Poetry Dances

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Cinquain Poem

A cinquain is written using a pattern. “Cinq” (pronounced sink) is French for the number 5. This type of poem has five lines, each following a specific pattern.

There are many ways to write this type of poetry. The traditional cinquain, as developed by Adelaide Crapsey, has five lines and a strict structure based on syllable count.

Line 1:	Two syllables
Line 2:	Four syllables
Line 3:	Six syllables
Line 4:	Eight syllables
Line 5:	Two syllables

Example

November Night

Keep thou (2 syllables)
Thy tearless watch (4 syllables)
All night but when blue-dawn (6 syllables)
Breathes on the silver moon, then weep! (8 syllables)
Then weep! (2 syllables)

Other methods have emerged but are not, strictly speaking, cinquains. They are still five-line poems with preset structures.

Line 1:	One word
Line 2:	Two words
Line 3:	Three words
Line 4:	Four words
Line 5:	One word

Line 1:	A noun
Line 2:	Two adjectives
Line 3:	Three -ing words
Line 4:	A phrase
Line 5:	Another word for the noun

More Examples of Traditional Cinquains

November Night

Listen...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees
And fall.

Trapped

Well and
If day on day
Follows and weary year
On year... and ever days and years...
Well?

All examples by Adelaide Crapsey

American poet Adelaide Crapsey created the cinquain (pronounced sing-kane) based on the Japanese haiku around the turn of the twentieth century.