As a child I was taught to be polite, Strictly and tough. It's still embedded in my character, Now that is rough.
Letting ladies go first, pull out their chair, Truly well bred. Mature women are so flattered by this, The young folk dread.
In modernity, these manners are gone, So I am told. No more the weaker sex for the ladies, They are so bold. A split in belief arises in me, Dichotomy of class, not by decree.
Background. In 2016 I noticed a challenge to write a poem in Cavatina form. The brief was to write a poem in Cavatina form depicting changes in cultural class over time and generations.
The Cavatina is an ancient Italian form of poetry that originated in Italy in the 14th century. It is written in quatrains with alternating ten- and four-syllable lines and the second and fourth lines rhyming. A rhyming couplet of ten-syllable lines concludes the expression.
The term Cavatina is derived from the Italian “cavata” which is the production or extraction of sound from an instrument.
The elements of the Cavatina are:
- Stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains made up of uneven couplets and finally ending in a declamatory couplet.
- Metered, alternating iambic pentameter and iambic dimeter lines. The end declamatory couple is iambic pentameter.
Rhyme scheme xaxa, xbxb, xcxc, etc. dd. x being unrhymed. The ending couplet is rhymed.
Hoping you have enjoyed this poem and the attached information, please feel free to advise me if you are interested in poetry.
