At its most fundamental, a cinquain poem is simply a poem written in five-line stanzas. Perhaps it’s only one stanza, five lines long. But dig a little deeper, and we find a wide variety of cinquain forms. There’s Adelaide Crapsey’s famous American Cinquain form, fashioned after the Japanese haiku and tanka. There’s the mirror cinquain, the butterfly, the reverse cinquain, and don’t forget the Spanish quintilla (not to be confused with the Spanish Inquisition, though no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!) and the Sicilian quintain (and truly, never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, even if you’re just writing poetry).
We’ve been exploring the cinquain (aka quintain, aka quintet) all month. To wrap things up, we’ve put together this fun cinquain infographic.
Go cinquain!
Browse more Poetry Infographics
Browse more Poetry Teaching Resources
Post and infographic by LW Lindquist.
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How to Write a Poem uses images like the buzz, the switch, the wave—from the Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry”—to guide writers into new ways of writing poems. Excellent teaching tool. Anthology and prompts included.
“How to Write a Poem is a classroom must-have.”
—Callie Feyen, English Teacher, Maryland
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Katie says
Garland
or crown we write
Butterfly or mirror
even standard or reverse form
Cinquain
Will Willingham says
Love this, Katie. Sort of an ode to the cinquain. 😉
Katie says
Thank you:)
Bethany R. says
Fabulous. This highlights one of my favorite things about Tweetspeak Poetry. They offer meaty educational tools and aren’t afraid to present them with humor. Isn’t it fun to learn this way?
Will Willingham says
We do love to have smart fun. 🙂 I’m sure there’s a study out there (if not, perhaps one should be done) on the effects of laughter on learning. Maybe even on brain cells or neurons or something, the way it is with green tea. 😉
Katie says
Express
yourself in words
share from deep down inside
your ideas and thoughts, feelings
Convey.
Katie says
Hello fellow poem writers:)
I think I have fallen in love with cinquains;)
Here are some more I’ve written this week after being outside gardening or raking or just plain enjoying the autumn weather we’ve had here in MD.
fall day
come whatever
may or may not come, now
or then, sun slipping lower down
sooner
full moon
at harvest time will be sublime
shimmering on the fields
shining above
later
&
“Lantana”
flower
of bright delight
eyelet, lace-like, pretty
jagged and textured, deep green leaves
pungent
OR
color
so vivid, so bright in the sun
praising the Creator
delicately
you shine
AND
lapsing back into one of my other favorite forms to have fun with – the acrostic:
Lacey
Airy
Nary a
Thorn
A bee’s
Natural
Altar
Will Willingham says
I like that, “Fall day / come whatever.” 🙂
Katie says
Thank you:)