Writing Ideas: Nonets
Here’s a short lesson on an unusual type of poem called a Nonet. A nonet is a nine-line poem, the first line of which has nine syllables, the next eight, the next seven and so on until the last line has only one.
Fans of blank verse will be pleased to know that, in a nonet, rhyming is optional.
It’s time for some examples. This is the first one I attempted and its shape on the page reminded me of water disappearing down a plughole – hence the title!
Plughole Poetry
A nonet is a poem of nine lines,
It starts off with nine syllables,
Each line in turn gets shorter,
As syllables are dropped;
Like pulling a plug
Out of the sink
To watch the
Water
Go.
Nonets can be written about absolutely any subject. Here’s another example with a Belfast flavour (‘marlies’ is Belfast slang for ‘marbles’, as in a game of marbles):
Marlies
I had a great big bag of marlies,
Most of them I won from schoolmates.
No other boy could beat me,
I was our playground champ.
Then I lost a match,
And then some more.
My big bag
Has got
Light.
And now for my final example. I once stayed for a night in Stirling, Scotland, en route for the Northern Isles of Shetland and Orkney. The hotel’s claim to fame was that the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns had stayed in a room on its second floor so, as my room was on that floor, I thought I couldn’t go back to my writing group without having written something. Now, Burns once wrote a famous poem called ‘To a Mouse’; I didn’t see any mice in my room but I did notice a spider in the ensuite, trying desperately hard to climb out of the bath. I gave it a helping hand, only to find a few minutes later that it had fallen in again. The second time I placed it well away, on a window ledge, and that’s what this poem is about. (Apparently Burns wrote his poem on a window, but I used my notebook!)
Arachnid Adventurer
Eight-legged climber on your own Mont Blanc,
You’re in a fix and need some help,
The slippery slope’s too steep.
Kamikaze spider,
Here we go again,
Stay out – be safe,
Next time, I
Won’t be
Here!
They might sound tricky but, if you’re in a writing group, why not encourage folk to have a go! The results should be interesting, and I’d be delighted to read them, if you put them on-line.
©Robert E. Wilson
Here’s a short lesson on an unusual type of poem called a Nonet. A nonet is a nine-line poem, the first line of which has nine syllables, the next eight, the next seven and so on until the last line has only one.
Fans of blank verse will be pleased to know that, in a nonet, rhyming is optional.
It’s time for some examples. This is the first one I attempted and its shape on the page reminded me of water disappearing down a plughole – hence the title!
Plughole Poetry
A nonet is a poem of nine lines,
It starts off with nine syllables,
Each line in turn gets shorter,
As syllables are dropped;
Like pulling a plug
Out of the sink
To watch the
Water
Go.
Nonets can be written about absolutely any subject. Here’s another example with a Belfast flavour (‘marlies’ is Belfast slang for ‘marbles’, as in a game of marbles):
Marlies
I had a great big bag of marlies,
Most of them I won from schoolmates.
No other boy could beat me,
I was our playground champ.
Then I lost a match,
And then some more.
My big bag
Has got
Light.
And now for my final example. I once stayed for a night in Stirling, Scotland, en route for the Northern Isles of Shetland and Orkney. The hotel’s claim to fame was that the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns had stayed in a room on its second floor so, as my room was on that floor, I thought I couldn’t go back to my writing group without having written something. Now, Burns once wrote a famous poem called ‘To a Mouse’; I didn’t see any mice in my room but I did notice a spider in the ensuite, trying desperately hard to climb out of the bath. I gave it a helping hand, only to find a few minutes later that it had fallen in again. The second time I placed it well away, on a window ledge, and that’s what this poem is about. (Apparently Burns wrote his poem on a window, but I used my notebook!)
Arachnid Adventurer
Eight-legged climber on your own Mont Blanc,
You’re in a fix and need some help,
The slippery slope’s too steep.
Kamikaze spider,
Here we go again,
Stay out – be safe,
Next time, I
Won’t be
Here!
They might sound tricky but, if you’re in a writing group, why not encourage folk to have a go! The results should be interesting, and I’d be delighted to read them, if you put them on-line.
©Robert E. Wilson