The Muses

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, April AS 50 (2016)

Urania is to me a mystery,

As is Terpsichore her sister fair,

Polyhymenia does not to me

Deign speak, but Clio has me in her snare.

Both Calliope and Thalia share

My love, as does Erato and her harp,

In Euterpe’s embrace I find some care,

While Melpomene’s teeth are long and sharp.

Written as a  huitain (pronounced wit-tain) which ws a 15^th century 8-line strophe with 8-syllable lines (French) or 10-syllable lines (English), using three rhymes with one of these appearing four times and with the same rhyme for the fourth and fifth lines. The rhyme scheme was usually ababbcbc, and sometimes abbaacac. The huitain could be a stand alone poem, or used as a unit in longer poems. Sometimes multiple poets would each supply hutains to make a longer piece. It was most popular in the 15^th – 16^th centuries; in the 18^th it was used for epigrams. There are those who think this French form is based on an older Spanish one[1].

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[1] Travis Lyons: 219.