Day 231:

Feb 16- Retourne,  a French form with 4 phrases of 4 lines each. Non-rhyming, with 3 refrains. xABC, Axxx, Bxxx, Cxxx, 8 syllables each line.(poem #12,374)

The French have a special poem.

This French poem has sixteen lines.

Each verse line has eight syllables.

Written with a tumbling refrain.

This French poem has sixteen lines.

The lines are broken into four.

Four Quatrains work up the poem.

The ABCs are the refrain.

Each verse line has eight syllables.

The first phrase ends in ABC.

The x lines do not rhyme at all.

Axxx begins phrase two.

Written with a tumbling refrain.

Bxxx begins phrase three.

Cxxx closes phrase four.

This French form is called the Retourne.