Seguidilla: Poetic Forms
Learn how to write the seguidilla, a seven-line Spanish poetic form, including guidelines for the form and an example poem.
I'm a big fan of French forms, but there's something special about the Spanish forms I find from time to time. That includes this week's form: seguidilla.
Seguidilla Poems
Seguidilla is one of those poetic forms that started off as a song before eventually settling on an established poetic form. Specifically, seguidilla began as a dance song.
So here are the basic rules:
- 7-line poem
- Syllable count for each line is 7-5-7-5-5-7-5
- One assonance rhyme between lines 2 and 4; another one between lines 5 and 7
- Pause between lines 4 and 5--usually an end stop
- Also, the tone or focus changes between lines 4 and 5 as well
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Play with poetic forms!
Poetic forms are fun poetic games, and this digital guide collects more than 100 poetic forms, including more established poetic forms (like sestinas and sonnets) and newer invented forms (like golden shovels and fibs).
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Here’s my attempt at a Seguidilla Poem:
The Darkness, by Robert Lee Brewer
When the clouds capture the moon
never to release,
I wander without purpose
solitary streets.
Each song sung in Spain
reminds me why darkness
surrounds me again.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
