What is a triolet?

As I mentioned last week, the style for the next PerPoTues will be Triolet.

This is new to me, too. The fun thing about this poetic form is that it includes a couple of lines that repeat. So, although it technically only has eight lines, you really only have to come up with five.

Here's the line-by-line break down. It helped me to color code it, and, hopefully, this makes sense to you too...

line 1: Come up with something that bears repeating!
line 2: Come up with something else.
line 3: Rhymes with line 1.
line 4: Repeat line 1.
line 5: Rhymes with line 1.
line 6: Rhymes with line 2.
line 7: Repeat line 1.
line 8: Repeat line 2.

So the rhyme scheme you end up with is ABaAabAB (capital letters are repeated lines).

Information and examples:

• The MediaDrome: Triolet is where I discovered the form
• About.com has a clear, concise explanation with history and links to examples
• Poetry Form - the Triolet despite the unfortunate font choice, this page has some good tips on how to come up with a triolet

I noticed that several sources stress changing the meaning of the repeated lines, but I don't always see how this is true in the examples given. So, as always with PerPoTues, how strictly you follow the form is up to you.

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Photo by Candida.Performa. I thought it was a good fit because of the title ("Triolet Rouge") – and because of the repeating lines. Get it? Stripes? And poetic repetition? Repeating lines? Nevermind.