SHORTHAND OF THE HEART

FROM COUPLETS TO DOUBLETS

The short poem in English was dominated by the poetic epigram and proverb,especially from the Bible and the Greek and Roman poets.eg ANGELUS SILISIUS God is the circle's centre for those who dare embrace Him/for those who merely stand in awe ,He is the rim.The COUPLET...two succesive lines of verse that rhyme with each other...featured as a part of the sonnet form from around 1600,notably with WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE's couplets at the end of his sonnets eg no 76 For as the sun is daily new and old/So is my love still telling what is told.This poetic form was also use by WILLIAM BLAKE in his Auguries of Innocence eg A robin redbreast in a cage/Puts all Heaven in a rage.and later by LORD BYRON(Don Juan XIII)JOHN GAY'(Fables)ALEXANDER POPE(An Essay on Man).Later in Victorian times the couplet was often used by the prolific poet EMILY DICKINSON my favourite being 1366A(penned c 1876)Brother of Ingots--Ah Peru/Empty the Heart that purchased you.Other good examples are 212;730;1066;1127;1169;1512;1524;1627(version II); 1707; 1728; 1763; 1772. GEORGE ELIOT also included couplets throughout her writings but perhaps her best example is within her eleven sequenced sonnets entitled ..BROTHER AND SISTER..where each sequence ended with a couplet ,often the preceding line being a lead-in line that could be thought of as a title eg Sonnet VIII...a dream world floating on some tide---/a fair pavillion boat for me above/bearing me onward through the vast unknown.Into the 20th century,ELEANOR FARJEON's poem THE BONFIRE comprises some four couplet verses and opens with this image verse...This cloud of smoke in other hours/was leaves and grass,green things and flowers.

In the early part of th 20th century the Couplet became the AMERICAN DOUBLET an image form created by ADELAIDE CRAPSEY whereby she codified the Couplet into a two line rhymed verse of ten syllables per line with an integral title as exampled by her image poem published in 1915 in Rochester NY by The Manas Press...ON SEEING WEATHER-BEATEN TREES/Is it plainly in our living shown/By slant and twist,which way the wind has blown?Later in the century the American poet DENIS GARRISON developed a two line 17 syllable variation of the doublet thereon,the CRYSTALLINE where euphony is the key component.

EXAMPLES

Here is an example of each doublet form that I have written,firstly the AMERICAN DOUBLET

IN THE LATE AFTERNOON

The sunlight glistens through the tall life-less trees
A round yellow ball thaws the freeze.

and secondly a CRYSTALLINE of mine with a title..

FORTIES CHRISTMAS

Around narrow streets,carol singing
boxes rattling,lanterns swing.

ENDWORD

It is apparent that the American Doublet and Crystalline are the English language equivalents to the three line haiku ,both being more apposite, derived as they are from within the English language literary culture and heritage.To explore this viewpoint further please click on my links below.For samples of William Soutars doublets; A review of my isbn booklet on William Soutar's image cinquains and an article on Adelaide Crapsey

POETRY

BRIEF WORDS-W. Soutar
REVIEW OF FLOWERS OF LIFE
ARTICLE ON ADELAIDE CRAPSEY