Verse

by Adelaide Crapsey

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1922

About the author

Poet. Daughter of Algernon Sidney Crapsey.

In the years before her untimely death from tuberculosis, she wrote much of the verse on which her reputation rests. Her interest in rhythm and meter led her to create a unique variation on the cinquain (or quintain), a 5-line form of 22 syllables influenced by the Japanese haiku and tanka.

Her five-line cinquain (now styled as an American cinquain) has a generally iambic meter defined as 'one-stress, two-stress, three-stress, four-stress and suddenly back to one-stress' and normally consists of 2 syllables in the first and last lines and 4, 6 and 8 syllables in the middle three lines, as shown in the poem Niagara.

Marianne Moore said of her poetic style 'Crapsey's apartness and delicately differentiated footfalls, her pallor and color were impressive'.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of beautiful short poems written by a poet who lived a short but beautiful life. The most poetic part is that the form she wrote in was one of her own invention, called a cinquain, which involves 5 lines of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 syllables, respectively. The nice thing about that form is that it packs more punch than a haiku, but is short enough that even a dud doesn't waste much of your time.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Adelaide Crapsey is an unsung poet. I love her cinquains, and many of them are among some of my all time favorite poems. She only wrote 26 cinquains (she seems to have been the creator of the "American cinquain", which was based on Japanese tanka). She died of tuberculosis at the relatively young age of 36. This volume of her poetry was published posthumously by a family friend. Many of her poems are about her impending death. She was really adept at writing succinct, small poems that evoked deep emotions (fear of death, the feeling of being unsettled, surprised) or are quite thoughtful.

[Andy Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curiosity about short-form poetry led me to Ms. Crapsey's cinquains. The quality of her writing kept me around for the remainder of book. I wish there were more by her to read. Sad she died so young.

[Christopher Sparks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely if short collection of poetry published after Adelaide's passing. I generally felt more attracted to her shorter pieces. What originally drew me to the author and her book was her cinquain (also known as a quintain) November Night.

A Cinquain is a short poetic form derived from Haiku & Tanka. Adelaide's take on the Cinquain form is written in iambic meter and became the American cinquain.

[Ben Posner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Adelaide Crapsey in a book of collected verses, and so I found her collected works on Amazon. Excellent collection.

[Lapsus Linguae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of her poems are really genius. Highly recommend.