A Glosa

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Jadynara
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A Glosa

Post by Jadynara » Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:53 pm

Poetic Form: Glosa

WHAT IS A GLOSA POEM?

The Glosa was used by poets of the Spanish court

and dates back to the late 14th and early 15th century.

For some reason, it has not been particularly popular in English.

A search of the Internet search will uncover a meager

number of brief references to the form.

From the limited information it is learned that the traditional structure

has two parts. The first part is called the texte or cabeza.

It consists of the first few lines (usually four) or the

first stanza (usually a quatrain) from a well-known poem or poet.



It has become permissible to use lines from a less

well-known poet, or even from ones own verse.



The second part is the glose or glosa proper.

This is a “gloss on,” an expansion, interpretation or explanation of the texte.



The formal rule describes the glosa as consisting of four ten-line stanzas,

with the consecutive lines of the texte/cabeza being used as the tenth line

(called the glossing) of each stanza. Furthermore, lines six and nine

must rhyme with the borrowed tenth. Internal features such as

length of lines, meter and rhyme are at the discretion of the poet.

Examples of this will be found in this chapbook collection.



As with most poetic forms, unless dictated by strict contest requirements,

poets have taken the liberty to vary the format. In addition to the glosa’s

traditional ten-line stanzas, one will find 4-, 5- and 8-liners.

They will be found written in free verse, with meter, and with rhyme.

In the shorter variations. You will find variations in which the first line

of each stanza (taken from the original texte) repeated again

as the last line – added as a refrain. When the first line is repeated

as the refrain at the end of a poem the stanza form is referred to

as an Envelope. Another variation of a short glosa poem has to do with

the location of the borrowed line. It can be the first line, the last line,

or one inserted into the body of the stanza. Yet another variation

is the use of the first four lines of a prose piece as the texte.
So we're lost, at least we've found each other. Take my hand, if we can't find our way out of the dark, we can make our own light. - Nicole M. Goretzke 2011

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