SHILL Issue 125

WITH SENTIENTSHAPES
Hello Readers, now that you’ve had a few light weeks of practicing here. Let’s
once again dive into the deep waters of poetic structure and the constraints that
help us become better writers and artists each day. Now if you remember the five
poetic structures, and if you can’t recall here they are: meter, rhyme, scheme,
verse, and stanza. These five elements are a generalization of the vast number of
different types of poetic structure that you can use as an outline for your writing.
Today we will be looking at a structure that has 2 uses, as a stanza and a use as
its own poem as well. The Tercet. A Tercet is any three lines of poetry, whether as
a 3-lined stanza or a stand alone poem. The Tercet can rhyme (or not) and can
have a particular meter (or not). A great example we all know commonly as the
Haiku is a Tercet. Oh! Now in your mind you’re thinking a Tercet is easy? Three
little lines, just scribbled on a page. Well, let’s put it this way, an easy Tercet is like
a “bad” Tercet, not thought out, syllables not even noticed, no meter, no subtle
foreshadowing or social commentary. Remember, even if you can only use ten
words in an entire poem–those ten words must convey the precise intention of
the author. If you choose your words all willy-nilly your poem will lose its depth
and power. When we use conciseness we must use preciseness as well…using
little words doesn’t mean applying lesser meaning. Using more words does not
portray more meaning.
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