Dizain

The Dizain is a French poetry form dating back to the 14th and 15th century. The time frame seems to correspond to early sonnets, as poets sometimes chose between the two forms.

The Dizain is a complete poem containing only one verse of eight or ten lines and rhyming in a specific pattern. If it has ten lines, it may also be called a "decastich." It was initially made up of eight syllable lines, but later ten syllable lines were also used. The number of syllables should be the same for every line, either eight syllables or ten. There should be no variation from line to line.

A few examples of this form in England did prefer Iambic Pentameter, but that's purely up to the poet. The rhyming pattern should be "a - b - a - b - b - c - c - d - c - d" for the ten-line stanza, "a - b - a - b - c - d - c - d" for the octet, or eight-line version.

Though the form is not particularly difficult, I could not for the life of me come up with an original example. I think my poetry muse is on a vacation – hopefully she’ll be back next week.


Golden Lord

Listen again as the chorus calls out
At the transition from darkness to light
Hearing the Galahs as they loudly shout
Revelling in the freedom from last night,
And like other avians prepare for flight.
The wakened sun sends out its golden shoots
As scouts leading the way along its route
Heralding the passage of the lord of day
See each dawn the Angels make their salute
Welcoming the Golden One passing by.

By Ryter Reothicle