Poetry Form Templates
Pick a form and write into a template that knows its rules: the right number of lines, a live syllable count on each, a rhyme check against the line it should rhyme with, and the villanelle's refrains filled in for you. Honest templates, no AI: the guides count and compare, and every word is yours. Free, no sign-up.
Fourteen lines of iambic pentameter rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
The rules
- Fourteen lines of iambic pentameter: 10 syllables, or 11 with a feminine ending.
- Rhymes run ABAB CDCD EFEF GG: three quatrains and a closing couplet.
- The turn (volta) often arrives with the couplet or at line 9.
Honest templates, no AI: the guides count and compare; every word is yours.
Your lines
The turn (volta): the argument shifts here.
The closing couplet answers or resolves the quatrains.
How to Use the Poetry Form Templates
- Choose the form. The box under the menu sums up its rules. Changing form clears the lines.
- Write line by line. Each line shows its syllable count against the target, or its word count for the diamante, and a rhyme badge for lines that rhyme.
- Read the guides. A rhyme note says which earlier line yours has to match and whether it does. Red text means a line is over, short or off the rhyme.
- Finish and share. Give the poem a title, then copy it, download it as a text file or print it. Load a public-domain example to see a form done well.
The Forms and Their Rules
| Form | Lines | Syllables or words | Rhyme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haiku | 3 | 5, 7, 5 syllables | None |
| Tanka | 5 | 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 syllables | None |
| Cinquain (Crapsey) | 5 | 2, 4, 6, 8, 2 syllables | None |
| Diamante | 7 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1 words | None |
| Limerick | 5 | 8–9, 8–9, 5–6, 5–6, 8–9 syllables | AABBA |
| Shakespearean sonnet | 14 | 10–11 syllables a line | ABAB CDCD EFEF GG |
| Petrarchan sonnet | 14 | 10–11 syllables a line | ABBAABBA CDCDCD |
| Villanelle | 19 | Not counted | ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA, with two refrains |
These follow the definitions in the Academy of American Poets' glossary, with two notes. The cinquain here is Adelaide Crapsey's, published in Verse (1915), whose lines count 2-4-6-8-2; other poets use the word for any five-line stanza. And the diamante, devised by Iris Tiedt in 1969, is defined differently from one source to the next, so the template checks the word counts every version agrees on and lists the usual parts of speech as guidance.
The villanelle is the one form where the template does the work of repetition. Its first line comes back as lines 6, 12 and 18, and its third line as lines 9, 15 and 19, so those six lines are filled in automatically and cannot drift. Everything else, including how long the lines are, is up to you.
Seeing the Guides at Work
Load Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 into the Shakespearean template and every rhyme link holds, from day and May to see and thee. One line shows a count of 9 rather than 10: Thou art more lovely and more temperate. The template notes that it could fit if a word is read another way, and it can — temperate is shortened in the modern dictionary but was pronounced in full, three syllables, in Shakespeare's verse. That is the sort of line a plain counter would call an error.
Edward Lear's limerick There was an Old Man with a beard counts 8, 8, 5, 5, 8 and every line is on target. Crapsey's November Night counts 2, 4, 6, 8, 2. Robinson's villanelle The House on the Hill (1894) passes with its refrains filled in. Bashō's haiku in Lafcadio Hearn's 1898 translation counts 2, 4 and 4, because a 5-7-5 count in Japanese sound units does not carry into English.
Where a Template Stops
- Counts come from a dictionary. Words that poets say two ways (fire, every, blessed) can put a line one syllable off in either direction. The template says so rather than guess.
- Rhyme is judged by modern sound. A rhyme that has drifted apart since an older poem was written may be flagged.
- Rhythm is not checked. The sonnets are counted in syllables, not stresses. The Poem Meter Analyzer scans the beats.
- Good poems break rules. A form is a pattern to push against, and a line the template dislikes is sometimes the best one.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between a Shakespearean and a Petrarchan sonnet?
- Both have fourteen lines of iambic pentameter. A Shakespearean sonnet rhymes ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, three quatrains and a couplet. A Petrarchan sonnet rhymes ABBAABBA in the first eight lines, then a sestet such as CDCDCD or CDECDE, and the turn falls at line nine.
- What are the rules of a villanelle?
- A villanelle has nineteen lines: five tercets and a closing quatrain, on two rhymes. The first and third lines are refrains, repeating alternately as the last line of each later tercet and together at the end.
- How many syllables are in a tanka?
- A tanka has five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables, thirty-one in all. English tanka are often looser, but that pattern is the standard template.
- What is a cinquain?
- A cinquain is a five-line poem. The form made popular in English by Adelaide Crapsey has lines of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 2 syllables. Other writers use the name for any five-line stanza, often rhymed.
- What is a diamante poem?
- A diamante is a seven-line poem shaped like a diamond, devised by Iris Tiedt in 1969. It moves from a subject through descriptive words to the opposite of the subject, with 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2 and 1 words in its lines.
- Does the template write the poem for me?
- No. It supplies the structure and counts your lines against it. There is no AI behind it and nothing is written for you.
- Is my poem saved or uploaded?
- No. The pronunciation dictionary is downloaded once from this site and the checking runs in your browser. Nothing is stored, so copy or download the poem before you close the page.