Poetic Forms

Brought to you by Mslexia magazine (www.mslexia.co.uk), a how-to guide to 15 of the main poetic forms, written by Linda France and illustrated with specially-commissioned examples from some of our best women poets, including Ruth Padel, Mimi Khalvati and Wendy Cope. You can shell out for the 366-page Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms – or download our handy wee guide. The choice is yours! Contents include: villanelle, sestina, sonnet, free verse, haiku, tanka, quatrains, couplets, triplets, rondeau redouble, terza rima, pantoums, lists, ballades and concrete poetry. ‘A sonnet – hurrah! I would have liked there to be more good poems in traditional forms’ Wendy Cope (judge of Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition 2014) ‘I like to see that a poet has engaged with form, and bothered to think about whether the poem should be divided into stanzas’ Kathleen Jamie (judge of Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition 2013) www.mslexia.co.uk