentual-syllabic lines in English verse. It consists of 39 lines divided into 6 sestets and one triplet, called the envoi. It is normally unrhymed--instead, the six end-words of the first stanza are picked up and reused as the end-words of the following stanzas in a specific order. In the envoi, one end-word is buried in each line, and one is at the end of each line. Lines can be of any single length.
Each stanza repeats the end-words in the order 615243. The easiest way to describe the repetition is through a list; the actual reason or meaning of the repetition has been lost. The end words repeat as follows (numbers are the lines of the poem, and capital letters stand for the six end-words).
A
B
C
D
E
F
F
A
E
B
D
C
C
F
D
A
B
E
E
C
B
F
A
D
D
E
A
C
F
B
B
D
F
E
C
A
B E
D C envoi
F A
The contest winner will win half of the prize pool of 120.00 member dollars. In this contest at least 2 submissions must be made for the vote to begin.
Deadline: Contest is closed. Deadline was Wednesday, March 27, 2013.
Full Contest Listing
The Form of the Sestina
--(from Turco, The New Book of Forms)
The Form of the Sestina
--(from Turco, The New Book of Forms)
The sestina is a French form, syllabic originally but often adapted to accentual-syllabic lines in English verse. It consists of 39 lines divided into 6 sestets and one triplet, called the envoi. It is normally unrhymed--instead, the six end-words of the first stanza are picked up and reused as the end-words of the following stanzas in a specific order. In the envoi, one end-word is buried in each line, and one is at the end of each line. Lines can be of any single length.
Each stanza repeats the end-words in the order 615243. The easiest way to describe the repetition is through a list; the actual reason or meaning of the repetition has been lost. The end words repeat as follows (numbers are the lines of the poem, and capital letters stand for the six end-words).
A
B
C
D
E
F
F
A
E
B
D
C
C
F
D
A
B
E
E
C
B
F
A
D
D
E
A
C
F
B
B
D
F
E
C
A
B E
D C envoi
F A
The contest winner will win half of the prize pool of 120.00 member dollars. In this contest at least 2 submissions must be made for the vote to begin.
Deadline: Contest is closed. Deadline was Wednesday, March 27, 2013.
