sherlock60 | Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Retired Colourman (Reply)

Welcome once again to my poetry page!

I hope each week you will read Dr. Watson’s delightful narrative and then go on 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.

And here, courtesy of my housemaid Rachel, is this week’s suggested poem to read—a suggestion inspired by the themes and subjects in this week's story. Hopefully you will enjoy the poem, and perhaps it may give you some ideas for a poem of your own or allow you to look at Dr. Watson's story in a new way.

The Laboratory

By Robert Browning

Thank you so much to Rachel. And I thought we could also have a go at a new poetry form: the quatern.

Robert Lee Brewer on Writer’s Digest gives this definition:

This poem has 16 lines broken up into 4 quatrains (or 4-line stanzas).

Each line is comprised of eight syllables.

The first line is the refrain. In the second stanza, the refrain appears in the second line; in the third stanza, the third line; in the fourth stanza, the fourth (and final) line.

There are no rules for rhyming or iambics.

Here is my example:

“Cut out the poetry, Doctor,”
Demands a severe Mr. Holmes.
It is facts that are important.
Fine words are not necessary.

Yes, it is quite right that you should
Cut out the poetry, Doctor.
Do not walk in beautiful woods
Giving time to birds and flowers.

Others may philosophise on
Roses and goodness but you have
Cut out the poetry, Doctor.
You will have no truck with extras.

Though… you are no common writer.
The metaphor: someone called you
His Boswell. Perhaps you should not
Cut out the poetry, Doctor?

But you do not have to use that form. 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, ballad, beeswing, blackout poetry, blitz poem, blues stanza, bref double, Burns stanza, call and response, chastushka, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, colour poems, compound word verse, concrete poetry, Cornish verse, curtal sonnet, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, echo verse, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, elegiac stanza, elfje, englyn, epigram, epistle, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, Fib, florette, found poetry, free verse, ghazal, haiku, hay(na)ku, In Memoriam stanza, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, lies, limerick, line messaging, list poem, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, musette, nonsense verse, palindrome poetry, pantoum, Parallelismus Membrorum, poem cycle, quatern, quintilla, renga, rhyming alliterisen, riddle, rime couée, rispetto, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, shadorma, sonnet, stream of consciousness, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triangular triplet, triolet, Tyburn, villanelle

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

Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson