Writing Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for the craft of professional writing, including fiction, non-fiction, technical, scholarly, and commercial writing. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I am poet and a blogger, and was writing a poem today for my blog. It went something like:
So, are you missing me?
Missing me so much that you crave,
crave to meet me right now...
Does anybody know what this form of poetry is called, where a part of the present line is repeated in the next line each time? I've never read any poem of this type previously, so I am unaware of what this poem is called.
Wouldn't this be considered a type of anadiplosis?--though anadiplosis is typically the repetition of a single word. It doesn't seem to be an actual poetic form, but more of a stylistic device.
There's a Wikipedia article on it here.
It's sort of an anti-enjambment. I have no idea if it has a formal name.
I would suggest that this is a hybrid form of refrain, which is a "phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at intervals throughout a poem, generally at the end of the stanza". The usage you demonstrate isn't your typical refrain, since your example repeats a phrase from the previous sentence, and does not repeat it again. A repetend, which is a type of refrain, may be a better match, but again, it's not exactly the same thing, since a repetend is an irregular repetition of the same word or phrase throughout the poem.
This looks like an example of Haiku poetry.
Even though in the West, the 5-7-5 pattern of syllables is more strictly observed, even masters of the form do not always adhere to this exact restriction.
It could also be considered a Haiku with a nod to Common English Hymn Metres which follow an 8-6-8-6 syllable rhythm.
As for the repetition; though it is uncommon in Haiku, there are some that welcome the technique into the tradition.
Notice the syllables:
6 - So, are you missing me?
8 - Missing me so much that you crave,
6 - crave to meet me right now...
An example of 5-7-5 Haiku:
5 - Whitecaps on the bay:
7 - A broken signboard banging
5 - In the April wind.
~ Richard Wright (collected in Haiku: This Other World, Arcade Publishing, 1998)
Please recall the question:
What is this form of poetry called?
Answer:
I don't know that there is any formal name or style associated with this. One of the unique things about poetry is that it can ultimately be whatever the author wants it to be, and it can take on whatever shape the author wants as well. There was a point in time where people tried to categorize poetry according to meter or rhyming patterns, but that doesn't seem to be the case so much any more. For the most part, I would suggest just writing your poetry and leaving the classification to your readers!
I'm not aware of any term for it, but I would suggest that it's a bad idea. Unless the consistent repetition occurring at the end and beginning of every line is arguing, somehow, for some kind of legitimately emotional refrain -- and spastic urgency is the only thing that suggests itself offhand -- then the device is going to scream gimmick and whatever emotional effect you were seeking is going to be trumped by an annoying, textual stutter, one that immediately becomes predictable.
With forms that mandate repetition of various kinds, such as the sestina or villanelle, the form itself also incorporates variety and allows for the poet to play with how that repetition is read. It's probably better to avoid something like this, especially with such short lines, and let the words simply express the core argument and figuration, viz., trust your language.
