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Write a Triolet
By Brenda B. CovertThere is a form of poem, French in origin, called the triolet. (It can be pronounced TREE-uh-lay or TREE-uh-let.) Do you see the word
"trio," meaning three, in triolet? It tells us that something about this poem pertains to the number three. A triolet is an eight-lined poem, but one line repeats itself three times throughout the poem. The first, fourth, and seventh lines of a triolet are identical. When the poet composes that one line, only five lines are left to compose -- make that four lines! In a triolet, the second line is also repeated as the final line of the poem. A poet can write five rhyming lines and create the eight-lined triolet.
The rhyme scheme of the triolet is ABaAabAB. The capital letters stand for lines that are identical. The use of "a" and "b" tells us that the triolet follows only two rhymes. Take a look at the poem's pattern below.
1st line A 2nd line B 3rd line a 4th line A 5th line a 6th line b 7th line A 8th line B
We've covered rhyme scheme, but what about meter? Poets often use iambic tetrameter -- eight syllables of four iambic
(unstressed/stressed) feet -- in the triolet. Look at the example below to see how the rhyme and rhythm of a triolet flow.
How Great My Grief By Thomas Hardy (1901)
How great my grief, my joys how few, Since first it was my fate to know thee! - Have the slow years not brought to view
How great my grief, my joys how few, Nor memory shaped old times anew, Nor loving-kindness helped to show thee How great my grief, my joys how few, Since first it was my fate to know thee?
Notice the "a" rhymes. Hardy chose "few" for his first end rhyme and followed that with rhyming words "view" and "anew." His "b" rhyme is the word "thee." Hardy didn't follow the pattern and choose a new rhyming word for line 6; instead, he repeated his use of the word "thee." However, if you couple the word with the preceding word, you do have a rhyming pattern: "know thee" and "show thee." Rhymes don't have to come from single words.
Your assignment is to write your own triolet. Your topic is music. To help you understand the triolet pattern more clearly, read through
Thomas Hardy's poem again. With pencil in hand, circle the end rhymes of lines 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7. Underline the end rhymes of lines 2, 6, and 8. Then read the poem and capture the beat. Can you feel it? Once you do, use it as a springboard to vault into an original poem of your own!
Write a Triolet
Questions
1. From what country did the triolet originate?
2. The triolet is a three-lined poem. A. False
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3. How many syllables are typically found in iambic tetrameter? A. three
B. four C. eight D. ten
4. Which of the following is the triolet's correct rhyme scheme? A. BaaBaaba
B. ABaAabAB C. AbabAbaA D. ABaBAbAB
5. How many different lines are repeated in a triolet? A. The first three lines are repeated twice. B. One is repeated three times.
C. Two different lines are repeated; one, three times and another, two times.
D. Five lines are repeated, leaving three non-rhyming lines.
6. Thomas Hardy's poem pertains to ______. A. gaiety
B. indignation C. mournfulness D. apprehension
7. According to the lesson, rhymes don't have to come from a ______ word.
A. single B. synonymous C. descriptive D. compound
8. What subject did the lesson assign you for your own triolet? A. music
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M.T. Anderson
By Jamie KeeMatthew Tobin Anderson is an
award-winning author of books for children and young adults. Anderson, who goes by the name Tobin with his friends, elected to use M.T. for his published works. Anderson creates everything from picture books to young adult books. He is skilled at using humor and satire, and his books of terror and mystery have a dedicated following of readers.
M.T. Anderson was born in 1968 in Massachusetts. He had a happy childhood full of reading and writing. The first story
Anderson recalls writing was a science fiction story from first or second grade. During his childhood, he also enjoyed reading.
Anderson began reading books by Mark Twain when he was ten. He enjoyed Twain's use of satire, which encouraged him to read the works of other satirists and comic playwrights. During Anderson's teen years, he continued to expand his reading materials. He
especially enjoyed literature from the early 1900s as well as detailed prose. Anderson also expanded his written works, writing stories, novels, and even comedies. One novel Anderson wrote during his teen years, after fifteen years and major revisions, became a successful published novel.
Before Anderson started college, he spent a year in England at a boarding school. Afterwards, he returned to the U.S. to attend Harvard University, but he dropped out for awhile and worked in a department store. When Anderson later returned to college, he studied English literature at Cambridge University in England and received his BA. Years later, Anderson returned to college at Syracuse University where he earned an MFA in creative writing. After college, Anderson held a number of jobs: intern at the Boston
Review, editorial assistant at Candlewick Press, classical music critic
for The Improper Bostonian, and teacher at Vermont College. Anderson did his writing at night and on weekends. After several published works, he eventually became a full-time writer, focusing
primarily on picture books for young children and novels for young adults.
Anderson published his first novel in 1997. Thirsty, a horror novel for teens, takes place in Massachusetts. Chris, the main
character, is not only dealing with the difficulties of adolescence, but he is also dealing with his most difficult challenge ever; he's turning into a vampire. Thirsty is a haunting novel full of suspense and dark humor. Another of Anderson's young adult novels is Burger Wuss (1999), a humorous novel that tells the story of Anthony, an adolescent boy who is dumped by his first real girlfriend. He plots revenge against the person who steals his girl, a revenge that involves getting a job at a fast-food restaurant.
