CASCADE

Cascade

WHAT IS CASCADE?

Cascade form of poetry was generally first introduced by Udit Bhatia in which the poet takes each line from the first stanza of a poem and makes those the final lines of each stanza afterward. As the name suggests, it’s all about receptivity but in a smooth cascading manner like a waterfall. There is no definite meter, flow or rhyme. The only necessity is that the number of stanzas is one more than the number of lines in each stanza. That is, if one stanza has 6 lines then the poem should have 7 stanzas mandatorily. Using lines from the first stanza as refrain lines for the subsequent stanzas gives the poem a ‘cascading effect’. 

HOW TO WRITE A CASCADE POEM?

There is just one rule to follow. Each line from the first stanza should be the last line of the next stanza. That is, the pattern would become-

A/B/C….a/b/A….c/d/B….e/f/C….and soon on and so forth…..

• In simple words, the second line of stanza one becomes the last line of stanza three. The third line of stanza one now becomes the last line of stanza four, the last stanza of the poem. 

• To make your poem longer use more lines in the first stanza. If stanza one has 7 lines, then the poem will have 8 stanzas in total which makes the poem much longer.

EXAMPLE OF A CASCADE POEM

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~Udit Bhatia

I laugh hard at the poor butcher,

With scarlet hands and crimson eyes,

He smiles as he cuts away.

 

They gather around him everyday,

"unholy killer" they all scream.

I laugh hard at the poor butcher.

 

Deaf towards the plea of all,

the butcher's fate was long written

with scarlet hands and crimson eyes.

 

Children cry amidst the crowd,

a mother faints, another screams.

He smiles as he cuts away.

NOTE- (None of the poems we present belong to us. We present an organised record and analysis of them. All copyrights are reserved to the original author and we are not using plagiarized work. The originality of writes are verified to the fullest extent we can.)

From this poem we can well observe the pattern in which it is written. The first line of the first stanza ‘I laugh hard at the poor butcher’ is repeated as the last line of the second stanza. Then the second line of the first stanza ‘With scarlet hands and crimson eyes’ is repeated as the last line of the third stanza. Again the last line of the first stanza ‘He smiles as he cuts away’ is repeated as the last line of the last stanza. In this way, the poem can be continued whether it is of 4 lines or 5 lines or 6 lines and so on. This way the poem gives off a gentle and cascading vibe like the waterfalls.

HOW IS CASCADE USEFUL?

It may seem a lot of work to those writing this form of poem but at the same time it helps in improving concentration and boosts the working of our brains. This provides a little challenge and creative stimulus for the poet. And it is also a wonderful topic for contests on poetry which provides poets a little obstacle to tackle.

So relax, sit back and use your amazing brain to pen down a beautiful Cascade poem!!

THANK YOU!!

-Shreya Mitra (member of PoeTree FoRest)