Crafting a Bref Double

Bref Double is a French poetry form. It consists of three quatrains(4 line stanza) and one couplet(2 line stanza) at the ending. A total of 14 lines. However, Bref Double is distinct from a sonnet. This is what makes it a unique form of poetry.

The Bref Double can be woven in a lyrical flow or like a narrative. But the narrative style also tends to morph into a lyrical flow. Thus, it is more popular to be seen written in this style.

It also has flexible rhyme schemes. There are only three rhymes and the rest of the lines are un-rhymed. Therefore, Bref Double is a great head start for new poets introduced to rhyme poetry.

~•First frame of rhyming;

This format is according to Travis Lyon in his book of Forms of Poetry.

• First two quatrains end with c rhyme

• The last quatrain and the couplet end with b rhyme

• The a rhyme can appear anywhere

Example of such:

 Stanza 1: a x b c 

    

 Stanza 2: x a x c    

 Stanza 3: a x a b   

 Stanza 4: a b         

~• Second frame of rhyming;

This format is according to Lewis P. Turco in his The Book of Forms. This frame has many variations for rhyming and hence more combination.

• Three quatrains must end with c rhyme

• The a b rhyme can appear anywhere but twice, in three quatrains

• Rest of the lines are un-rhymed

Multiple examples of such;

Stanza 1:   a x b c  

                    

Stanza 2:   x b x c  

          

Stanza 3:   x a x c           

 

Stanza 4:   a b           

 OR

Stanza 1:   a x x c        

Stanza 2:   b x x c

Stanza 3:   a b x c           

Stanza 4:   b a   

            etc...

~•Elements of Bref Double-

• It is a short narrative 

• Three quatrain and one couplet. Total 14 lines  

• Un-metred and varies in syllabic length 

• Choice of varying rhyme schemes 

Here is an example of Bref Double by Travis Lyon called;

"Spirits"

My grandpa used to distill his own liquor 

from brown potatoes 

my grandmother knew. His moonshine

was famous throughout the town

 

 in which he lived. Ol' granddad told me the secret

was to add molasses to make the brew thicker

and give it an extra 

bite. I remember how he used to take me down

  

into the cellar, to listen to the bubbles and watcr

 the flames flicker

under the boiler. There, the old crow, perched 

 on his creaky pine

 

stool, would let me sip his 'medicine'. It only made me sicker,

so he'd joke, "Now that's a damn good whine!"

                                                                                  (Travis Lyon)

NOTE: None of the poems we present here 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 rights has been verified to the fullest extent we can.

Bref Double has been a trending form of poetry due to its combined nature with modern poetry style of Free verse and it’s varying rhyme scheme which gives more freedom to rhymers.

So let's spill some ink!

Cheers! 

 

 -Fathimath (member of team PoeTree FoRest)