During the first decade of the 21st century, Anderson published several young adult novels. In 2002 he published Feed, a chilling, futuristic novel written in ironic satire. The novel describes a world of hard-wired people, where babies' brains are directly connected to televisions and computers. Feed was quite successful and received multiple awards and recognitions. In 2003 it was a National Book Award finalist, American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book for fiction, and it won the Los Angeles Times Book Award.
Anderson continued publishing more successful novels for his young adult audience. A few years after he published Feed, Anderson published a novel that was volume one of a two volume set. The first novel, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing,
Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party (2006), is a gripping
18th century Revolution-era novel. The novel discusses the birth of the nation, but it does so from an unfamiliar perspective. It is told from the perspective of a young African slave named Octavian. In the novel, Octavian is isolated on an estate with his mother, an African princess. He is given an excellent classical as well as musical education in a Boston household of philosophers. The boy soon discovers, however, that he is being held captive and used as part of an experiment to determine whether the African race is inferior to the European race. This historical fiction novel was recognized as a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book and earned a 2006 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
Readers of the first volume of Anderson's Revolution-era novel had to wait two years before they could learn more about the young African slave named Octavian. Finally, Anderson published the second volume of the novel which he titled The Astonishing Life of
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the Waves (2008). In the novel, Octavian continues to search for his
identity. It is not until this second volume that readers learn about his fate. Both volumes incorporate historical details into the storylines. Anderson transports his readers deep into the Revolutionary era and explores how society deals with identity, freedom, and oppression.
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves was a New York Times
bestseller and earned a National Book Award.
Besides Anderson's young adult novels, he also published two book series for middle school readers. One series is known as the Norumbegan Quartet. In book one, The Game of Sunken Places (2004), Brian and Gregory are invited to the mansion of a peculiar relative. They come upon a board game that takes them to an alternative reality. Anderson has continued Brian and Gregory's adventures in two more books: The Suburb Beyond The Stars (2010) and The Empire of Gut and Bone (2011). Anderson's second series contains thrilling tales known as the Pals in Peril. In the first book of this series, Whales on Stilts (2005), an evil genius plans to conquer the world using mind-controlled whales with laser-beam eyes who walk on stilts. Lily, Jasper, and Katie are three friends who must save the world from this evil man. Other books in this series are The
Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen (2006), Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware (2009), and Agent Q, or The Smell of Danger (2010). In the Pals in Peril series, friends Jasper, Lily, and
Katie face adventures as they solve dangerous mysteries.
Although Anderson wrote many novels for upper elementary, middle school, and high school readers, he didn't forget his younger readers. Anderson also wrote picture books that used both text and illustrations to tell a story. In 2001 he wrote a witty picture-book biography titled Handel, Who Knew What He Liked. The book looks at the mischievous childhood antics and the career of the legendary German-British Baroque composer, Handel. Handel, Who Knew
What He Liked was named a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book
for Non-fiction and an ALA Notable Children's Book Award Winner. Another of Anderson's picture books is Strange Mr. Satie (2003). This non-fiction biography is an original look at the French composer, Erik Satie, a very peculiar man who created especially unusual music. Anderson's other books for younger readers are The
Serpent Came to Gloucester (2005) and Me, All Alone, at the End of
the World (2005).
M.T. Anderson is a very diverse author. He has written books for children from early elementary ages to the young adult years. In addition, Anderson has published stories for adult literary journals. Having written for all ages, Anderson especially enjoys writing for younger readers. He has said, "I love their passion. I love their commitment to stories. I love the way their heads are exploding with all the things they want to say and do." With fifteen books published and more in the planning stages, M.T. Anderson is a valuable asset to the literary world.
M.T. Anderson
Questions
1. Which of Anderson's books is NOT in the Pals in Peril series? A. The Empire of Gut and Bone
B. Agent Q, or The Smell of Danger C. Whales on Stilts
D. Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware
2. Anderson has written in which literary genre? A. fantasy
B. non-fiction C. historical fiction D. all of the above
3. What is the purpose of the passage? A. to persuade
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4. What is the meaning of the word satire as it is used in paragraphs one and two?
A. the use of humor and sarcasm to criticize someone or something publically
B. the use of formal terminology in order to educate people C. the use of humor and flattery to recognize someone
publically
D. a literary or dramatic work that uses terror and mystery to involve the readers or audience
5. In the book Whales on Stilts, what are Lily, Jasper, and Katie trying to do?
A. They are trying to teach whales to perform tricks. B. They are trying to save their friend from turning into a
vampire.
C. They are trying to escape from a game that took them to an alternative reality.
D. They are trying to keep an evil genius from conquering the world.
6. What is the main idea of paragraph two? A. Anderson had a happy childhood.
B. Anderson grew up actively developing his writing and reading.
C. Anderson wrote his first novel when he was a teenager. D. As a child, Anderson's favorite author was Mark Twain.
7. Who is the main character in Anderson's young adult novel published in two volumes?
A. Octavian B. Anthony C. Jasper D. Gregory
8. What do the books Strange Mr. Satie and Handel, Who
Knew What He Liked have in common?
A. They are both biographies. B. They are both picture books. C. They are both about composers. D. all of the above
9. Use context clues to determine the meaning of the word
incorporate as it is used in paragraph seven. What are the
