Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough

September 27, 2007 4:33 PM

aaax / bbbx / cccy / dddy: Is there a particular name for the structure of the poem Slough, by John Betjeman?
posted by Aloysius Bear to Writing & Language (2 answers total)

Best answer: I don't think there's a name for the particular form of that poem. It's written in rhymed quatrains with lines made up of iambs, though.
posted by ludwig_van at 5:44 PM on September 27, 2007

I can't offer anything definitive, but one book links it to a Medieval English lyrical form, or another site points to a Tanaga (Filipino form), or even an Icelandic , Welsh, Hebrew, or Swahili form!

But canonically, it's just a interlocking or chain freeform scheme.
posted by cowbellemoo at 8:42 PM on September 27, 2007