sherlock60 | Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Second Stain

Welcome once again to my poetry page!

I hope each week you will read Dr. Watson’s delightful narrative and then be inspired to write a poem related to it in some way. All forms of poetry are permitted, and further down the page there is a selection you might like to consider using over the coming weeks.

This week my featured form is the bref double.

Wikipedia gives this definition:

Bref double is a French poetic form consisting of 3 quatrains and a final couplet, making 14 lines.

According to Lyon, [the rhyme scheme is]:

axbc
xaxc
axab
ab

According to Turco, [the rhyme scheme is]:

axbc
xaxc
bxxc
ab

However, other variants are possible, such as:

axxc
bxxc
abxc
ab

Both sources agree that there is no requirement of meter in a bref double, though all lines must be consistent in length.

To clarify: the lines marked “x” are lines that do not rhyme with anything else—even other lines marked “x”.

Here is my example poem. I am using the Turco rhyme scheme:

Mr. Holmes is conversing en français
With the father of Inspector Lestrade.
It’s not a language he’s exposed to much—
The old man smiles at the kind thought.

His son though stands and furrows his brow.
Perhaps keen for him and his father to be on their way,
He tries to catch his parent’s eye.
French is a language the Inspector was not taught.

But after ten minutes of small talk and such
Mr. Holmes apologises and has to go
And father and son share a rueful grin.
Mr. Holmes’ expertise was all for naught.

You see, Lestrade Senior was too polite to say
That despite the name, he is in fact Dutch.

As always, this is simply something to consider for the future. Any form of poetry is welcome this week—and every week! Here are a few suggestions for you:

221B verselet, abecedarian poetry, acrostic poetry, alexandrine, beeswing, blackout poetry, blues stanza, bref double, call and response, chastushka, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, colour poems, concrete poetry, curtal sonnet, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, englyn, epigram, epulaeryu, fable, found poetry, ghazal, haiku, kennings poem, lanturne, limerick, lyric poetry, palindrome poetry, pantoum, poem cycle, renga, riddle, rime couée, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, sonnet, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triolet, tyburn, villanelle

Please leave all your poems inspired by The Second Stain in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!

Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson