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Explore a Poetic Form

Cinquain  (pronounced sin-cain)

·        Cinquain is a form of poetry whose invention is credited to American poet and educator Adelaide Crapsey. 

·        It is a Quintet, a poem composed of five lines.  The word Cinquain is derived from the French word for five, cinq.

·        The five lines consist of two, four, six, eight, and two syllables respectively.

·        A common Cinquain formula is to have a purpose for each of the five lines.  Line 1: Subject; Line 2: Description; Line 3: Action; Line 4: Feeling; Line 5: Summary.

·        This type of poem is unrhymed. 

·        The Cinquain has been called the American equivalent of the Japanese Tanka.

·        Crapsey died on October 8, 1914 at the age of 37 in Rochester, New York following a long bout with tuberculosis.

·        Carl Sandburg’s poem Adelaide Crapsey brought attention to her work and the Cinquain genre.

The following is an example of a Crapsey’s Cinquain poem:

The Grand Canyon

By Zeus!

Shout word of this

To the eldest dead!  Titans,

Gods, Heroes, come who have once more

A home!

(Verses by Adelaide Crapsey. The Manas Press, Rochester, N.Y., 1915.)

Please go to our Poetry Matrix webpage (Poems) and also read the award winning Cinquain poem Ingénue by Genevieve Sargent. 

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